How to prepare your children for moving day?

Raising and caring for children is not an easy task on any day. Literary all the parents will agree on this. However, it is even harder of a job when you have to do something as complicated with your life as moving. Moving is tiring, demanding, and it takes planning. Having a kid to manage through all of that is even tougher for many reasons. Therefore, asking for help and tips is definitely a good idea. With that in mind, we should answer the topic of this post: how to prepare your children for moving day?

To answer this, let us first examine how the children perceive this process

You have to understand before you prepare your children for moving day

How does your child perceive the day when your residential movers NYC of choice arrives at your door? Furthermore, how do they deal with the whole process leading up to this “d-day” of sorts? These are the kind of questions you should be asking. 

Children can be very smart, and it is in the nature of all parents to notice especially insightful moments of their own children. However, the fact of the matter remains is that kids, small children especially, have a limited grasp of the necessity of some actions that are taken by adults such as yourself. How different is their perception really?

Well, the difference in the way they perceive and react to the move can be best seen through various child development stages. However, we are no psychologists and will simplify these stages into three we find to be of most relevance to this topic we are discussing. 

• First, among stages we should consider when trying to prepare your children for moving day, is the age between 0-7 years of life. In this stage, we are basically talking about pre-school children and toddlers. At this point, there is no hope in trying to explain to them the complexities of a multitude of factors that made you relocate. However, that can be on your advantage. At this age, no real secondary socialization actually took place. You and your family are their home, and wherever you move, the home is there. Therefore, project confidence and you will be just fine. As long as you all stay together and you seem assured of the decision, they will go easily. 
• The second category is from the ages of 8 all the way to 14 years of life. At this point, we are talking about children that can, in a limited manner, understand the reasons and the process of the move. But, they are also school kids and have friends and socialization outside the home. Here, it will be a little harder for them to leave those friends behind. At a young age, leaving a friend is, in their mind, the equivalent to losing them forever…
• Finally, we have to talk about teenagers, those from 15 to 18 years of age. Here, they can and should be able to understand the complexities of the move and even be of meaningful help. However, you have to take care and talk to them about why it is absolutely necessary to move. Their identity is being formed with their secondary socialization and losing their friends will mean a lot to them. Therefore it is very important for them to understand that it is absolutely necessary.

Getting them to help with the packing

The best thing you can do at almost all ages is to prepare your children for moving day by getting them involved in the process of the move. This way you are giving them something they very much lack in the current understanding of the moving process – agency. With the lack of agency that is only natural in their position, there comes frustration and misunderstanding. 

For this reason, you should “employ them” in various roles in the move. First and foremost, why not get them to help you with packing. If they are a little bit older, they can help with packing no problem. If younger, however, you can always get them to “pretty up” the box or other jobs that will let them feel like they are helping. 

Research might be more useful for them than for you

While your kids will probably not be able to make a deep analysis of how to reduce the cost of living in your new town, they will be able to independently research some of the information they will care about (as long as they are old enough to read).

You should encourage them to look into the history, climate and other information about the place you are moving in. Also, be sure to act surprised when they inform you of the information they find interesting, it will help them feel like they are helping!

New school, new friends

Be it that you are employing local movers NYC and are not moving that far, or that you are going for a longer ride, it is likely that you are going to move your kid to a different school. 

Be sure to talk to the school staff about how will your kid integrate with the class. Furthermore, be sure to let your kid go into the new school at his own pace. These things are challenges!

Find fun things to do on the move

All of this is of course for a residential move, and while demanding it is not something seeking as much of your attention as, for example, commercial moving NYC. So why not use that to your advantage. Let your movers do the work and you go somewhere fun!

Where to go when you finish up on the move?

Finally, when you have successfully finished up on your efforts to prepare your children for moving day and have relocated to your new home, be sure to give yourself and your kid a treat. Go to a fun place in your new town. Enjoy the successful end of this endeavor!