Depression and missionary kids

Parenting is a tough gig. Parenting in the context of living our kind of lifestyle is even trickier. 

Some kids thrive. Others struggle. 

I came across an article yesterday that resonates with some of what we're seeing just now, particularly in those of our boys who are introverted. 

Here's a particularly good quote from the article: 

Besides the layers of unresolved grief, the TCK may be experiencing depression due to their feelings of isolation in their current situation and struggling in forming meaningful relationships in their current environment. They may not have the emotional energy to walk through the process of making friends and small talk, but yet they long for a more in-depth relationship with someone within their community.

The advice given is that the best thing to do is listen to them talk about their losses (without judgement). It doesn't actually take too much to get them to do that at present, if an interested person comes along and asks the right questions. But usually interested people lose interest pretty quickly. 

How we facilitate our biggest boy to make new relationships when he's clearly mourning the temporary loss of friendships in Japan, I'm not sure. But the school is trying to help and we're praying. And we know others are too. 

Here's the article: http://mangotreereflections.com/2014/08/17/depression-and-third-culture-kids/