Dual-nationality sensitivities in children

I don't have children, but I grew up as a child of two (actually, three) nationalities. I have to say, it made me feel almost schizophrenic and very self-conscious about myself. I had one way of speaking at home (English accent) and one way at school (American). I never felt wholly comfortable with my at school accent and I hated it when my two worlds collided. I felt like a total fraud in both places. As an adult, I'm so incredibly grateful to have had an interesting background, not to mention those two passports! But as a child, it wasn't easy. 

I'm glad that you can appreciate it now, but, wow, that must have been stressful for you as a kid.

Just curious- what accent do you speak in now? I know you've been in the UK a while, so I'm guessing UK. But do you find yourself mixing it up? What about when you speak with old (school) friends? The topic of accents fascinates me! It blows my mind to think that it's likely my future kids will have a British accent!

Now I speak in my ordinary British accent. Though most Brits hear a faint American accent under it which is understandable considering how long I lived in the US. When I'm on the phone with friends in the US, I kind of make myself speak in an American accent, but sometimes the odd word will come out in a British accent. It's weird. We got married last summer and had all my British family and friends there, plus some old friends from the US. It was terribly confusing!!

I'm glad that you can appreciate it now, but, wow, that must have been stressful for you as a kid.

Thanks. To be honest, most of the time I didn't think about it - just automatically switched accents depending on where I was. My closest friends knew that if they came over to my house, I'd be speaking differently. It only got weird when I was in larger groups of people I didn't know so well.

My biggest nightmare as a child came when my best friend got tickets to be on this children's TV programme and invited me along as a guest. This was in Canada. I was about 9 or 10, and I had so many sleepless nights trying to figure out which accent to use. I wound up crying uncontrollably on the day and acting like a mute when I was on TV!

My son (29 tomorrow) was born in the UK and lived about half his life in each country. I don't think he thought much about it when he was little in the UK. He was a little bothered as a teenager in the US and was teased about his accent and how the Americans won the Revolution, etc. Now he finds it handy to have both passports.