We’ve seen it happen already in our lifetimes. The world is becoming smaller and more connected. National borders and language barriers are being transcended with technology and an increased consciousness of the value of different cultures and ways of life.

Imagine how much the world will change during your children’s lifetimes.

Stacie Nevadomski Berdan, an international careers expert and co-author of Raising Global Children writes about the importance of developing a “global mindset” in children to prepare them for life in the mid-21st century:

“At the most basic level, having a global mindset means having the skills that are proven to work cross-culturally. The reason they’re important? As 21st century global workers, our children will need cultural sensitivity; the ability to interpret diverse situations, information and facts while being empathetic team players; and a passion and curiosity that enables them to enjoy the cultural diversity we share.”

This idea was on Fessenden parents Sarah and Jack Cecil’s mind when they chose to have two of their sons spend their middle school years at a junior boarding school.

“One of the main reasons we chose The Fessenden School was due to the opportunity it provided our boys to broaden their horizons — to meet, live, participate in sports, and learn with boys from all over the world,” Jack says. “We live in western North Carolina. The opportunities to give them that chance to interact with international boys was virtually non-existent here, so boarding school was a very good solution for us.”

Living, Playing, and Learning With International Students

One of the best ways to expose your children to other cultures, Berdan writes, is to open your home to visiting foreign students.

Junior boarding schools, of course, are always open to students from other countries. Fessenden, for example, currently hosts students from 13 different countries (not to mention from 13 states within the US).

“When our son plays on the soccer team, he has teammates from Africa, Russia, and Asia, along with day students and other domestic boarders,” Jack  says. He notes that other junior boarding schools seem to have a similar mix, as he observed when his son played with Fessenden’s varsity basketball team in a New York City tournament.

“We observed  how they were all playing together and joking around. It’s exposure for our sons that is invaluable!”

The Cecil’s youngest son, currently in eighth grade at Fessenden, rooms with a boy from Russia.

“Our son has not been to Russia, but from living with and being friends with a Russian student, he’s learned about the customs, politics, business and family dynamics within his country,” Jack attests. “He had not had that exposure before coming to Fessenden.”

One of their older sons graduated from Fessenden five years ago, but still stays in touch with the international friends he made here. After a recent father-son trip through Mongolia, Jack and his son stopped in Korea, where they met up with five other Fessenden graduates.

“Years after they graduated from Fessenden, their secondary schools and now into college, they’re still keeping up friendships,” Jack says.

Preparing for a Global Future

This is exactly the experience the Cecils were hoping for when they sent their sons to junior boarding school—not just international diversity, but diversity in religion, ethnicity, and income.

“The way the world is now, there’s greater communication and it’s easier to travel. My children,  in their lifetime, will have more chance of visiting different places around the world and interacting with different nationalities and different cultures than I did—and far more than their grandfather did,” Jack says.

Becoming comfortable with different cultures and nationalities is like learning a foreign language, Jack adds; the younger you are, the easier it is..

“If we’re going to prepare our children to thrive as global citizens, it’s important to immerse them in a diverse community at an early age, when children have typically not formed their opinions about people,” he says.

How Are You Preparing Your Children to Be Global Citizens?

Are you teaching your children a foreign language? Taking them on trips to other countries? Enrolling them in a school with a diverse international population? Use the comments section below to share your thoughts about raising globally aware children.