Helping Children Cope with the Move

 

1. 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 where they are going.

2. Assure children that you won’t forget their friends.

3. Make a scrapbook of the old home and neighborhood.

4. Throw a good-bye party. At the party, have their friends sign a t-shirt.

5. Have your children write good-bye letters and enclose their new address. You may wish to call the other children’s parents so that they will encourage return letters.

6. When packing, give your children their own boxes and let them decorate them.

7. Start a scrapbook for your new home.

8. Visit your children’s new school, park, church, etc… Take a camera.

9. Help your children invite new friends over to your new home.

10. Let your children choose a new favorite restaurant. This will help them feel in control of their new environment.

11. Encourage your children to send letters about their new home to their friends.

12. Involve your children in groups, sports, and activities like the ones they used to participate in.

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