Missionaries don t stay as long as they used to, and being with Mongol kids is not easy if you haven t learned the language well. The other thing that is different is that we don t live on a compound. This is better for integration but maybe more difficult for kids. Growing up, I had a 10-acre lot that I could run around on, completely unsupervised and relatively free from danger. I do remember saying to my mother, I m bored.
Kids say the same here, perhaps with more reason.
Every time our kids leave our three-bedroom apartment, they have to be escorted by an adult. As a MK, I never thought about danger, never worried about getting bit by a poisonous king coral snake or falling out of a mango tree. But being a parent is different. That seems to be a common trait of MKs. Our North American concept of safety just doesn t exist in many countries, and MKs pick up on the attitude of their environment.