The moving day is approaching fast, and your whole house is a chaotic whirlpool of running kids, half-open boxes, dismounted furniture. All parents have been there at least once, and, invariably, they find themself a step away from tearing their hair out. Next, you will need to pick whether to keep your kids with you or to send them to grandparents during the move. While having a minute to organize everything without screams and complaints could be tempting, moving house is an important and exciting moment for your whole family.
Keep calm and turn relocating into a splendid bonding time!
Keep Your Kids Involved
Now that you have decided to keep the kids with you, forget about trying to limit the damage and, instead, allow them to be part of the process. Aside from keeping them busy and satisfied, this strategy helps spark their creativity, and you might even get a brilliant idea out of it. If you don’t know how to start, use these tips:
- Have a conversation about your decision. - Instead of just telling your kids about a decision that you have already made, ask them to share their opinion. Ideally, they should be aware of it at least a month or two beforehand to appropriately adapt to the idea. Make sure that they feel like they are part of the process from start to end!
- Allow them to control some aspects - allocating responsibilities might make your life easier as well as allowing your pre-teen to feel in charge. This is also a great moment to encourage them to create “charity boxes” of unused toys.
- Show them the house and get their opinion - are you moving from a small flat to a spacious and bright bungalow house? Point out to your kids the beauty of it, show them their room, and allow them to come up with the floor plan of their dreams!
Pick the Right Time
In some cases, you might have no control over your moving date, especially if the first day of your new job dictates it. Instead, the end of a rental contract might offer you some time to prepare and even adapt your timings. In any case, the way such changes can affect your kids’ lives, education, and personal relationships should be an essential factor in your decision-making process.
Each child’s needs vary depending on their age. If they attend school, you should avoid moving during terms as this can make it hard for them to join a new school and increase the perceived disruptions.
As a rule of thumb, the longer you spend in a house, the more emotional the move will be for your kids. However, younger children will feed off your mood and energy. As far as you can keep the stress and worries for yourself, your kids will embrace the process.
Stick to Your Routine (but spice it up!)
Especially your youngest children might not have much of a clue about what is going on. Whether you can involve them or they are too young to take part in the move, maintaining a stable routine can keep them calmer and more comfortable. Have breakfast together and get them ready for school as you usually would before getting started with today’s tasks.
During the moving process, don’t forget to turn some of the dullest tasks into games. Kids love cardboard boxes as they can quickly become castles, tunnels, or puppet theaters.
As soon as you settle in the new house, bring back your hold family routines, including any game or film nights and pancake breakfasts. You will all feel at home in no time!
Adventures in the New Neighborhood
Weekends are a great time for moving. Start early on Friday, and you will see significant progress by the beginning of the following week. Sunday afternoon, treat yourself and your family with a walk around the neighborhood to meet new residents, explore a park, or find a playground.
While on your adventure, speak to your kids about the activities they could take up, or sports and hobbies they can dedicate to in the new town. Pointing out all the best features of the new area is an excellent way to focus on the positives and take your kid’s minds off scary changes. You could also look up something like "things to do in hobbs nm" (or wherever it is you have moved to) in order to learn a little more about what your new community has to offer.
Bottom Line
Ultimately, your children’s reactions to moving house will reflect your mood and feelings, so keeping nervousness and stress for yourself can improve general morale. Don’t forget that for how dreadful relocating can be, it is a unique opportunity for your kids to bond with you while learning new adaptation skills.
You’ve brought up some very good points! That I just had to pin!! Moving is very stressful for parents and emotional for our children! The big question they usually have is why?? Sometimes we don’t always have the right words to tell them, but they listen to us and that’s always a good thing! Getting them involved leads to them getting excited! Which like you said is important and I agree!! Thank you for sharing these awesome tips!!
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