How to Help Kids Adjust to a New Home

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How to Help Kids Adjust to a New Home

If the house you’ll be moving to is near enough to visit and you have access to it, you should take your children over and show them around before you move. I do remember being very little the first time my family moved and actually getting to see my childhood house being built. It was very cool. I was about 4 or 5 then and I don’t remember being sad about moving. I think if you have an opportunity to do that, it will be very exciting to most children. Houses that are already built and have people living in them might be a bit more intimidating. Even if the most you can do is show them the outside, get them over there and used to the idea. Of course, if you are moving farther away or out of state or country, you can show your children pictures and show them how happy and excited you are about the new house. Your feelings will affect how your children feel, so continue to be positive and optimistic about the changes coming. If you have the ability to move things into the house bits at a time before you start living there, let your children choose some items to put in their rooms so that when they go over there, it will already have the feeling of being their new home.

Take Kids to Visit Their New School

If your children are going to be changing schools, be sure to take them to their new school grounds and go on a tour if possible.

While we don’t always have a choice as to when we have to move to a new home, it’s always best to try to make your move during summer break or as early in the school year as possible. Uprooting kids and moving them away from their schoolmates and friends midyear can be very difficult and cause additional stress on everyone. Regardless of when you leave, you may want to consider hosting a going away party for your kids. That will give them a chance to say good-bye and it will give you an opportunity to take a bunch of pictures of them together. This way your children can keep their friends with them even from a distance.

Do Your Research

Before you move into your new home, you may want to research some ways for both you and your children to be social. You can check to see if there is a MOMS Club chapter in your area. MOMS Club is great for stay-at-home moms with children 5 and under. You can look for a local chapter at https://momsclubinternational.org. If your children are in pre-school, you can check out MOPS (Moms of Pre-schoolers) at https://www.mops.org/. If you’d like to locate some local play areas, Kaboom has a wonderful online tool at https://kaboom.org/playspacefinder. Let your children know that there will be new friends to meet and adventures to have.

More Quick and Dirty Tips

I have two more quick and dirty tips to share before I go. One suggestion is to involve your children in the painting or decorating of their new rooms. Let them pick out a theme or some decorations or help you in deciding what colors of paint to put on the walls. Hey, they have to live in there; they should like it, right? The second tip is to keep to your normal routine as much as possible, both before, during, and after the move. Children are most comfortable when they know what to expect. Bedtimes, mealtimes, and playtimes should continue to be on schedule. Kids are pretty adaptable and even if they do have a little trouble adjusting, just keep in mind that it will pass. Remember to be happy and excited about your new place, and most likely, your children will too.

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