Make Move Easier for Your Kids

Moving is very stressful at the best of times. However, with kids, it can be even more difficult. Children tend to get attached to the first home they live in, so moving is really difficult for them. It can be especially hard when they are a bit older and established friendships and started school at one place.

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What you need to do is explain to them why moving is necessary and how you will make it ok. It helps if you are moving to a fantastic location such as this one http://www.homesalessandiego.com/blog/urban-gem-la-jolla-condos-for-sale/.

Prepare Them Beforehand

Before you start the process, you need to let your children about your intentions. They will need time to process the information and adapt to the new situation. For younger children, preschoolers and younger about a month should be enough time, but if your children are older, they will be easier to persuade and their ability to adapt is greater.

It is especially bad to keep the move a secret from your kids if you have potential buyers visiting your home regularly. Once they catch on to what’s happening, your kids can develop trust issues. What your children need is a calm and stabile home in the sea of change which surrounds them. Calmly and lightheartedly explain to them that nothing important will change. That your love and your family life will remain the same.

Let Them Vent

You can expect some kind of a blowback. In most cases, children will display a level of resistance to the idea of a move. Even though your initial impulse may be to quell their dissent, that is not a good idea. Tantrums and anger are a normal reaction to such a massive change in your child’s life.

Put yourself in their shoes. Everything they have known is changing and there is nothing they can do. Tantrums are the only way they can vent their frustration. Gradually, this behavior will stop and they will accept the new situation.

Stick to the Plan

One way of keeping the illusion of normalcy and regularity is to keep to the schedule. What that means is keep their daily routines as intact as possible, including bed and meal times.

Give your kids a timeline of the move and try as much as possible to stick to it. Once again, the chaos of the move and the feeling of being uprooted need to be offset by a stable and regular plan.

Keep Them Involved

One of the best strategies to keep you children occupied and accept the move is to keep them involved in the process. Start with packing their room. Pack their things together, make sure that you give them tasks and explain that it is vital that they do them in a timely manner.

The sense of importance and responsibility will help them get over the fact that they need to move and change their life.

Visit the New Location before the Move

In your kids’ minds, the new house is an unknown, whereas your current home is, well, home – a place where they feel safe and where they created their memories. You can try to help them process the move by taking them to your new neighborhood.

Not only will the new home become real in their minds, but you can also find a park or a playground nearby where they can play and get to know their future neighbors and friends.

Children have a different way of processing information, and we need to adapt to them and help them cope with real life situations as best as we can.

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