he internationalization of business has added to the ranks -- once the domain of diplomats, missionaries and the military -- of a special caste: the international family. This includes families stationed for long periods in a single foreign country and those who relocate every so often to various points around the globe.
These families are producing a new breed of children -- "international brats", or more politely, "third culture kids" -- who grow up outside their own (or at least their parents') native country. "Home", as their parents call it, is a place thousands of miles away, which they may only see for two weeks out of the year. Naturally, a child who grows up in a single country, though it may be "foreign" to his or her parents, will usually think of that place as their real home. But tens of thousands of children around the world experience from Day One that "home" is a place they occupy for two or three years before going on to the next location.
This sort of upbringing is an extraordinary experience for a human being: to grow up as a true "person of the world", familiar with a broad spectrum of languages and cultures, someone who is likely to be open-minded and knowledgeable about our planet and its people. Most international parents can be rightly proud to have given their children such a precious opportunity.
But as with so many good things in life, it comes with sacrifices. Many international children grow up feeling rootless. Add to this that most such children are raised in the rarefied atmosphere of expatriate societies, which are usually very affluent (compared to the surrounding society), elite (top businessmen and diplomats), and insular, socializing mostly among their own small, cliquish group. They attend international schools, enjoy the amenities at their parents' exclusive social and country clubs, take holidays abroad, and are given large weekly allowances.
Thus, international children are usually raised in a country they're told is not their own, within a tiny subset of society comprised of people who are racially, linguistically and culturally different from the surrounding population.
Many complain later that they felt isolated and lonely as children, without long-term friends, and consider themselves to be socially awkward. As adults, they may feel unable to settle down in a single place. Often they feel like social outcasts back in the country their parents call "home". Such people can grow up feeling they don't belong to anywhere.

©1996 Cathy Tsang-Feign