Where is "home" for a third culture kid?
For many TCKs, home isn't a single place. Research with highly mobile children found they build their sense of home around people, memories, and belongings rather than one location - which is why a TCK might say home is "wherever my family is" or "the box of things I always unpack first".
Home as people, not places
Lijadi and van Schalkwyk (2017) studied how children with high-mobility lifestyles construct a sense of place. Rather than tying home to a city, they often tied it to relationships and familiar objects that travelled with them.
Fail, Thompson and Walker (2004) found a similar theme in former international school students: a sense of belonging everywhere and nowhere, often anchored in other people with a similar story.
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Meet other TCKs
Pick a theme and a time - once enough people want it, we host a small online meetup.
Pick a time →Why it matters later
When home is people, the people you choose matter a lot. It's one reason many TCKs value friends and partners who understand their background - they're not just company, they're a piece of home.
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What the research says
How highly mobile children build a sense of 'home' - often around people, memories, and belongings rather than a single place.
Lijadi, A. A. & van Schalkwyk, G. J. (2017). Place identity construction of Third Culture Kids: Eliciting voices of children with high mobility lifestyle. Geoforum, 81, 120-128.Life histories of former international school students, exploring how they experience belonging and identity - including the sense of belonging everywhere and nowhere.
Fail, H., Thompson, J. & Walker, G. (2004). Belonging, identity and Third Culture Kids. Journal of Research in International Education, 3(3), 319-338.
Frequently asked questions
Do third culture kids ever feel at home?+
Many do - often around people with a similar background, or in places like airports and international cities that feel familiar because nobody there is from just one place.