Tips to Make Moving Home Easier for Your Children

Moving is difficult for everyone, but it’s especially difficult for children, who will have to leave close friends behind and build new social groups from scratch. Children who move often experience problems such as depression, acting out, and poor grades. For this reason, it’s important that you do all you can to ease the transition. Here are a few things you can try.

Get Them Involved

According to the Child Mind Institute, one of the most stressful things about moving for children is the lack of control. You can remove a lot of this stress by getting them involved in the moving process. If possible, get them involved in the selection process for the home, or have a family meeting where you talk about what you’d like in the new place. If that’s not possible, get them to help out with packing, or let them choose their own room. You can also let them choose what color their room will be painted or where the furniture will go. Doing this can help them start imagining their new life in the new area, which can help them to mentally prepare for everything that will follow.

When Buying a Foreclosed Home

Many buyers aim for foreclosed homes in an attempt to save money. However, as Home Finder explains, there are some potential downsides to this — the quality of the homes can be poor, the present occupants may be reluctant to leave, and you may inherit any debt associated with the property. Be sure that this is the right option for you; the buying process may be a little more stressful for your children, as there is a lot of red tape to get through and no guarantee that you’ll be successful at the end of it. You could try bringing your children along to an auction, which is normally allowed as long as they don’t interfere with the process. Just make sure you arrive early and settle in, as most auctions move quickly and early listings tend to go for less money.

Moving Day Tips

When packing up your old home, put your children’s possessions into the truck last so they will come out first. This will help them establish a base quickly, and they will be comforted by having familiar items around. Ahead of the move, you might want to take an inventory of all your furniture and possessions so you know the size of the truck you’ll need. If you get this wrong and you’re moving a long distance, extra trips could be expensive. To avoid confusion on arrival, be sure to label each box with the room it will go in the new house. HGTV has some more moving day tips here.

Create Familiarity

One of the most difficult parts of moving for children is the unknown. They will have to make new friends, get used to a new area, and go to a new school, and they don’t know what any of this will be like. You can ease the transition by creating familiarity as quickly as possible — go to parks and malls as a family, take them on a tour of their new school, and get to know your neighbors, especially the ones with children. You could also get involved in the community yourself; if you get the lay of the land early, you’ll know what opportunities exist for your children, such as youth groups, sports teams, music clubs, and so on.

It’s impossible to know how the move will work out in the short-term, as different children react in different ways. Most children have a six-week or so adaptation period before they are back to their old selves. Just do what you can to help them settle in, and be available — the rest is up to them.

Photo: Pixabay

Thank you to Alexis Hall for her input.

Carol Gilles, of the RealEstate Group, has been helping buyers and sellers for over 37 years, including a focus on working with families with children to help make their move a smooth transition.  Carol can be reached at 310-864-9738 or Carol@CarolGilles.com