12 signs your UAE expat child is a Third Culture Kid

When your little one sits between your culture and the one they grow up in they often become what’s called a ‘third culture kid’, neither fully belonging to their nationality nor their place of birth. As a result their childhood experiences and sense of identity can be quite different to your own. Here are a few tell-tale signs that your expat kid has officially embraced their third culture identity…

You might be panicking about the prospect of a plane journey during the pandemic, but they think nothing of flying around the world because they have been on more planes than buses or trains.

They get really excited about doing very mundane things in your homeland (such as using a letter box or going on public transport).

They don't blink twice when you drive past camels, but they lose their minds with excitement every time they see a field of cows.

They can say “hello” in a multiple languages.

They can perfectly impersonate various accents.

They’re amazing at calculating time differences across the world. Whether it’s to video call their grandparents, or to chat with their best friend from last school year, they can figure out the time in a heartbeat.

They have had many best friends move away, but have always recovered quickly (it’s a resilience that will serve them well).

They don't really know how to answer the question, "Where are you from?"

They are really good at the 'work your way through the alphabet saying a capital city from each letter' game.

Their birthday party invite list reads like a list of the top ten names from around the world.

They know all the world's cultural holidays, and get as excited about Eid and Christmas as they do about Diwali, Halloween and Holi.

When they are old enough to have a phone, they have more diverse country codes on their contact list than you do – and you know they will have friends all over the world that they can visit when they’re older.