Children are great! For most people they are the goal of life. All our dreams and hopes get projected in our children, and we love them for it. But they do need special care and that applies to all kinds of life situations.
Moving has been proven to be one of the most stressful events a family goes through. Add that to the fact that most Americans move on average 12 times during the course of their lives, and things go cah-razy!
So what happens when your little ones get stressed? The move gets even harder. You must not only take care of the whole process, but figure out how to comfort your kids while doing it.
We from H2H Movers have seen a lot of families move, so here are our tips on how to make the whole things as butter-smooth as possible.
#1 Talk To Them
If your kids are old enough to understand you, you should talk to them about the move. You don鈥檛 have to be extensive, you just need to explain that you are switching homes, that perhaps they will be going away from some friends and so on.
If they are younger, this tends to be quick and easy. However, older kids have a tougher time adjusting to a new place, as they mostly cling to the memories of old. This usually happens because they miss their friends, or school, or both.
#2 Help Them Say Goodbye
If you do a good job of explaining that being far away from a friend doesn鈥檛 mean you have to lose touch, your kid may adjust much better. In this modern day of technology it is much easier to catch up with friends than it was 20 years ago.
But to help everything go as painlessly as possible, you should help your children say goodbye to their friends, and let their friends know that a goodbye shouldn鈥檛 last a lifetime. Well, we know that friends (especially childhood ones) come and go, but harsh lessons should be left for another time.
#3 Get Them Involved In The Process
Quite often kids want to help. They want to help with everything, actually, though they may end up causing more harm than good. But do your best to insert them into the process. Ask them to pack, or wrap or clean the house.
If your children feel involved in the moving, they will see the whole thing as something done, and leaving the old home behind will be like closing a book. It was good, but it鈥檚 now finished. And that鈥檚 better than not letting them get closure. A bit psychological we got here, but that鈥檚 the truth.
Final Note and Conclusion
If it鈥檚 possible, you should take your kids to the new place before you move. Show them around. Maybe even assign rooms. That way your kids will adjust much better and they will have something to look forward to.
If going to see the new place is not possible, you should at least show them pictures of it. Or tell them all about it. Let them have a mental picture of it. It is much easier to leave something behind if there a new thing to cling onto.