As if moving wasn’t stressful enough
without kids, the process can become almost impossible to plan when you have to
account for them, too. People aren’t supposed to juggle that many
responsibilities at once.
How to Involve Your Kids In
the Moving Process
1. Keep Them Apprised of New Developments
One of the most important things you can do to help your kids come to terms with a move is simply — talk to them. Rather than waiting until the last minute to notify your kids that you’re moving, let them in on the secret from the beginning. They could even help you pick a new home if you’re in two minds about it. Alternatively, if you’ve already purchased a new home, you can show them pictures or have a walk around the new neighborhood.
Of course, before they can do that, you’ll have to let them know that you’re moving. School-aged children tend to have the strongest reactions in these kinds of situations, so tread carefully. But whatever you do, don’t underestimate their capacity to understand what’s going on. Explain the reason for the move plainly and answer any questions they have.
On the other hand, if you have toddlers or
preschoolers, you may have to use more innovative techniques. For example, you
can explain the move through a story, acting it out with toy trucks.
Ultimately, the method you use will depend on your kids’
ages, personalities, and levels of understanding.
2. Have Them Declutter With You
When you’re moving, you really don’t want to go to the trouble of packing items that will only get tossed out when you get to your new home. With that in mind, you should declutter your home before you start packing. However, that process can be a bit distressing, particularly to young children, who might think you’re looking to get rid of their stuff.
So have them help out. As you go through everyone’s things, deciding what’s worth keeping and what’s going in the trash, let them have their say. If you want, you can set aside a donation box as well, to lighten the load of the move. Let your kids know that the items you end up donating will mean the world to some other family.
3. Let Them Help You Pack
Once you’re down to the bare necessities, it’s time to start packing. You’ll want to handle the small stuff before you get a moving company to pack up the big pieces of furniture. Boxing it all up yourself will help both you and your kids prepare for the next stage of your lives.
If your kids aren’t too young, you can show
them how to pack certain items a few times and have them take over from there.
It may not end up being the neatest packing job you’ve ever seen, but it will
make them feel more in control. And as a bonus, it’ll take that task out of
your hands and leave you free to pack up other parts of the house.
4. Ask Them to Prepare Their Essentials
Whether you’re planning to move within the same neighborhood or across the country, pack a box or suitcase of essentials. These are the things you’ll need as soon as you get to the new house. To you, that might be fresh sheets or even sleeping bags, toothbrushes and toothpaste, or clean towels. Box them up and set them aside — they’ll go in the car or on the plane with you.
And while you’re at it, tell your kids to
gather the items they consider essential too. That’s another way to give them a
sense of agency during a chaotic time. Besides, seeing the things they find
essential will certainly give you new insights into your children’s inner lives.
While older kids usually choose their laptops and chargers, younger ones often
go for toys that have sentimental value.
5. They Can Label the Boxes
Even if you decide not to let your kids participate in the packing process, you can still have them mark boxes after you load them up. There are two ways to go about doing this. On the one hand, you can give your kids premade sticker packs for different rooms or types of items. For example, they can paste “fragile” labels on all the boxes that contain dishes.
Alternatively, you can just pass on some
markers and have them write out the rooms everything should go into when it
gets to your new house. According to the folks at Oz Moving &
Storage, having clearly marked boxes helps movers figure out where
to put them. Boxes that have those “fragile” stickers will end up on top of the
others in the moving van. And when it comes to moving into the new house, the
room labels will let the movers know where to set everything down.
6. Recruit Them to Help Clean the Place
Once the movers have emptied your old home, you may have to clean the place up for its future inhabitants. In fact, you could even have a clause in your rental agreement stating that the walls need to be the same color they were when you moved in. If you have painted them in the meantime, you would have to return them to their original state.
Luckily, most children find cleaning and
painting walls exciting. So if they’re old enough, they can help you tidy up
before you move.
Make Moving Fun for the Whole Family
Ultimately, the key to moving with kids is
to take as much guesswork out of the process as possible. However, you should
still be able to deviate from the plan if necessary. Your kids just need you to
keep them in the loop and let them transition at their own pace. As long as you
do that, they’ll fit into your plans quite naturally.
