While moving to a new place does symbolize the starting of a new chapter in your life, this new chapter comes with a lot of struggle. Ask anyone you know about moving to a new house and they will tell you their fair share of horror stories. Moving is stressful enough on its own but you add a toddler to the mix and you have the recipe for a nightmare.
If you think that uprooting your life from one place so you can start over in another place drains you out, just imagine how stressful it would be for your child. However, just because someone else had a horrible experience, does not mean that you have to suffer from the same.
Here are some ways in which you can help your child adjust to your new house.
- Amp up the excitement level
To put it simply, if you’re excited about the move then your kid’s going to be excited, too. Our children are smarter than we think and they pick up on everything from our visual cues to our mood swings. If your child sees you being stressed out about the move or cribbing about your new home, they are going to develop the same attitude. If you’re happy about the move, your child’s going to be happy about the move. Get your child excited about the move by highlighting all the wonderful things that are going to happen in their lives by moving to a new place. Perhaps they are going to get neighbors with children the same age as them or their neighborhood is going to have an ice-cream shop, whatever the case may be, you need to make your children excited for this new journey. You can only paint a pretty picture for your children if you yourself are stress-free about the move. 90% of stress about moving to a new place comes from the actual moving part itself, and having the option of getting help from professional movers can take a major part of that stress off of your shoulders, allowing you to focus on helping your child out and making the move pleasant for them.
- Bring back familiarity in their lives
Children often get anxious in new surroundings and that is why they find it hard to adapt to new surroundings. Moving to Miami from Orlando, for example, can be a huge change for a child. When that happens, it’s imperative that children be shown that there is still familiarity in their lives even if the surrounding is new. From day one, keep your children hooked on to the same schedule they had followed in their previous home. Furthermore, make sure to let them incorporate pieces of their old life into their new home. Let them sleep with their old bedding on their new mattress or drink from old sippy cups. They need some thread for clinging to their old life while they try and assimilate into their new environment. This will also help you keep calm instead of throwing a monumental tantrum when your child’s comfort blanket gets lost while moving.
- Make their new environment pleasant
Expecting your child not to have any meltdowns or bursts of anger after uprooting their whole life is asking for a miracle. They will cry, they will whine and they will blame you. It’s upon you to redirect their angst and sadness into something else. If they are sad about leaving behind friends, find some new friends for them in the neighborhood. Treat them extra special to signify the importance of this move, from getting them new toys or incorporating ice cream during meal time. Peace in your new house depends upon your child’s happiness and if ice cream for lunch is what makes them happy, then let that be it. Part of making the new environment pleasant for your child means letting them think that they still have control over their lives. Involve them in decisions about the house even if it means asking their opinion on kitchen tiles. Children often feel angst at having such a dramatic change occur in their life without their approval so things like these will make them feel like they’re in control again.
People often say that the two most anxiety-inducing parts about moving to a new place are the reactions of your children and the actual part of moving your stuff. While your moving can be taken care of using external help, the former is going to be entirely your own responsibility.