Growing Up With A Global Mindset

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by Seline Shenoy

FIFTY YEARS AFTER THE TERM WAS COINED FOR A SMALL GROUP OF EXPATS, THEIR NUMBERS HAVE SURGED AND THEIR “GLOBAL MINDSET” SEEMS MORE RELEVANT THAN EVER.

It was the mid-1980s when Ruth Van Reken, who had been trained as a nurse, become interested in an obscure but personally resonant description of American children raised overseas: Third Culture Kids. Van Reken had grown up between the U.S. and Nigeria. As an adult in her 30s, she kept a journal to reflect on how that experience shaped her life, which is when she began to delve more deeply into the idea of Third Culture Kids, or TCKs.

>>>Read the full article & watch the “Where Is Home?” video here.

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Interview with Ruth Van Reken – FieldPartner International

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Christine interviews Ruth Van Reken, member care expert and world-renowned co-author with Dave Pollock of bestseller ‘Third Culture Kids’.

Ruth discusses her childhood as a TCK – ‘Third Culture Kid’ and how she did not come to terms with the impact on her life until adulthood. It was her own book “Letters Never Sent” written about a decade earlier that had first raised awareness of the unresolved grief and loss carried by many missionary kids into their adult years. As she shares in this interview, she didn’t set out to write a book – she was journalling to process her own feelings about the past. But in the process she succeeded in touching a deep chord with many and has continued to do so in her subsequent work.

>>>Watch the Interview here.

Posted in Interviews/Podcasts

Expat Happy Hour 125: GRIEF AND GUILT RAISING TCKS WITH RUTH VAN REKEN

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If you are raising your children abroad, chances are you’ve heard the term Third Culture Kid. If you haven’t, you will want to pay extra close attention. If you have, this episode has something brand new for you.

Together with today’s special guest Dr. Ruth van Reken, co-author of the book Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds, we explore grief, guilt, and identity as well as the pride and absolute joys of raising our children abroad. If you think you’ve heard this all before, wait: we cover new territory.

What You’ll Discover in this Episode:

    • Ruth’s unique path that led her to dedicating her life to supporting families in global transition
    • What most parents get wrong when their kids grieve the loss of their friends or sense of place
    • An alternative model for supporting your own and your children’s grief
    • A dangerous partner to grief that we need to bring out into the open
    • What we should focus on instead of the international aspect of our lives
    • What Ruth would advise parents after decades of supporting parents around the world, and more

Listen in to learn more about what Ruth means when she says, “unpack your bags, plant your trees” and her expert advice on what it takes to enjoy the journey.

Visit Sundae Bean to Listen to the Full Episode

Posted in Interviews/Podcasts, News

Up/Root the Podcast: Interview with Ruth E. Van Reken: Author of Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds

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Ruth E. Van Reken, one of the leading experts on Cross-Cultural (CCKs) and Third Culture kids (TCKs) sits down with Lilly and discusses how parents, teachers and adults can best support students who are living “among worlds.” How do we help students who are the “stayers” in a transient community? What are we learning about the brain science regarding mobliity? Are we all just CCKs? This episode is edited by Dan Adachi. Up/Root jingle is composed and performed by Selah Piper.

Resources referenced by Ruth:
– Brain Science of Mobility (John Hattie): a. globallygrounded.com/2016/03/15/mob…the-good-news/
– Safe Passages Across Networks by Dr Doug Ota (book: Safe Passages); spanconference.com/
– The Global Nomads Guide to University Transition and Survive and Thrive: The International Student’s Guide to Succeeding in the U.S. both by Tina Quick (www.amazon.com/Survive-Thrive-In…ing/dp/1540787567)

Posted in Interviews/Podcasts, Resources
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