Q: How can I prepare my children for moving to the mission field?

Expose them in to “foreign” or “different” in positive doses. Stop at an ethnic store and let them each buy something they like. Don’t critique their choice. Each week expose them to a new “mystery” food they will like. Discuss and enjoy the new foods and experiences, but don’t preach. Support, pray for and encourage a missionary family who has kids the same ages as yours. Learn about the sights and sounds of that country. Learn some words and how to count in the language there. Skype them. Encourage natural ethnic friendships for your kids. Go on a mission trip with your family. Involve them in service. Turn the roll of toilet paper over for a week and laugh about how much it bugs you. Then offer to pay them $3 if they can survive a week doing the same.

Do it together and enjoy it. Enjoy is the key word. Start small and work up. Don’t expect all of you to enjoy the same things.

Usually, if you and your spouse enjoy “foreign” foods, contacts, places, your kids will too. They will mirror your comfortableness and sense of adventure, or lack thereof.

The age of your children will factor significantly into their adaptation to the new culture. Toddlers and younger elementary aged kids still tend to be so psychologically dependent upon their parents that they usually adjust more easily. The middle years, roughly 9 through 13 or so, are the "imprint" years when children are maturing and gaining a sense of self. How children in this age range will adjust to the new culture is difficult to predict, as some personalities lend themselves better than others to such dramatic lifestyle changes. Older kids, such as 14+, frequently struggle to acclimate because of leaving behind their "friends," their identities and pretty much everything else they hold dear. Teenager issues represent one of the top reasons why missionary families leave the mission field earlier than planned.

All this to say, take full advantage of any and all resources that will help prepare your entire family (not just your kids) for life on the mission field. If Dad and Mom are constantly stressed out, the kids will be stressed out, too. If your mission agency doesn’t provide good pre-field training and post-assignment debriefing and counseling for families, insist upon it...even if it means going out and finding it on your own. If your agency still balks, find another agency. Missionary care is among an agency’s highest responsibilities, but not always among their highest priorities. Neglect this at your own peril! While God may very well have called you to serve on the mission field, He doesn’t expect you to sacrifice your child on the altar of obedience.