"Obama has packed his staff with so-called "Third Culture Kids"-people
who grew up outside the U.S. New research suggests this group
shares common psychological traits that could shape his administration."
Third culture? Expat, right? Very good guess!
Just as expats, aka Third Culture Adults, Third Culture Kids (TCK's) are different. TCK's are children who grow up outside their "passport country"
Ms Van Reken writes about the potential challenges for TCK's:
"But TCKs can also feel rootless and detached. The great challenge
for maturing Third Culture Kids is to forge a sense of personal
and cultural identity from the various environments to which
they been exposed. Barack Obama's memoir, Dreams of My Father,
could serve as a textbook in the TCK syllabus, a classic search
for self-definition, described in living color. Obama's colleagues
on the Harvard Law Review were among the first to note both his
exceptional skill at mediating among competing arguments and
the aloofness that made his own views hard to discern. That cool
manner of seeming "above it all" is also a classic feature
of the Third Culture Kid.
"The TCKs' identity struggles can be painful and difficult. The literature documents addictive behaviors, troubled marriages and fitful careers. But meeting this challenge can become a TCK's greatest strength. Learning to take the positive pieces from a variety of experiences and create a strong sense of "This is who I am, no matter where I am" gives a steadiness when the world around is in flux or chaos-which helps explain "no-drama Obama."" .. read entire article
Every parent (TCA) should make themselves aware of the potential
struggles and develop a strategy to deal with it. One way to
start may be a visit to the Families
in Global Transition website.
"The TCKs' identity struggles can be painful and difficult. The literature documents addictive behaviors, troubled marriages and fitful careers. But meeting this challenge can become a TCK's greatest strength. Learning to take the positive pieces from a variety of experiences and create a strong sense of "This is who I am, no matter where I am" gives a steadiness when the world around is in flux or chaos-which helps explain "no-drama Obama."" .. read entire article
website: www.crossculturalkid.org
Check out information for Families in Global Transition conference at www.figt.org
Check out information for Third Culture Kids: The Experience of Growing Up Among Worlds at www.amazon.com
