Helping Children With A Move

Helping Children With A Move

• Show the children the new home and their new room prior to moving.  If this is not possible, pictures or videos will help them visualize their new home.
• Assure children that you won’t forget their friends.
• Make a scrap book of the old home and neighborhood.
• Throw a good-bye party.  At the party, have their friends sign a tee shirt.
• Have your children write good-bye letters and enclose their new address.  You may wish to call the other children’s parents so they will encourage return letters.
• When packing, give them their own box.  They can decorate it so they know which one it is.
• If you move far away, buy postcards when you stop so they can remember the trip.
• When unpacking, allow them to unpack their treasures, then have them play with the boxes while you unpack.
• Start a scrap book for their new home.  Include a diary of “My first……”
• Visit their new school, park, church, etc.  Take a camera.
• Help your children invite new friends to the house.
• Let them choose a new favorite restaurant.  This will help them feel in control of their new world.
• Encourage them to send letters to their friends about their new home.
• Involve your children in groups, sports, and activities like the ones they used to participate in.

Remember even if you only lived in a home a few years, to a young child it is nearly their entire lifetime!