Moving into a new home can lead to many different feelings, especially for a child. While your kiddo may be upset about saying goodbye to old friends, there’s the excitement of a new adventure! Preparing your child for this change makes it easier for them to look at the bright side of things. Find out the best ways to get kids excited about moving into a new home as you prepare for this life adventure.
Have a Family Meeting
Communication is key to every aspect of life; hold a family meeting with your household so that you can explain everything to your child. Tell them that you understand their fears, then develop a plan to help them stay connected with friends. While they may not be able to see the same friends or classmates as often as they do now, knowing the relationship can continue will bring them comfort.
As you talk, remind your child that you share their feelings—you have to leave a few friends too! But moving also means meeting new people and getting the chance to form additional friendships. Rather than lose friends, your kiddo will only make more.
Visit the Area
Another great way to get kids excited about moving into a new home is to plan a family field trip to the new town so that you can explore together. This gives them a chance to see where their new schools are and if other kids live in the area. It’s a lot easier to leap into a unique experience when you know what to expect.
Involve Them in Moving Steps
Have children help organize the move. Give them age-appropriate tasks such as placing their stuffed animals in a box and they can either use a marker to label the box or draw a picture to identify what’s in the box helping to make it easy for threemovers.com to know where each box goes upon arrival at your new home. If you plan to build a home rather than buy one, create some excitement by telling your kids what to expect when building a home. For example, talk to them about the process and how a team of contractors will build an original house that you all get to live in!
Another way to involve your child is by having them help you pick out furniture or decorations; this works whether you plan to buy or build your home. Let them decide on a few pieces for their bedroom, and let them have free reign over their room’s design if they’re old enough. You can also have your child draw a picture or craft something incredible for your first piece of décor.
Make Goodbyes Comfortable
Although your child may know that they can still have playdates and video calls with their friends, that doesn’t make saying goodbye any easier. If this is the only home they’ve ever known, there’s a bit of an attachment to the place since all their memories took place here.
Consider making a scrapbook with photos of your favorite memories in the house, then say goodbye to each room. Leave the final page in the scrapbook empty so that you can place your first photo in the new home there. Every story ends with a new beginning.
Mom on the go in Holy Toledo 