This TCK parenting book takes a proactive approach to raising children, looking at how early childhood experiences and the emotional health of the parents contribute to raising healthy kids. Lauren Wells emphasizes the very real effects that childhood experiences, especially trauma, exert in adult health.
This book is also very practical. It will teach parents how to address trauma in the moment so that the grief doesn’t pile up and have lasting effects. Different talking points, activities and conversation starters are given for children of different ages so that you have the tools you need to address issues or proactively build resilience throughout your child’s whole growing up.
If I had a complaint about this book it would be that she can focus on one segment of TCK tendencies and ignore the others. For example, she focuses heavily on the “chameleon” nature of TCKs to blend in, and less on “screamers” who refuse to conform or “wallflowers” who try to disappear during transitions. As a screamer myself, I felt rather underrepresented. She also focuses on MKs who get the itch to move every few years but I know many MKs who didn’t experience this at all. For some, they attach themselves to the first place they can settle into and never want to leave again. These TCKs may need a different kind of help.
Overall, this is an excellent book for parents, especially those parents of young TCKs who wish to build a solid foundation for their kids’ emotional health. It’s rather comprehensive without dragging itself out. Highly recommend.
A memoir of a missionary kid processing her experience of growing up abroad, and especially of going to boarding school as a young child, “Letters Never Sent” takes the reader through a process of healing and seeking closeness with God. Written in the form of letters to her parents (the original title is more apt: “Letters I Never Wrote”), this is her story from early childhood through adulthood as the discovery that pain and purpose can co-exist begins to bring comfort & healing.
While unmasking some of the darker sides of missions and especially the family separations that often go along with it, Van Reken still honors the good in her experiences and how much she loves her and parents and loves God. She doesn’t look at her experiences in black and white but still gives helpful advice to those who are on a similar journey towards recovery and to parents of TCKs who don’t want to repeat her parents’ mistakes.
This is a fantastic book for professional counselors (from psychologists to pastoral counselors) to better understand their TCK clients and how to treat them effectively. It covers the basics of what a TCK is and then goes deep into treatment methods, common struggles TCKs face and even how to say goodbye well at the end of therapy. I really loved Bushong’s creative therapeutic techniques, like making an identity model with your client showing who you look like to others and how you feel on the inside by using a collage on int he inside and outside of a paper bag.
Another valuable aspect of this book is addressing how to diagnose TCKs, and recognizing that some thing that look pathological in TCKs may actually be a form of grief or a cultural difference. I highly recommend this book to anyone who counsels TCKs or works with them in TCK care.
This novel follows Adelaide, who has lived her whole life in a small Ethiopian village with her anthropologist father, disengaged mother and two younger sisters. When she’s told that her family is moving to South Carolina you can’t help but cringe in thinking about this naive village girl leaving her village for the first time. Adelaide isn’t excited about it either and vows to come back and marry her childhood sweetheart.
Most of the story follows Adelaide’s friendship with the African American students who have enrolled in her white school. It’s 1964 in the South of the US and racial tensions are high. No one can understand why a white girl is friends with the black students and Adelaide can’t understand why it’s such a big deal since she has always been friends with black Africans.
This TCK novel follows some typical themes of culture shock and reentry which were rather extreme for Adelaide as she is basically as sheltered as someone can be. I also loved how Kindberg looked at racism and how white expats can be embracing of other cultures overseas and racist in their own countries. The end of the story also shows how difficult and different it can be to go back to where we grow up as an adult and realize we don’t fit like we used to.
At over 100 pages, this is one of the most comprehensive workbooks for children preparing to move abroad, and for years it was my favorite workbook for kids preparing to move overseas.
In the book, Ori, the migrating crane, guides children through learning activities balanced with fun crafts & games & color-able illustrations.
Like most kid workbooks on moving, it has the standard “about me,” preparing to move, and feelings about moving sections, though this workbook covers those topics more thoroughly than most. But for TCKs-to-be, it also has a long section about “my new country” that prompts kids to find out key things about their new location beforehand. After kids move, there are several pages of suggestions and activities to help them adjust to the new place, ending at last with a “Migrating Bird Certificate” of accomplishment for completing the cross-cultural move. But the book doesn’t end there! It also includes a section for repatriation at the end of the overseas stay.
Ages 8-12 years
This workbook is also available in German.
“The MKs of Asian missionaries have been unwittingly neglected, because many of us Asians felt that we should sacrifice ourselves and our family for the Lord and our ministry.”
This sad truth of the history of neglect of Asian MKs is addressed in this book with suggestions for how to change the patterns that have begun. With a look at the personal stories of Asian MKs and the development of better MK care, there is hope in the unfinished stories told. With fun anecdotes as well as a deeper look at finding identity in Christ, this is a wonderful book not only for Asian MKs but for all MKs and those who care about them.
This book has five parts:
- Biblical Sharing on MK Care
- MK Stories
- Development of MK Care
- MKs in MK Care
- MKs Advocating for MKs
I was unable to find an online seller of this book but you can contact the publisher at tck.sgp@gmail.com and they may be able to help you find a copy. If someone finds an online seller of this book, please let me know and I will add it here.
