Ideas for moving house with children..

mr_and_mrs_ts

Anyone got any ideas for moving house with children to make it smooth / fun for them? I don't want mine to be worrying unduly.

Thanking you in advance for your suggestions.

dirtysexymonkey

have someone else take them out for the day?

Lady_Aga

Start a few weeks in advance. Give them some packing boxes and encourage them to pack up things that they will not need for a couple of weeks. Old toys/clothes/books can be donated to charity/binned/ given away etc.

The night before the move, I would have them stay overnight with a relative. You can then concentrate on the big day. This assumes that you are not moving 400 miles from your new house!

Put their beds/curtains up before you collect them.

It will be a very stressful day for everyone, and there will be shouting/swearing and possibly tears. If the kids are not there for part of the day then so much the better. You cannot expect them to sit still or help when there are boxes and heavy furniture being moved around. It's dangerous.

Desperado99

Are you just moving to a different part of town, or is it a big move?

mr_and_mrs_ts

it's only local - thank you for your ideas, will aim to implement them all.

gingin_2

It depends on the ages but we had great fun moving last year. I would get them involved in planning where items will go in their rooms, get them packing and moving boxes and make sure you have the obligatory pizza from a box on the floor for the first night's dinner.

Chakani

I would say, if they are young, then the most important thing is to get their bedroom sorted, as in their bed up, and full of their familiar things, the day you move in. This made a huge difference with our then-two year old, and he settled into the new house immediately. We found that we moved most toys in the containers they were normally stored in, so there was very little unpacking involved.

mr_and_mrs_ts

thanks for all the ideas - it's stressful as it is moving and I don't want mine worrying 2, want it to be fun for them.

claire16c

Lady_Aga wrote: »

The night before the move, I would have them stay overnight with a relative. You can then concentrate on the big day. This assumes that you are not moving 400 miles from your new house!

Thats what my parents did. They arranged for me and my sister to stay with a close friend.

However, being a particularly nervous child I threw up in the morning and so I got to stay home with my parents in the end as I couldnt go to school! I remember sitting on the bare carpet being reallllly bored for a bit.

Then I went with my mum for a walk around the town to wait for the keys. I found it quite exciting that part and going into our new house for the first time. I think my parents would much rather I had been out of the way though!:rotfl:

So if you can get them out of the way I would. And let them take a box of their toys or things with them to get out straight away in their new rooms.

mumto2loves

hi
most children adapt really easily, but I would suggest you just keep telling them that ALL of their things will move with them, they will all have a space in the new house, keep saying it again and again.
My 2 were fine, really excited about the move until 2 days before when my dd was really inconsolable, it turned out she thought she'd have to leave all her things behind, even though she'd obviously seen us packing everything in boxes!

msb5262

Hi OP,

You've had brilliant suggestions above.

I'm not sure what age your children are, but if they are under about 8 I'd recommend a beautiful picture book called, "A New Home for Tiger" by Joan Stimson. It's currently available secondhand online or may well be in your local library.

Have a look, I'd challenge anyone to resist the lovely illustrations - the story is very reassuring and it's fab for calming young children's anxieties about moving house.

HTH

MsB

(Also see "Moving Molly" by Shirley Hughes)