Visitors

Once a year for the last few years I've been very spoiled and very blessed to have my mum and dad come over to Taipei to stay with us. It's been wonderful and the girls treasure it. And it also keeps their link to Australia and their bonds to their Australian family strong. Nan and Pop often tell stories of the cousins and what they've been up to and what they do. Last night I saw an article. And I liked it. And here are some points from the Article entitled, Grandparenting over the seas, by Libby Stevens.

One of the risks of living internationally with young children is that your child may not develop a close relationship with his/her grandparents. Your parents will never forget they have grandchildren, but it is possible that your children forget they have grandparents.

Here are some reasons why it's good for your kid to have a close relationship with grandma and grandpa.

When grandparents make attempts to get to know their grandchild even while living far apart, there is a unique foundation of relationship that begins. When the child goes “home” he now has someone who accepts him, loves him. Grandma and Grandpa’s house can become an oasis.

Having grandparents provides a relational root that is connected to time and history. It helps them develop a sense of relational history.

She goes on to list ten things grandparents and their grandchildren can do together over the seas, the final one being 'visit the child's world.'

Bring the grandparents over to you. They will see that though you may be living in a difficult place, your family is fine. More importantly, your parents have entered your child’s world. When that happens something unexplainable happens. There are new conversations. There are shared memories in your child’s land. And your parents will begin to understand the vocabulary of your child’s life.

So relevant to my recent thoughts on family trips and living overseas. This trip we've done much more travelling around the country, Tilly has been in a different stage of life with starting school and speaking much more Mandarin. She's even started teaching them words and numbers! The girls bonds with Nan and Pop are pretty tight. It's been a blessed time indeed.

Just a note: This website is for people who have children that are classed as Third Culture Kids. Generally speaking children perpetually living outside of their passport countries because their parents have been posted to work in another country, etc. The above quote mentions living in a difficult place, we don't live in a difficult place. Just want to clear that up! The girls are mixed culture kids, but the concepts are exactly the same.