Moving Home With Children

Tips & Advice For Families Moving Home With Children

If moving home with children and preparing a house removals, you will know it can be an incredibly stressful and distressing time for them. After all, they might be leaving their friends, school and the familiar home that they’ve always known. This article explains the challenges children face when moving home and what you can do to help the situation.

1. Involve your children in the move
2. Allow them to say goodbye
3. Durning the move
4. After the move
5. Packing children’s toys
6. Tips for packing toys when moving home with children

Involve your children in the move

Giving children tasks and responsibility will give them control over their own situation. Involve them in the packing and let them pack up their own toys and room. Make sure that your children’s toys are the last items to be packed onto the removal truck and are therefore easily accessed at the other end. If possible, let younger children pack up their own bedrooms. It’s important that they feel comfortable and like their own space. Taking your children for a fun day out in the new area can help make them feel more confident in the move. Show them the lovely local parks, leisure centres, child-friendly restaurants, schools and cinemas. 

Allow them to say goodbye

If you’re moving out of the area, organise a little leaving party. Take photographs of your children’s friends, their current home, bedroom and favourite places in the neighbourhood. You could even help them create a scrapbook. Do make sure they have their friends’ contact details, including telephone numbers and email addresses, so they know they won’t have to lose contact.

During the move

Ideally, have friends or relatives look after your children on the day of your house move. If this isn’t possible, keep children in the loop as to what’s happening and give them little tasks to do, such as ensuring all toys are cleared from the house and loaded into the van.For very young children, make sure their high chairs and feeding/changing equipment is to hand, so that you can maintain their routine as much as possible during the move.

After the move

When moving home with children, don’t be surprised if your child becomes more clingy after moving to a new house, this is natural. Stick to your routine as much as possible especially around bedtime and meals. Don’t unpack all boxes straight away, but make it the main focus to unpack their boxes first, having their room sorted as soon as possible; so they have as many things around them that are familiar will help them settle quicker. It may be a couple of days after your move that it hits your child, this can be when all the fun and chaos have finished and when tears can appear, so spend time exploring the new area with your child especially parks, swings or take walks pointing out all the new exciting things they can do. Local baby or toddler groups are ideal for meeting new mums and finding out about your area.

Packing Children’s Toys

If you are moving home with children you should be aware that children will usually hold onto their things a little bit tighter. Moving is all about change and this often unsettles children. If you have younger children, always try to pack their room last and when possible unpack their room first at the new home. Let your child pack some of their own toys and let them pick some toys out to keep with them in a bag.

Tips for packing toys when Moving home with children:

• Remember to drain all water from squirt guns and bath toys.

• Seal paints or any other messy items away into a bag.

• Pack the toys in boxes with brown wrapping paper and fill spaces with towels/clothes.

• Fragile toys can be wrapped in extra bubble wrap.
• Once all items are packed seal the box and let your child write their name on it or maybe even decorate the box