Saturday, 9 March 2013

Want to Know How to Prepare Third Culture Kid Teens for Adulthood?

Yes! I would love to know how to prepare third culture kid teens for adulthood. Well the expat parents living in the Netherlands have a great opportunity coming up. There are two workshops coming up this week on this topic. Ellen from Sea Change Mentoring is visiting the Netherlands and she will be conducting this workshop. I interviewed Ellen recently about her new mentoring program for expat teens. It's worth reading the interview.

The first workshop is Monday 11th March 2013 from 18.00 to 19.30 hrs in the American Book Center Treehouse in Amsterdam. You can register here.

 The second workshop is on Tuesday 12th March 2013 18.00hrs to 19.30 hrs at the American school in Wassenaar. More information is available here.

 During the workshop participants will:

  • Learn the specific challenges and successes TCKs experience when transitioning to their passport culture, university and young adulthood
  • Learn what reverse culture shock is and how TCK teens and young adults experience this
  • Learn strategies to minimize the harmful symptoms of reverse culture shock
  • Learn what skills and characteristics are specific to TCKs and how teens and young adults can make the most of these
  • Learn how mentoring is an effective solution to helping TCKs through this transition and how Sea Change Mentoring works
  • Network with other participants to help strengthen a supportive community around these matters
  • Connect with a number of related resources 

Ellen says: "I grew up as a TCK in Japan and Singapore and know firsthand what the benefits are of living abroad and what the risks can be of going “home.” According to the research that’s out there and our own survey results, the majority of TCK’s want (or wished they had) someone from the expat community to guide them through the process of adjusting to their home country. Mentoring is focused on letting the power of a structured relationship with a caring and safe adult be a guiding force in helping a young person live a well adjusted life. In my opinion, mentoring is perfectly suited to help young people living abroad." 

I hope to attend one of the workshops and I am willing make notes and share what I learn. What do you want to know? What's your experience? Do you have advice for other parents?

Related Posts:
Book review of the book Expat Teens Talk
The Most difficult transition for third culture kids  
A Third Culture Kid's Guide to college (DenizenMag)
Culture Shock: What Your Kids can't Tell You (Anne Gillme)
Third Culture Kid Book Project by Jessica Wen

Photo by Anita Peppers MorgueFile.
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2 comments:

  1. Unknown27 March 2013 at 10:15

    That is really awesome. I wish my parents had that opportunity for me when we were overseas. We moved back to the US when I was 17 and it was not until I was 21, after a lot of negative and hard times, that we realized why things were the way they were. Love that there is so much out there for people! So great!
    x
    Bonnie Rose | A Compass Rose

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    Replies
    1. DrieCulturen28 March 2013 at 15:39

      Hi Bonnie thank you for stopping by and leaving a comment. It's so true what you say that times are really changing and that there's a lot more information available. It still surprises me that there are families abroad who have never heard of the term "third culture kids".
      My story is similar to yours. I went to the Netherlands to study and my parents stayed in Africa. I had a real reverse culture shock, I remember feeling so out of place and not knowing what was wrong with me. Many years went by before I read the book "Third culture kids growing up Among worlds". It was a great eyeopener and a relief to discover that I was not the only one!

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