The task of moving is not easy. The organizing, the boxes, the weight of your belongings and the accommodation of everything in the new home can be a stressful task; but that tension is also felt by children and if adult’s health is compromised, imagine how a small child can be affected.
The change of environment can be aggressive for your children, as well as the adaptation to a new room, a new bathroom and new neighbors with whom you should coexist. Remember the Disney movie Inside out? The fiction of this animated film is not far from reality.
However, a move with kids can result in pleasant or less hectic consequences, as long as you consider the following tips.
Conversations
Talk to your children about the days ahead, the reasons to move from home and and explain that they won’t lose their friends, schoolmates, or teachers; instead, they will have the opportunity to meet new people.
No matter how old your kids are, it’s always important to talk about what’s coming as part of the process. In fact, you can appeal to games and toys to explain them.
Take their opinions into account
A move can be more stressful for your children, but you can make it easier if their tastes, needs, and requests are considered. You can ask what they would like to have in the new house and even take them to visit the real estate options for what could be their new home. Remember that children are part of the family, a very important one, and therefore they should be considered.
Keep them active!
When packing time comes, it would be very useful to invite them to participate, either by identifying the boxes or by asking them to reach objects, as long as they are safe.
Let them customize or decorate the boxes according to their taste and store in them their most precious items, such as the most precious toys, books and things that do not require special packaging because they are fragile.
Contact with friends
Once installed in the new home, it would be helpful if children kept in touch with their school friends or former neighbors. Currently there are many tools for such purpose, so it won’t be difficult, even being thousands of miles away.
Remember that one of the biggest fears your child probably has is “losing” his old life, and that includes his friends. That’s why it would be a good idea to invite playmates to their new home for an afternoon visit, if possible.
Adding friendships
Make sure the little ones know that they don’t have to be alone and that they can make great friends where they moved. Yes, it can be complicated for the shy; but if you enroll them in extracurricular activities, such as sports, theater, painting, singing, among others, where there are other children with common interests, you can help them adapt.
