Any move, whether across town or across the country, is a big adjustment for everyone involved. As stressful as it can be for adults, children seem to experience the most difficulty adjusting to the whole idea. This is especially true for school-aged children who most often feel as though they are being punished for some unknown reason by moving them away from all of their friends and everything that is familiar to them. There are some things you can do, however, to make the transition more bearable for your family and help your children to understand that this move is not a punishment of any sort, but rather a grand adventure for a new life.
Embrace the Community
No one is ever going to feel like a new house is “home” if they just move into a building and live like hermits. Get out there and explore the town. The kids will love getting to see everything the new place has to offer, and chances are you’ll have a pretty good time too. Scope out the area for restaurants and make a point to try out several throughout the day; one for breakfast, one for lunch, and one for dinner. Hey, kids love eating out so this could be an excellent way to loosen them up and encourage them to open their minds to everything else you’ll discover that day.
In between your ceremonial meals, explore the family activities available in the area. You might even get some good ideas from the people you’ll meet at the different restaurants. Check out the local park to see what it has to offer. Find out where the local movie theater is. You may even want to finish the day off by stopping there. Get a feel for the shopping scene. This will be particularly important if you have teenage children so that they can see that there is life here after all.
Emphasize Family Time
Exploring the community is fun and exciting for all, but nothing is more important than reinforcing the closeness of family. When you keep your family functioning as a tightly knit unit, your children will be better able to adjust to everything around them because they’ll have the security of knowing that no matter where they are, you all love each other and will always be there for each other.
In order to create this closeness, you have to go a little bit beyond just telling your kids you love them. You’ll have to show it by spending time with them. This can be really difficult to do with all the craziness of the move, but making a point to have a game night on a set day of the week and making sure to sit down together for dinner can have some really incredible benefits for your kids. Besides, you need a break too, and taking a little time just to enjoy life will help everyone feel more balanced during this transition.