Features

A Unique Child: Inclusion - Identity crisis?

Moving from country to country can be glamorous and exciting, but life is not always easy for the children involved. Ruth Beattie finds out how early years professionals can help smooth the way

Where do you come from? A simple question, but one the growing number of ‘TCKs’, or third culture kids, find hard to answer. These are children who grow up in a different culture from that of their parents but who also don’t identify with the country they live in. Often attending international schools, they inhabit a third culture, which is a mix of influences.

Amelie, aged eight, is a classic example. ‘She was born in Boston, where we went with my husband’s job,’ says her mother, Kerry Rees. ‘Then we moved to Shanghai and now live in Zurich, where she goes to an international school. If you asked her where she comes from, she would say Wales, as that’s where my husband and I are from – although she’s never lived there.’

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