10 Best Traits Of The Third Culture Kids

[snoop1130]

10 Best Traits Of The Third Culture Kids

By Jacqueline Arce

 

 

Hey expat mums, if you’re anything like myself you’re probably suffering from the recurring panic flash of raising a kid who has no clue where exactly “home” is. For you locals, we’re talking about TCKs, or third culture kids. I lose sleep dreaming about my one year old daughter’s future distress on her first day of college when people ask her “Where are you from?” and she stumbles through a series of factors that basically conclude in a big whopping “nowhere really.” We all know there are benefits to raising internationally minded kids who will have the kinds of experiences others can only dream about, but I’ve decided to list some of the pros that aren’t as obvious to help settle our restless minds and ease that mommy doubt.

 

 

1. It’s adorable. Is there really anything cuter than a baby giving a wai in response to “sawasdee kha”?

 

2. Their palates are so advanced that they could probably recognise the hidden ingredient of fish sauce in a pho recipe better than a Masterchef contestant.

 

3. They’re very PC. They would never confuse a Chinese person with a Japanese person like many unfortunate Americans I know.

 

4. They travel well. They will NEVER be that person in front of you in the security line in the airport that takes three hours to load their belongings onto the conveyor belt followed by eighty passes through the metal detector because they forgot to take off their watch and belt, empty their pockets, dump their water bottle, leave their knife at home, etc.

 

5.They are easily entertained. They learn to people watch as a favourite pastime finding immense joy in theorising about others’ countries of origin, family relationships and dynamics, and strange fashion sense.

 

6. They make fabulous conversationalists. They will have a story for any occasion, a way to relate to even the most obscure conversational topics such as vegetables that thrive in a dry climate and the way Korean pop stars become famous.

 

 

7. They don’t judge. They’ve been exposed to every kind of questionable human behaviour and every imaginable eccentricity meanwhile never getting phased.  Family of five plus infant and puppy on a motorbike? Old Chinese man with a t shirt that reads “I am woman, hear me ROAR”? These images wouldn’t even warrant a doubletake for most TCKs. Talking about global citizenship, their empathy is off the charts.

 

8. They don’t see race. Literally. I know it’s annoying when people say “I’m not racist, I don’t even see colour” but TCKs know Asian people named Hector and Canadian’s who speak Afrikaans so they really do know better than to rely on physical appearance in getting to know others.  

 

9. The have an incredible sense of direction. Street numbers that go in consequential order versus the numbered by the order in which they were paved, no matter.  Between all the travel and of course, the apps, they can get anywhere.

 

10. All that bilingualism!

 

Source: http://expatlifeinthailand.com/uncategorised/third-culture-kids/

 

-- © Copyright Expat Life In Thailand 2017-5-30

[smotherb]

Well, I have a 31 year old TCK--hate that term, by the way. He has one culture, the one his mother and I have developed together.  Although he may display many of the good points you mention; most of those admirable traits have come from the openness of his parents and the fact he has lived in the home countries of both parents and several other countries. I know plenty of other children, some adults now, who also have parents from different cultures and races.  I see far too many of these children who may have traveled, but never lived in their father's home country, whose father spends little time with them, and the child often hardly speaks the language of their father. Consequently, most of them demonstrate the culture and language of the parent who was their primary caregiver; usually the mother. 

[dave_boo]

Wow.

 

I understand that parents want to think they have special little snowflakes as it validates them as...well parents.  But let's deconstruct this OP.

 

1.  No it's not cute.  It's a forced trait that is a stepping stone to a submissive attitude and being a good little citizen.  Being able to converse properly rather than giving a canned physical response is cute as it means the child is intelligent and the parents are involved enough to ensure their education.

 

2. Can they tell the difference between dishes made from jalapenos and serranos?  Can they wax on about the Stilton (or was it Oxford Blue?) that they just ate?  Probably not because they were busy being fed one type of food.  And recognizing something that you've ate your whole life inside a dish isn't all that surprising.

 

3. Very PC to know the difference between the various Asians when they are a subset of that race.  Can they tell the difference between the Arabs, Kurds and Persians?  Can their parent?

 

4. All TCK fall into this?  Or merely those lucky enough to have parents who were wealthy enough to afford those vacations?  Kind of a non-PC thing to say that just due to the admixture of genes they gain a wealth of knowledge rather than simply coming out and bragging you married into a well-enough to do family that was able to get visas...

 

5. So not PC enough not to talk about "strange" fashion sense and why others look the way they do (placing emphasis on defining someone as where they come from).

 

6. Seems to be more about what they have been exposed to unless they don't live in a dry environment.  The Korean pop star reference comes directly from the exposure they have with the fascination Thais have with Koreans.

 

7. Directly contradicts your point 5...cognitive dissonance much?

 

8. They don't see race but know the exact differences between the various Asian races (your 3rd point).

 

9. Sequential...go ahead and say it.  Saying that they can rely on an app really doesn't do much those does it?  My positively ancient M.I.L. can give me directions using the GPS.

 

10. I fail to see how being a TCK gives them some sort of supernatural bilingualism.  I speak 2 languages.  Wife speaks 2.  M.I.L. speaks 2.  I have friends that a trilingual.  And none of those people are multi-racial.

 

So basically I believe your post is an attempt to extol a non-issue told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.

[Rob13]

On 5/30/2017 at 6:51 PM, snoop1130 said:

1. It’s adorable. Is there really anything cuter than a baby giving a wai in response to “sawasdee kha”?

 

 

stop reading here so i could go puke

Edited June 1, 2017 by Rob13