Can you be alone?

At some point of your life you probably came across situations when you had to be alone, either because your partner was travelling; your children were at their grandparents house and many others. To some these situations can be dealt with no problem, but to others much harder. In these moments we can feel lost, not knowing what to do and often even bothered by this feeling. Of course it all depends on your age and the situation you are in, but overall this requires some reflection.

Leisure on the expat's life!

Whether are men or women, single or married at some point on the your process of adaptation in a new country you'll feel the pressure imposed by family, friends and often by ourselves!

Parenting taboos!

Talking about sexuality, drugs, physical and psychological violence, gender and death are still taboos in our society. However these subjects are progressively being treated with more respect and freedom.

My son does not know how to lose!

Everyone likes to win, be it a football match or a race. When we are young winning is a necessity. Every interaction with parents or friends becomes a competitive environment and winning is the priority.

The jealousy of the children towards the couple!

The jealousy of the children towards the couple is more common than you think. You've probably witnessed some scene in your family and even found it funny or worried about the issue.

How to educate emotionally?

Dealing with emotions is not so easy, but the sooner we start the healthier our children's emotional inteligence will be. The parents should teach them to think about emotions so that they can identify what they feel and also how others feel. 

Live among other cultures!

One of the great blessings and challenges of leaving our country of origin is living with people from different cultures. However, this is not an easy task for anyone; requires patience and the ability of knowing how to respect the habits and characteristics of other people.

The mask you live in!

Have you noticed how difficult it is for boys to express themselves and talk about what they are feeling? And how dangerous it is for those who do, because they are soon the object of criticism and jokes. Regardless of the culture we are in, boys have never been given the freedom and the possibility to speak and feel what is happening to them.

How to deal with the expectation of parents!

To talk about what parents expect their children's lives, caution must be exercised. You have to get out of the question if the expectation is "good or bad" and evaluate how parents and children deal with those expectations.

Grandparents and grandchildren!

The relationship between grandparents and grandchildren can be a source to pleasure, affection, understanding and rejuvenation but, as any other family relationship, it needs some care so that one can actually enjoy, grow and learn.

What's it like to be a parent in a war zone?

What's it like to be a parent in a war zone? Perhaps this is not the first question that comes to your mind when you watch the news about armed conflicts, wars and refugee families. Perhaps this theme raises several feelings and questions in you, but this was one of the doubts that came to mind the psychologist Aala El-Khani.

Challenges of an expat partner!

Contrary to what many people may think to be an expat partner has its ups and downs. Moving to another country is an adventure for the whole life. It’s scary, exciting, intimidating and inspiring in equal measure. There are ups and downs in every moment of planning, packaging and moving.

Betty & Cat: a bilingual book to kids!

As I wrote in others posts, one of the biggest challenges that families with children have is bilingualism. As I mentioned in this post, there are some strategies that you can follow to make this process easier. But to illustrate one of those strategies I am going to share a book that I got to know a few weeks ago and I feel in love with.

How to educate financially!

Educating is not an easy task and we can not only reduce to academic issues. The education that you give your child has the family and personal luggage, involving world views, values, beliefs and other factors.

Different from those years when the financial education was the subject only for adults and a taboo theme among families, today families are introducing it to their children. Some factors as the globalization and the consumerism led to a transformation of man's relationship with money.

It was nothing!

You've probably heard the phrase "it was nothing" several times when you've gotten hurt, cried, or got mad at things that are apparently small. This behavior is learned and is usually directed at young children.

But have you stopped and thought why we do such behavior? Why is it hard to recognize and welcome someone's pain, however small? I am not talking about tantrums, but about the difficulty we have in identifying that crying or sadness should be embraced.

How to Talk About Racial Differences with Children!

As I previously mentioned talking with children and teenagers is a skill that can be improved over time. As I wrote in other posts, some parents might be tempted to avoid certain topics as these force the parents to question the right moment, age and situation to discuss them.

I've already written on the blog about some common subjects such as sexuality, jealousy, lying, adoption, disability, money, drugs and Alzheimer. I invite you to take a look at these posts and, if you wish, send me a message with your question, since answering them might helpt others in similar situation. 

Perhaps talking about racial differences can be easy, even common, for your family; for others, not so much. But how can talk about this subject with children?

Family Migration: Talking about Losses!

In this week's post I continue to treat the issues concerning family migration. If you haven't seen any of the posts yet, I invite you to read old posts, ‘Third Culture Kids' and ‘Raising children in another culture. 

If like me you went to live in another country, or even have friends and relatives who went living abroad for whatever reasons, know that you're not the only one. Since the 1980s more and more men, women and whole families have left their country of origin.  The US, Canada and Japan are the most sought after countries.

Take care of yourself!

It's been a while that I'm thinking about caring. I don’t refer to taking care of others, such as a spouse or relatives but taking care of yourself.

We can say that is normal to have some time for yourself, going to the beauty salon, doing nails or hair, buying news clothes... just to feel a little prettier and generally better in some bad days. But is that enough? Does taking care of appearance really make we feel better about ourselves?

Be Grateful!

As children grow older and reach cognitive and emotional maturity some values as honesty, self-esteem, gratitude, and justice are more clearly understood. These values can and must be learned since the early stages. Contrary to what you might think this is not done through lecturing or long discussion, but with small conversations, actions and examples set by the parents.

The transmission of values does not happen overnight, but are assimilated by way of example and identification. It’s up to parents to be careful not to require or demand from the child something she has never had contact with.

So Where’s Home?

Continuing the POLH theme (I suggest reading that post), I'd like to share a short documentary by a Georgetown University student with you.

The documentary explores the different perspectives and construction of the personal identity of the so-called 'Third Culture Kids', people who have spent a significant part of their development years outside their country's culture.