Moving Right Along: Moving With Kids

Just popping in for a quick ‘hello’ and a note or two about moving with kids. I have now survived four moves with one or more children running around, and we’ve all made it through alive! Here are a few tips I’ve found that go a long way toward making things a bit more bearable for everyone.

Talk about the move ahead of time. Don’t forget to include the fact that they probably won’t be going back to the old place once you’re moved out. I think younger kids have a hard time with this; they keep waiting to go ‘home’ and they don’t realize the new place is permanent.

If possible, take them to the new house to look around and play before the move. This helped our kids with the last move since they were already familiar with the house. *If you can visit during the day and evening this is even better. New places are scary in the dark!*

Point out to them which room will be theirs and help them imagine how everything will work. “The bunk beds will go over here and then I was thinking we’d hang such and such a picture right there on the wall” will get them excited and starting to picture their new space.

Let them pack up a few things of their own that are special to them. Judah and Adaleine have no preference for certain toys or books, but Eden was very worried that all of her special toys needed extra care. I gave her a basket to put her special things in and she felt a lot better.

The ideal for moving day would be to have the kids out of the picture for the entire moving day. For us this just wasn’t an option so we made arrangements for them to go play at a friend’s for a few hours. It covered one full trip to and from the house. I think it helped them to go back to the house mostly empty rather than seeing it get torn apart bit by bit. That’d be like a little kid’s horror movie! : )

Last tip: try to set up their room first. I know it will drive you nuts that first couple of days to go into the kitchen and see boxes on all the counters. But trust me, they will sleep better and feel more at ease with the whole move if they have a semi-peaceful place to call their own.

Even with all the helpful lists in the world, the truth is that moving with kids is hard. Hopefully these tips will help ease the transition for everyone and make it seem like going on a new adventure rather than leaving behind an old life. Just remember that the things that seem little and silly to us mean a lot to them, so try to find new ‘special’ things in the new place. They’ll start rocking again in no time : )