Reentering a passport culture is usually a tough transition for TCKs since they’re going through a cultural shift that the people around them can’t easily see. They look like the people around them but inside they are from a whole different place and way of thinking. TCKs who have recently gone through this reentry themselves share their experiences here–the good and the bad– and give advice about navigating reentry.
TCKs are notorious for hating the question “Where are you from?” Such a mobile childhood, surrounded by others moving all the time as well, can make it difficult to belong to one place or group of people. These TCKs were asked about their own experience of home and where they feel they belong.
How many homes have you lived in?
Where are you from?
Where do you consider home?
Where do you fit in best?
How has your sense of home changed over the years?
A compilation of articles and poems written by and/or about TCKs, this book puts together some of the classic writings on the subject. Numerous articles offer insights on parenting in addition to giving a portrait of the TCK experience from various perspectives in this slim but valuable volume.
Except for a brief introduction to each chapter by the author, this book uses excerpts from interviews with thirteen adult TCKs to paint a picture of life as a TCK. It addresses some of the common strengths and struggles, as well as offering stories about what helped these TCKs overcome challenges they encountered, and what they would do differently if they raised their own children overseas. Some of the chapters are “Staying in Touch with Who I Was, When…” and “Serious Commitments, Marriage and Career,” and “Why Do I Feel so Migratory?”
Based on a survey and interviews of over 300 TCKs, this book describes the impact of living overseas during childhood and/or adolescence. The description of overseas life, reentry into the U.S., and the long-term effects of their experiences will resonate with older TCKs and can help parents better understand their children, especially their teens and young adults. The author grew up in overseas with her parents who were in the Foreign Service (Diplomatic Corp).
Ministry hazards can take their toll on children of missionaries and pastors. Sanford, both an MK (missionary kid) and PK (preacher’s kid) speaks with candor and honesty about the faulty conclusions kids raised by parents in full-time ministry may have internalized about themselves, God, or their world. This book has been embraced by many adult MKs, who find themselves described in its pages. Sanford doesn’t address cultural issues in this book, so it isn’t applicable to all TCKs, only those whose parents were involved in ministry.
You may need a box or two of tissues while you work through this book, and maybe a journal to record the lies that you believed growing up that still affect your life. I was amazed by the insightfulness of this book and felt like Sanford had looked into my head to understand me so well!
