Relocating can sometimes be difficult for children to handle. Here are a few tips for helping children cope with the move:

 

• 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.
• Assure children that you won’t forget their friends.
• Make a scrapbook of the old home and neighborhood.
• Throw a good-bye party. At the party have their friends sign a t-shirt.
• 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.
• When packing, give your children their own box and let them decorate it. Start a scrapbook for your new home.
• Visit your children’s new school, park, church, etc… Take a camera.
• Help your children invite their new friends over to your new home.
• Let your children choose a new favorite restaurant that is close to the house. This will help them feel in control of their new world.
• Encourage them to send letters about their new home to their friends.
• Involve your children in groups, sports, and activities like the ones they used to participate in.

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