Relocation can be challenging, especially from a child’s perspective. Many children are pulled away from their familiar environments, the places where friends, family and sense of home are. Then, they have to try to adapt to a new environment with different cultures, people and education. According to “Children of Relocation” by Nicole Calonico, about 10.3% of Fremont students are new English learners,—ones that still learn English as a new language—which means that they must try to adapt to a new environment with different cultures, people and educational systems.
To start off, relocation forces children to adapt to a new environment, which is an important skill to master. A new environment means having to start over—making new friends, learning a new language and adjusting to a new culture. This will require children to adapt in order to fit in the new environment and feel included.
“By developing adaptability, children increase their problem-solving and decision-making skills; increase their resourcefulness; improve their stress management; become more flexible; and become quick learners,” according to Nicole Calonico in “Children of Relocation.”
In addition, one of the best effects relocation has on children is the opportunity to learn a new language naturally. People who are bilingual or multilingual have a big advantage over those who only know a single language. Learning a new language helps them see things from a different perspective, thus helping them connect to new cultures as well as communicating and understanding them better. It is interesting to note that the younger the child is, the more fluent they are compared to those who relocate at an older age.
Lastly, relocation helps children develop resilience and self-confidence. Children experience many challenges with adapting to a new environment they have been put into. Suddenly, they are being introduced to things they have never heard before and are not familiar with. Overcoming these challenges helps those children build resilience. This quality allows children to develop the skill to overcome challenges in the future. On top of that, it leaves children with more confidence than before—knowing even if they face some obstacles, they can always overcome them.
Overall, relocation has a positive impact on children by helping them develop important life skills like adaptability, language learning, resilience and self-confidence. Learning to adapt through resilience leaves children more confident than before and better prepared to face future challenges. Moreover, learning a new language not only helps children communicate but also introduces them to better opportunities academically and socially. These experiences build valuable skills that the children of relocation forever carry.
