6 Ways to Make Moving Easier on Your Child
When your child is young, home means everything to them. So, how can you move from one home to another with minimal anxiety and stress for your little ones? Best Coast Realty, LLC has some helpful tips to make the process of moving from one home to another easier on young children.
1.) Pack a “Moving Adventure Bag” for your Child
Create a special bag that includes a couple favorite toys, their favorite book, blanket, snacks, and other comfort items. This will be their “room-in-a-bag” that stays with them even as their old room gets packed up, and before their new room is assembled.
Other things in life may be changing, but these items, and easy access to them, will be a much-needed constant. It’s a helpful transitional tool.
2.) Give the Gift of a Flashlight!
Adding a flashlight to their moving adventure bag will help make the changes in environment less scary during the transition—both in the old house, as furniture moves and boxes are added, and in the new, unfamiliar house.
– Try taking these steps:
- Go into their old room, turn off the lights, and explore the corners with the flashlight
- Look inside the closet
- Look under the bed
- Count the surfaces: walls, ceiling, floor
- Repeat the same “moving adventure” in their new room, at the new house
- Having a flashlight gives them increased autonomy and confidence.
3.) Plan an Outing to the New Home with Your Child
Pack a lunch and go “have a picnic” in the new house—on their bedroom floor. Be sure to pack their favorite foods. While you are eating, play an imagination game and ask them what things they would like to do in their new room, once they move in. 
4.) Help Your Child Visualize Living There
Take a photo of your child in their new room or in the new play space, then print out a copy of that photo. Tape it at eye level in their current room, on their door, or on the fridge in the old house.
– Talk with your Child about the picture:
- Asking “Where would your favorite teddy like to be in this new room?”
- “Where would you like to put your bed? By the windows? On that wall?”
- Help them imagine themselves and their things in the new space.
- If their outside play space is also changing significantly—such as moving from the city into the country, or from an apartment to a house with a yard—be sure to also get a photo of the child in the new outdoor space.
- You may want to create a small flip-book of photos to tuck into their moving adventure bag so they can review the new places and share their excitement with their friends, grandparents, and even with you!
5.) Set Up Your Child’s Room First
This can be done easily by having them use a sleeping bag and their pillow to “camp out” in their old room the last couple of days before the move. Go ahead and move their familiar furniture into the new room and set it up first—so when they arrive, it will already come close to feeling like “theirs.”
If the child is particularly hesitant or anxious about the move, you may want to set up their room’s furniture as close to the old layout as possible. Once they settle in, you can rearrange and make an event out of redecorating their room. You can even plan to go shopping with your child for a new color to paint their room or new furniture.
6.) Help Celebrate the Milestones with Your Child
Buy a small gift and wrap it, or have it wrapped, beautifully. Put it in plain view in their room. Tell them that the morning after their first full night of sleeping in their new room, they will get to open their “new room” gift. This will give them something positive to anticipate about the move and may help prevent them from reverting to crawling into bed with you!
Anxiety stems from feeling helpless and fear of the unknown. By giving your child special tools and taking steps to build confidence and familiarity with their new home, you can help them adapt more quickly. 
Information from www.rebac.net
Need more info to assist your family with buying a new home? Contact:
Julie Liles, Broker/Owner
Best Coast Realty, LLC
904-763-3472
