🌱 Flourishing Abroad: What TCKs Need to Thrive in Dutch Life – Beyond Just Language
"Children don’t just adapt — they transform. But only when the environment allows it."
For families on the move, international life can be both exhilarating and exhausting. Children, in particular, are often at the mercy of grown-up decisions: new countries, new schools, new languages. While many Third Culture Kids (TCKs) do eventually find their way, too often we mistake survival for flourishing.
But what if moving to a new country wasn’t just something to get through? What if it became a launchpad for emotional growth, cross-cultural confidence, and a stronger sense of self?
That’s the question the article "The Key to Children Flourishing in International Life" from International School Parent so powerfully explores. It argues that flourishing isn’t just about academics or checking boxes on integration forms. It’s about the deeper needs of children: belonging, identity, resilience.
🤝 And I Couldn’t Agree More.
As a Dutch language and integration coach here in Groningen, I work with internationally mobile children every week. I see firsthand how mastering Dutch is important—but not enough. For a child to truly feel at home, they also need a space to process big emotions, understand their multicultural identity, and build relationships in their new environment.
That’s why Safe Haven Dutch Coaching doesn’t stop at vocabulary lists and grammar rules. Yes, we play language games, learn how to ask questions in Dutch, and practice real-world phrases. But we also...
- Write postcards to friends back home (even if we never send them).
- Draw our "culture collage," showing all the places that feel like home.
- Role-play joining a birthday party or asking to play on the schoolyard.
- Pause to talk about the hard stuff: missing grandma, feeling different, wondering where "home" is.
One of my 8-year-old students recently told me, "I'm going back home for holidays this summer, to visit my cousin and his family." So we practiced how she might interact in Dutch at the airport, and ask for directions or help. But we also talked about what made that cousin special, the differences between home and The Netherlands—and how it’s okay to miss home and family and still make space for new ones.
Language and heart, side by side.
In a city like Groningen—with its vibrant international community—many expat children are finding themselves between worlds. And while schools do their best, they often can't provide the deep integration support each child needs.
That’s where one-on-one coaching becomes powerful. With the right blend of structure and warmth, of language and emotional validation, children don’t just learn Dutch. They start to smile more. They gain confidence. They make a friend. They begin to flourish.
Because when children feel safe, seen, and supported, their roots grow stronger — even in unfamiliar soil.
