BLOG OF THE WEEK: 3RD CULTURE CHILDREN
December 4, 2011 By Nikki Katz
“The SocialMoms Blog of the Week is 3rd Culture Children – where Raquel shares her love of travel and parenting.
Congratulations to 3rd Culture Children: the SocialMoms Blog of the Week! As someone who has done very little travel in my lifetime, I’m always fascinated by travel blogs, and this is no exception. I love that Raquel is able to talk about parenting while sharing the aspects of their travels to a variety of countries across the globe…” See below Nikki’s article/full interview:
SM: What was your inspiration for starting 3rd Culture Children?
We are a traveling family, with the US Foreign Service. I initially began the blog to share my impressions, observations and along-the-road experiences with our families and friends, and later other expats experiencing similar challenges/adventures. So the blog morphed into more than just a quasi-travel and photo journal. I liked the idea of organizing not only our travel notes, but also providing resources for other parents, and encouraging an exchange of ideas through comments, questions and suggestions from viewers. The name for the blog came from the term itself: “Third Culture Children” (as you may find more information from one of its pages) are children whose parents come from distinct cultures, and grow up under a hybrid environment, experiencing diverse cultural growth. “The result of this transcontinental growth can never be taught or learned or fully understood by anyone who hasn’t actually experienced it. The developing child takes the culture of their parent’s passport country, or their first culture, to a foreign land. The result is that the child (and later on, the adult) adopts the qualities of the Second Culture into their preexisting First Culture, creating a unique cultural perspective known as the Third Culture”. As an expat who is now raising three children, all aged 6 and under, the titled seemed a natural fit! I’m so pleased to share with other expatriates, parents, and traveling families, not only the beauty and excitement of traveling, but also resources regarding languages, social and cultural adjustments, and our not-so-professional advice as “parents-on-the-go“.
SM: What has most surprised you about running the site?
The first thing that surprised me was the positive feedback I began receiving from other families in the Foreign Service. After being blogging for a little less than four months, I saw one of my posts, about Brazilian Folklore and the integration of expatriate children, featured by WordPress. Features also included picks made by Ecopressed and PopPressed. As a working mom of 3, in charge of anything from grocery shopping to planning trips, I was very honored with the outcome.
SM: What are you most passionate about?
Sharing our travel pictures, telling stories, discussing our challenges and the discoveries we’re making along the way – people and places.
SM: What is the most popular section of your site?
The bilingual posts have become quite popular: posts with impressions of our visits to Brazilian historical and tourist sites – in English and Portuguese; and the Weekly Photo Challenge posts, which is an exciting way to improve my skills as an “amateur” photographer. My husband has contributed photos as well – another passionate non-professional photographer.
SM: What is your favorite part of blogging?
The ability to convert ideas, impressions and images into stories, shared advice, resources to other parents/families/travelers. The excitement of spotting a routine event and transforming it into a surprisingly positive post. I’m a traveler, a researcher, an author, a mom. With an endless desire to learn, discover and share…
Congratulations!!!
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Thank you, Cherise… Keeping myself busy over here! 😮
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Congratulations! Job very well done!
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Thank you! I guess it’s good to be a working mom (BTW, redundant expression! :o), writing about our findings and difficulties, regarding travel, cross-cultural adjustments, languages, and having fun! Cheers!
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