Helping Your Family Adjust to Life in a New Home

Guest Blogger #780, Entry #1846, November 20, 2012

If you’ve read even a couple of articles on raising kids, one of the things that you’ve probably come across is just how much a child needs consistency in their lives in order to feel comfortable so that they can thrive, especially in when moving to a new home.

So, what to do you do when you and your spouse have decided that the best thing, overall, for your family is to move to a new place? How do you figure out how to merge better opportunity with your child’s level of stability then?

How to ease your family into a new home

That’s definitely a good question. The good news is that there are some pretty great (and proven) solutions. Below, we have five tips on how you can help your family better adjust to life in a new place so that change will seem like a good thing rather than an unsettling time:

Have family meetings.

It’s one thing to up and announce “Hey kids, we’re moving.” It’s another approach entirely to approach your kids with, “Hey, let’s all have a family meeting to discuss a few things.” A lot of times, children are more uneasy about feeling like news is being forced upon them rather than the news itself. So, make the time to schedule a family meeting (or two) to share the plan and listen to their thoughts out it.

Encourage research.

Whether it’s a new city or a new neighborhood, it’s easier to put people’s (especially kid’s) minds at ease when they know more about where they are going. So, if it’s a new neighborhood, take out a couple of weekends before the big move for them to get acquainted with the neighborhood and the sights. If it’s to a new city, encourage them to go online and share with you some of the things that interest them so that you can take special note of making a visit once you arrive.

Document it.

A part of what makes moving such a hard thing to do is that in most cases, it’s not much fun. You have the power to change all of that, though. Perhaps have a packing party where some of your kid’s friends can spend the night and help. Or maybe do your own family documentary where you videotape the process and interview everyone about the experience. It might be something to look forward to watching once you’re in the new place.

Let your family have time to adjust to their new home

Plan dates.

Chances are, the family is going to miss some of the places around the old house. So, why not go on a couple of family dates to reminisce? It’s also going to take a while for everyone to get used to the new home. Therefore, it’s also a cool idea to go on a few dates to check out some new spots there as well. The more creative and engaging you encourage the family to be about saying “good-bye” to the old and “hello” to the new, the easier the transition will be for everyone involved.

Give your family time to adjust

Even if where you are going is one of the best places to live in the country, change is still hard (that’s why they call it “growing pains”) and so there are probably going to be a roller coaster of emotions for everyone in the house. There is nothing “bad” about not feeling good on some days. The more freedom that everyone is given to grieve the past and process the present, the brighter your future will be.

Images via: 1, 2

For more moving tips on Stagetecture, click here.