Cultural adjustment stage #2 and host family #2

My daughter took the train from Bremen to her permanent placement, and her new host family met her at the train station.

It is unfortunate that the timing of her arrival with her permanent host family coincided with the second cultural adjustment stage: culture shock (also referred to as "hostility"). This stage is when the person tends to focus on the differences and problems in the new culture. Her new host family did not speak much English, and (for a variety of reasons) my daughter had a hard time adjusting to her new family.

I will not go into the details because I only know my daughter's side of the story, and it would not be fair to her host family. After a month, by mutual agreement, my daughter moved to host family #3.

As a parent, stage 2 is difficult to watch your child go through (not nearly as much fun as stage 1!). In my daughter's case, it was even worse because of the host family situation. You need to be supportive of your child, but talking with him/her every day is not a good solution to getting through this stage. Princeton has compiled some excellent strategies for coping with culture shock (on the second page). You should be encouraging your child to get out of his/her room, interact with the host family, join a club, get exercise, find the humor in the situation, get enough sleep, and eat well. I remember telling my daughter to go to sleep and that everything would be better in the morning, and it was.

Supporting your child through the transition to a new host family is something different altogether. . .