tck
Charles blogged about the Dedication of Sebastian, Jasper, Sela & Carys on Sunday. You can find Charles blog here along with the text of his Testimony and pictures of the kids!
i’m reading a book right now on third culture kids. a third culture kid is a child who has spent a significant portion of their developmental years away from both of their parents home country and culture. if we moved to canada tomorrow, none of our four would be considered tck. after six years, probably.
there are many positive aspects to living overseas for the children and i appreciate them so much. one of the BEST is that my children are colour blind. they don’t have chinese or indian friends, they have friends. amen. fantastic stuff. sebastian certainly has a better sense at four of the globe than i did at 10 which is good. he is certainly more aware of global events and they are more personal. earthquake in the philippines? did it hurt baby melissa?
however, what does he know of what it means to be canadian? (tomorrow, we touch on what do canadians know on what it means to be canadian). what does he suffer being so far away from relatives and his home and native land? he doesn’t remember the one time he has seen real snow. he has never skiied.
earlier this year it was suggested that we no longer exchange christmas presents with a member of the family. if i didn’t have kids, i would have said, super great idea, let’s do it. as it was, i suggested that we continue. my main reason for wanting the kids to keep receiving presents was this: the hong kong side of the family was the only part of the family they wanted to stop sending gifts to. they weren’t stopping purchasing gifts, just gifts to people they weren’t with at Christmastime. us.
that my kids aren’t with their family at Christmastime is mc and my own fault. i felt badly asking that the gifts continue but i don’t want my kids to ever find out that they were excluded because they weren’t around. or to feel they weren’t thought of because they weren’t around.
many canadian families live provinces away and see their grandparents and aunts/cousins as often as my kids see their relatives. i suppose it should make me feel better that this fear of distancing our children from their relatives and roots has been going on since laura ingalls was writing. today it doesnt.
