Tag Archives: flytta utomlands

Cultural parenting – of course! But which cultures?

Parenting styles can vary from family to family. But there are also differences between countries, or should I say cultures. We appreciate different values, which are likely to impact our upbringing of the children. Sometimes they are easily spotted, sometimes they are not. Concept of time for instance is a good example. Coming from a culture where being on time is considered important and a courtesy, I found it annoying at times as a foreign student working in groups with others that were happily an hour late for study meetings. No surprise that we soon found out that Germans and Swedes worked well together!

As always, awareness of the values and set of rules can lead to a better understanding, and less annoyance; tolerance. In the case of time, I simply learnt to agree on another time with the students I knew would be – in my world – an hour late.

Being a parent or not; moving into a new culture you will be exposed to the impact of cultural differences. As a parent a playground is a perfect location for observation and “study”. It´s fascinating that you often can tell from the parents’ responses to their children’s behavior from which country they are. I have encountered societies where one believes that adults should not interfere when children are “playing”. In the beginning I just assumed they did not care; now I hope they care but still want the kids to solve problems on their own. I have also experienced children being constantly corrected and taught. Swedes are normally somewhere in between these two parenting styles; of course, I would like to add with a touch of irony– after all we are the land of “lagom” (just enough) and “mellan” (in the middle).

There are also differences when it comes to physical punishment (illegal in Sweden) and scolding in public. Some people want other parents to know they are dealing with the matter, and some don´t.

Another, always hot, topic is whether it is considered acceptable for a parent to deal with someone else’s child.

I do believe that the culture you are currently living in influences your parenting. It is a way of fitting in, of accepting the hosting society but also grabbing the good stuff!

It is interesting once you start thinking in terms of cultural parenting. What are the cornerstones of your culture/-s when it comes to raising children? Which are the strengths? Have you added anything from your host culture?

Perhaps you are even a slightly different parent in another location! And by that I am not referring to the newly relocated, stressed and culture shocked parent …

#seetheworld Twitter Chat on Sweden is coming up!

#seetheworld

Join the Twitter chat on Sweden Aug 14! The community of #seetheworld will share and learn about Sweden! Whether you have already been to Sweden or not, live here or don’t, know something about it or nothing at all – come join us! This is a nice opportunity to chat about Sweden with fellow curious twitter friends. And, to connect with new friends! We all want to #seetheworld!

To join the conversation log in to Twitter and follow the hashtag #SeeTheWorld.

You can also follow

me, the co-host, @globatris

the founders @theCultureur and @RovingAltruist

and of course @SeeTheWorldChat

https://twitter.com/thecultureur/status/365212764148473856

What is a TCK – a Third Culture Kid?

What is a TCK – a Third Culture Kid?


“A Third Culture Kid (TCK) is a person who has spent a significant part of his
or her developmental years outside the parents’ culture.” Third Culture Kids – Growing Up Among Worlds by David C. Pollock and Ruth E. van Reken

Origin of term TCK

Sociologists Ruth Hill Useem and John Useem coined the term “Third Culture”, in the 1950s. They spent a year in India with the purpose of studying Americans living and working there. After having met not only expatriates from the US they noticed that the lifestyles of the expatriates differed from home and host cultures. It made up a culture of its own, shared by other expats. Useems labeled culture of origin as first culture, the host culture the second and the “shared commonalities of those living internationally mobile lifestyle” as the third culture (p 14, Third Culture Kids – David C. Pollock and Ruth E. van Reken, 2009). While John Useem focused on the adults Ruth Hill Useem took an interest in the young expatriates. She referred to them as Third Culture Kids.

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You know you’re a TCK when …

You know you’re a TCK when …

Most people who are TCKs are unaware of it. I constantly stumble over new twitter connections revealing they have just found out about Third Culture Kids and that they actually are one – or rather ATCK – Adult Third Culture Kid. It is very often followed by a sigh of relief; that’s why I’m me! When I talk about TCKs in my workshops I rarely meet people who are familiar with the term; even though they are expats.

Three days ago I found an article on the funny yet true side of the TCK story – 31 statements along the line “You know you’re a TCK when …” . Tons of posts and pages of this kind can be found on the Internet, but this post is really worth sharing!

I tweeted it, put it on Facebook and Google+. Here is the link if you’ve missed it!

Feel free to add in the comments if you think of more signs!!

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Expat friends leaving

Summer. That single word promises a lot. Time off, no school, days at the beach, travel, sun, shorts … and people leaving. Relocation prime time. Dear expat friends moving on to another country – or perhaps yourself. Time to say goodbye; to promise you will see each other again. Soon.

Personally, I like to leave first. How about you?

Read some tips on leaving/being left by Olga Mecking.

Compare cost of living tool for moving abroad

Moving abroad and local cost

Are you thinking of expatriating? If you haven’t yet decided whereto local cost of living might have an impact on the decision. Even if you know which will be your new expat country it can be interesting to find out the local price ranges.  Expatriating or not; perhaps you are just interested in comparing cost of living in different countries and locations.

Cost of living calculator

On expatistan.com you can enter cities for comparison to get an overall percentage of how much cheaper or more expensive a city is to another. You can also get down to details as how much a bottle of milk is. The website service is based on user input of prices. Why not help adding prices to the cost of living comparisons?

 

HSBC Annual Expat Survey open

Expat survey – take part and / or study the results

The world’s largest expat survey opens its annual questionnaire today. It remains open until May 31st and encourages expatriates to share their experiences to form the much appreciated and award-winning comparison of expat life in different countries. To take part go here.

In 2012 more than 5300 expats took part in the HSBC Expat Explorer survey.

Expatriate life in lyrics

Today I’ll provide a link to one of my favorite musical songs. It describes the life of an expat mother, but an expatriate life of past times and of much hardship. Expatriating today can be tough too, but hopefully not on all the levels Kristina experiences.

Listen to Kristina

From the musical “Kristina from Duvemåla” by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulveus (the Bs in ABBA).

Svenska barnsånger

Om du bor utomlands kan det vara roligt att ibland sjunga svenska sånger med barnen. Många föräldrar tar sina barn till svenska kyrkan eller andra svenska grupper där sång ingår. Denna möjlighet finns långt ifrån för alla expatriater. Nedan finns en länk till en av Barnplanetens listor på Spotify. Barnplaneten har spellistor i många kategorier, t ex Barnkammarboken, Klassiker, Buslistan och Favoriter.

Länk till trafiklistan – perfekt inte bara för bilintresserade utan för alla som är ute och går eller cyklar!

Living abroad and want to listen to Swedish children’s music? Klick the link above or go here to read a post in English about Swedish kid’s music.

#Worldcolors April

I’m on a mission to find yellow. Both here in Sweden and in my extensive collection of photos from my expat time and travels.

This month’s #worldcolors is all about the sunny, golden yellowish nuances. Suits well with the arrival of spring and longer sun hours. Daffodils however – don’t think they will actually be here in April due to the long winter and late arrival of spring.

I read about the “assignment” yesterday morning in Naomi’s blog (via twitter). My brain and eyes tuned in on yellow and focused on everything of that color I saw during the day – actually a bit annoying; either it wasn’t worth taking a picture of or it was something I drove by and couldn’t capture anyway.

If you would like to read more, see interesting photos from all over the world and perhaps participate you find the details over at Anne’s at part time traveler.

BTW. Yellow is gul in Swedish. Want to know how it is pronounced?

 

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