Moving Checklist Tips For Moving With Children
- Inform children early.
- Keep a positive attitude in their presence.
- Allow them to talk openly about the move and to help make appropriate decisions.
- Ask me to provide information on activities of interest to children in the new location.
- Remind children often that although everything seems to be changing, the family is still very secure as a unit.
- Involve children in packing their personal belongings.
- Help them accumulate memoirs of present home and friends in an organized manner.
- Consider moving during the school year to avoid summer anxiety related to the first day of school.
- Be sure they are dressed as the local children on the first day to avoid being labeled "different."
- Allow children to take favorite toys and possessions with them on the trip.
- Have games and snacks for the trip.
- Request special educational or medical information early in the process.
- Get books about new location from bookstores before you go.
- Get books on moving for children.
- Get information for teenagers on areas of interest.
- Begin early by involving them in groups with common interest.
- Allow children to help with selections relating to their room in the new home.
- Take a camera on your new home buying trip if children do not go with you and bring pictures home.
- Allow children to video or audio tape messages to and from friends they are leaving behind.
- Allow children to make occasional phone calls to friends they left behind.
- Locate school bus stops in a new neighborhood to avoid stress the first day.
- Join swim and tennis clubs to meet new friends in the summer.
- Contact a local church as soon as possible, if desired, and get counseling if needed.
