TCK Care

In this week's episode we hear from Dani who spent the first years of her life with her family traveling the world on a ship. Dani reflects on her experiences, especially the sense of community that she felt as a child and the difficulty in relating your backstory to others. Check out Dani's blog Tertiary (where I was recently featured!) and leave a comment to let me know what you think of this week's episode.

Tita Rannabargar explains the importance of lasting relationships in the life of a TCK. Everyone benefits from reliable, consistent, loving relationships in their lives. How much more important might that be for a TCK who grows up traveling the world? Tita describes attachment patterns and describes what to expect from healthy attachment, and then what to look out for in unhealthy attachment.

In this episode Jon Walthour, creator and host of the podcast TCK Tales, tells the story of moving from Nigeria to Ohio, and relates how his TCK experience has shaped the trajectory of his career path. In telling his story, Jon incorporates the humor inherent in living among worlds, the sadness that naturally accompanies loss, and the resilience exhibited by many a TCK. Particularly meaningful is Jon’s recounting of the discovering a sense of home.

Taking a detour from my regular schedule, the founder and president of of Just Moved Ministry joins me for a Mother’s Day special to discuss one of the most important aspects of TCK care…TCK’s mothers. As Susan aptly mentions, the first step in caring for your children is caring for yourself. And so to honor the mothers of TCK’s everywhere Susan gives expert advice on recognizing the warning signs of burnout, offers steps to take to increase balance in life and maintain a positive outlook, and offers resources to help mothers in transition find encouragement and support. For the resources Susan mentioned in the episode go to justmoved.org or go to the podcast link on TCKCare.com for a list of links.

Cultural Trainer and TCK Program Director of Culture Bound — an organization that specializes in providing language and culture training — and author of the blog TCK Training joins us in this week’s episode of TCK Care discussing the grieving process. Lauren discusses the value of setting an example in healthy grieving and gives specific strategies for processing grief both privately and publicly. Lauren is a skilled trainer whose work is influenced by both professional practice and personal experience.

Omega spent much of her childhood with her siblings living continents apart. She joins us on the podcast to talk about her experience and share what it’s like to know your family from a distance. Omega shares the pain of living apart from loved ones as well as the hope that in time it gets easier to live with the empty space of their absence.

“You’re an American, but you don’t know how to be an American. And you are different but it doesn’t matter what culture you go to around the world, you’re different. But you seem to be able to handle that difference better than you handle the difference when you’re in the States.” In this episode Mary Larson talks about why repatriation and reentry is so hard for so many TCK’s and gives practical advice to parents and TCK care personnel for building up towards a positive repatriation experience. To get in touch with Mary or to read her paper, please contact TCK Care (the Podcast) on TCKCare.com.

“Ahora bien, la fe es la certeza de lo que se espera, la convicción de lo que no se ve.” (Hebreos 11:1). This week we hear the story of TCK, missionary, and pastor Gabe Meiers. Gabe shares his personal journey of faith and discusses the nature of faith and the importance of addressing existential questions with courage and honesty from a young age.

Life requires balance. Boundaries are no exception. On the one extreme, unhealthy boundaries may mean that anyone has access to the deepest aspects of your soul and can cause irreparable harm. On the other hand, boundaries may be built so high and thick that no one is allowed into your life and you risk letting your heart grow cold. Joining me on the show is TCK teacher Luke Bostrom to talk about how TCK’s might start building healthy boundaries.

“There is power in being heard” says Hannah Matthews, this week’s guest on TCK Care. Hannah shares how she has been able to poetically process her experience, and how art has brought TCK's together in community on her website, CultureMiks.com (where you can listen to the spoken word that Hannah shares in the interview).

How have you processed your international experience? Have you shared your story through art? Have you had a chance to speak with other TCK’s? Have you experienced a sense of community in sharing similar experiences, or have you felt alone in your TCK experience? To share your story or join in the discussion, leave a comment in the episode link or reach out through the contact page on TCKCare.com