Moving with children, regardless of age, can be a challenge. Leaving an old home for a new home, saying goodbye to friends, and disrupting your children’s regular routine will be a transition for your entire family. Our friends from The Scott Boudreaux Group have a few tips to help spot possible stressors and how to address them.
Time is your friend:
In many cases, you may have months to prepare for your move, but sometimes we don’t have that luxury, especially when the market is moving as fast as ours is right now. If you have the time, use it to your advantage. Prepare your kids for the move by giving them as much information as you can about your new home, let them go to a showing, show them pictures of what their new bedroom will look like, where they’ll go to school, drive through the neighborhood, or show them photos online of the local playground they’ll visit.
If you’re moving on a short schedule or long distance, use the time at your old home to make a plan with your child about all the steps of the moving process. Knowing what to expect can help ease those jitters and give them a sense of what happens next.
Involve your kids in the process:
Even the littlest task can make a difference in your child’s feelings towards their new home.
Kids can help you run a yard sale, help pick paint colors for repainting the walls of the living room, or even help you narrow down the homes you’re considering. If you have little ones, there are tons of creative ways to repurpose packing material and create moving-day entertainment (think: a moving-box fort).
Let the kids pack a few of their own moving boxes. As an extra tip let them decorate their boxes with stickers and crayons.
Pack a bag for moving day:
Allow your child to have a small bag or backpack for their most favorite items. Their lovey, their game console… a few things that they don’t want to be without or that can keep them busy while all of the boxes are unpacked and sorted.
Visit your new neighborhood:
If you’re not moving cross country, and have the ability, visit your new neighborhood. As mentioned above, driving by places that will be a part of their new routine, their school, parks, ice cream shops etc… will help take the surprise out of the experience and give them a better understanding of where they’ll be loving and all of the exciting new things they’ll be close to.
Keep your routine as much as possible:
Minimizing change is essential. You may be moving to a new house or even a new state, but you can keep things familiar by setting up their bedroom furniture in the same arrangement or maintaining the same morning routines. Moreover, try to preserve any traditions you held in your old home, like family movie nights or Sunday morning pancakes. This will help ease the transition.
You won’t be able to keep everything the same, but the little pieces you preserve in the transition can make a world of difference.
Have you made a move with children recently? What tips do you have that helped make your transition easier?
Thank you to our site sponsors, Sophia Leece and Scott Boudreaux with LAH Real Estate. For more information on what’s happening in the Birmingham Housing Market, or to schedule a free home buyer/seller consultation, you can reach them:
Sophia Leece, 205.895.9120 | sleece@lahrealestate.com
Scott Boudreaux, 205.835.9787 | sboudreaux@lahrealestate.com
Your tip about visiting the new neighborhood in advance was definitely my favorite. My son has gotten so used to our current neighborhood that moving to a new one might scare him or make him unfamiliar with what to do or where to go. I’ll make sure I take him with me on a few advanced trips before hiring a local mover to assist us with relocation.