When it comes to preparing your family for a house move, there will likely be many changes to your life and upheaval of your days in the run-up to the move. Packing a house up while maintaining all of your normal day-to-day activities can be difficult with children, and tackling the task at hand head-on can help ease the family into things and reduce the impact this will have on everyone during the transition period.
This post discusses tips for helping your family through the home change and moving process.
Involve The Children
Talk to your children and let them know what is happening and when. Give clear and concise information and ensure they feel like they’re part of the process. Let them ask questions and answer them honestly, and allow them to be a part of the decision-making process when it concerns them directly. This can be choosing how to decorate their new room or even choosing their room; it can be deciding what they do and don’t want to take with them or even allowing them to have their friends around when you do move so they feel more settled. Don’t freeze your children out and think it won’t impact them because of their age; allow them to be a part of this and remove any secrecy or unknowns from the process.
Avoid Term Time Moves
As much as possible, especially if moving to a new area and requiring a school change, do not move house during a school term. This can be unsettling and only make your child ultimately resent or fear the move. Try to book your move for a half term or the school holidays but if not possible move on a weekend so they don’t go to school from one house and home to another place, especially if they haven’t been to the new house. If that is unavoidable, try to get them used to the new property as much as possible before the move so they are more familiar with it, and it’s not a big shock.
Assign Them Tasks
Try to get your kids as excited for the upcoming move as possible by asking them to help you complete tasks. It could be decluttering their toys or storage units in the home; it can be having them write on boxes so you know what is in them or allowing them to “project manage” and have a tick list they help you to carry out. The more involved they are, the easier it will be to acclimatise them to changes.
Take Them To The New Area
If you are moving to an entirely new area, take them to visit as much as possible, even if it is not the house exactly. Show them where they will live, take them to the local parks and amenities and have fun in your new location. This can help build excitement and remove the worries about moving somewhere completely different. Of course, if you are staying local, this won’t be a big deal, but you can still take them to the new house to see it either inside or from the outside so they know what to expect.
Stick To Routine
This is especially important if you have younger children. You want to stick to their routine during the packing phase and after the move as much as possible. Carry on doing everything you would usually do at the exact times or as close to as possible. This can help limit the disruption they can feel during this time.
Remove Stress
It’s important not to let your children know how stressful this might be for you as they will pick up on this feeling themselves. Always stay calm and iron out any kinks away from them to avoid raising their anxieties and insecurities over the house move, and allow everything to be a fun experience for them, even if it’s far from it for you.
Get Help
Talk to family and friends and see if they can help you out with childminding, packing or organising the move; use the nursery or school time to do the bulk of the work if possible, and see if you can arrange playdates with friends for particularly busy times or even moving day itself if you will be able to have the kids around while you move. Use self-storage companies such as Pink Storage to help you get organised and store boxes out of the home to give you more space and less clutter. Look into booking removal companies who will do the bulk of the packing and moving for you without loading up hire vans yourself to take even more off your plate.
You can involve your family in a house move in many ways and help them ease into the big move. There will always be some worries about change as far as kids are concerned, but by listening to them, talking to them and involving them in what is happening, you can help to make this time easier for everyone.
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