No matter the reason for your move whether it be a job transfer, you’ve outgrown your space, a divorce, you are looking to move to a different neighbourhood or you are downsizing… you’ll be moving soon and you have children. It is always best to involve the children in the moving process as early as possible. Whether they are young children or adolescents they typically aren’t thrilled with the idea of moving. Fortunately, there are steps that you can take to ease the transition, the foremost being your attitude about the move and willingness to let your children share in the experience

1)Have a family meeting – gather for a casual family meeting with lots of conversation. Tell your children why you are excited about the move and encourage them to do the same.  Share with them your own feelings about moving and be sure to let them know that you will be depending on them for help during the move whether it be packing or settling in once you’ve moved. The more involved they are in the moving process the easier the transition will be for them

2)Get the kids feedback on the new home- depending on the children’s ages they undoubtedly have favourite features of their current home, ask them for a list of what those features are and attempt to replicate them in the new home if possible. If you will be looking at many homes or if you are moving to a new city it may be difficult to take the children with you to look at houses. Once you have narrowed the search to two or three homes, take the children to see the home with you or show them pictures online. You may be surprised by what they notice and can contribute to choosing your next home

3) Sold sign. If you sold your existing home to move or bought a new one, allowing the children to place the sold sign is a simple way to involve them in the process. Have your real estate agent take pictures of you and the children with the sold sign, not only does this involve the children but it will give you all a good memory to look back on together

4)Purge before packing- Moving is a great time to declutter. Involve the children by going room to room through your current home and deciding what items you will be taking with you and what you no longer need. Be sure to let them know that you don’t need to get rid of everything and those items that you no longer use can be donated locally or sold to go towards the purchase of something for the new house

5)Research the new place- Try to learn as much as possible about the new neighbourhood, community, or town. Share what you find with your kids. You don’t have to make everything seem wonderful but information about nearby parks, schools, recreation, sports groups and community amenities will help the kids to be excited about what they are moving to instead of focusing on what they are leaving behind

6)Room plans- to help your children become excited about the new house get them involved in planning their bedrooms at the new house. Take a trip to the hardware store to pick out a new paint color for their bedroom or if you are buying new furniture encourage them to help you pick it out. You don’t have to limit their involvement to just their own room, depending on their age they can be a big help with planning the design of the family room or dining room too

7)Do a site visit- if possible take the kids to the new place for a visit. If you’re just moving across town this could be as simple as an afternoon touring through the new house, neighbourhood, and their new school. If you are moving to a new city this may be more difficult however, you could simply go a couple of days prior to the moving truck arriving and have a staycation in your new town. Be sure to take advantage of the local amenities such as the swimming pools, movie theatres, parks, walking trails and the kid’s new schools.

8)Host a ‘see you soon” party- one of the most difficult things for a child of any age is saying goodbye to friends. Hosting a get-together with family and close friends can lesson this anxiety. During the party make sure to take plenty of pictures of the kids with their friends and be sure to exchange contact information with everyone. Between texting, emails and phone calls your children should be able to stay in touch and maintain old friendships.

9)Make a map- if you are moving far away make a map of the move and be sure to include several fun stops and detours along the way to keep the children engaged and entertained. The drive to the new home is the first step towards the new adventure and you want to help to make it as positive of an experience as possible.

10)Take the time to be a tourist- you have now moved in to the new house and are relatively settled. Set time aside roughly a week after the move to be a tourist in your new community. Whether it simply be walking through the new neighbourhood, meeting a neighbour or planning a day outing to discover the new local parks and recreation, if you make a day of it with the entire family, you will be creating new memories with the kids in a short amount of time.