A family's move may be an exciting time for you and your children, but can also be stressful. Your child may be scared about going to a new school, angry with you about moving, sad about leaving old friends, and excited about your new home. So, how can you make a move more manageable for your family?
Make a Moving Book
Print out captions, take photos, glue them to paper, and put them in a notebook. Start with pictures of your family at the current residence and include family doing activities your kids love to do in the neighborhood. Talk about the move and its reasons, and end the book with things you are looking forward to, like living close to a park or making new friends. Ensure you finish the book with a happy ending and start reading the book to your children and continually add additional items that excite your children.
Keep a Routine When You Can
Moving creates constant disarray of items due to a considerable checklist of to-do items. The chaos of moving may be balanced by maintaining a controlled routine, including keeping the kids' extracurricular activities consistent during the last week at their current school or a consistent bedtime routine with the same stories. Reports indicate that 85% of citizens who move do so within the same state, while 15% move to different states. Quickly re-invent those routines that cannot be maintained during the move, including weekly updates with neighbors, evening bath time in a shower, and family dinner around the dinner table.
Create a Decision Rich Environment
Kids may tend to view that their lives have spun entirely out of control when they are separated from their school, home, and friends. Create a decision-rich environment to allow kids to make offers, control what they crave, and make choices that empower them. Empower your children to determine the new school activities they would like to participate in and the color of the room they would prefer in the new house.
Communicate Openly
Moving is stressful at times, and it's advised to keep open communication channels with their kids. Older children who do not love communicating may consider talking with their counselor or even a friend to find a healthy outlet so that their feelings are not pent up. Be upfront by sharing the details and news regarding the move with your kids without withholding information. Sharing the news with your kids helps them process emotions and gives them enough time to adjust to the transition.
Help Your Child Stay in Touch
Staying in touch once your family moves may be hard at times. Set up video calls, and if the kids do not know what to communicate about, you can let them participate in simple online games to help them engage and connect with their friends. Write letters, send photos, and talk more about their friends, and with time, you will notice they will tend to focus less on their old friends and cope with their new environment.
Set Up the Kids' Rooms First
Ensure you colorfully mark every item in the kids' room and move their boxes first into the moving truck. Consider removing the kids' boxes from the moving truck first and then organizing their rooms. The rest of the house may be in chaos, but the kid will have a safe and calm space surrounded by familiar things to help them feel good about the move.
Honor Grief
It is healthy for kids to express their sadness about everything they have known by saying goodbye, as it makes them make easier adjustments to their new place. Visit their friends and capture photos, exchange addresses, and say goodbye. Compose thank you and goodbye letters and share something you love and what you will miss about the current life and what you are looking forward to about the new life.
Share What Your Kids Should Expect
Visit the new place if you possibly can and take your children to the playground. Stop at the roadside stand to purchase fresh fruit and find the best bakery and pizza. Since 47 million households in the U.S. use outdoor gas grills fueled by propane, you may consider cooking the kids' favorite meal on the grill the first night you're in your new home. Stop at a local library and find something exciting about all the fliers regarding kids' activities and classes.
Moves are overwhelming physically and emotionally for every member of the family. Asking the kids to leave behind the life they have known is hard at times, but children recover by establishing new roots in their community.
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