Second guessing third culture

"Living here opens his horizons. We notice our son sees the world as a much smaller place than kids back home."

Her husband Renato Roldao says the couple doesn't share TCKs' parents' identity concerns. That's partly because Pedro spends three months a year in Portugal.

"It's an advantage to have two places he calls home," Magalhaes says.

"Our son says he has his Portuguese home and his Chinese home."

She says that at age 3, he'd tell people he's from China. He cheered for Chinese athletes during the London Olympics.

"We explained to him that we understand he really likes China, but he's Portuguese," his father says.

"Now he says he's Portuguese."

American Nick Golding and Ugandan Julian Kirabo say they've so far mostly discovered advantages to raising 2-year-old Zuri in China.

"I think some day the cultural and language skills she develops may be useful professionally," Golding says.

"More than that, I hope she develops into a tolerant person who's accepting of others and feels comfortable in her own skin. I think that in our more global society, she'll be well equipped to adapt to any major international city."

The couple is taking a wait-and-see approach to downsides.

"It's hard to say ... she's only 2," Golding says.

The current drawbacks, he says, are being far from family and missing holidays.