20 Tips for Moving Home with a Young Family

The reason you are now moving home may well be because you have a family that has outgrown your present home, but how do you tell a child they are moving from the only home they have probably ever known?

Preparing younger children for a home move should be easier than your teenagers, who we will cover in more depth later.

However, the one parenting skill common to both age groups you will need is good communication.

You may also like to read: Tips for Moving House with a Baby. Moving home is daunting enough on its own, but having a baby to look after at the same time presents a whole raft of extra challenges. This guide offers practical tips on how to cope with a hope move and a young baby.

How to Move Home with Children

Children are blessed with an abundance of curiosity and wonder in their younger years, which is going to make your impending home move one massive adventure for them, and will certainly help your child cope with moving home.

You can add to this awe and excitement in the way you communicate the home move to them, which should be done at the earliest possible opportunity.

Ten Top Tips for Moving Home with Children

#1 Introduce them to your new home.  

Ideally try to plan a physical visit to your new home, failing that, have an online tour to show your children how exciting their new home is. Highlight to them all the positive things about the new area, as well as the fun places to visit and things to see. Show them their new school, the great facilities it has, and highlight the opportunity to make even more friends. Build excitement for them and turn the home move into a huge adventure.

#2 Take them to school.

If the move means new schools for the kids, then try to plan the move during the school holidays. There may then be an opportunity to enroll your children in some summer activities arranged by the school, where they can get to know some of their new classmates in an informal setting.

#3 Share positive stories.

Share with your children all the great things that have happened when you have previously moved, the fun you had, and the positive things that happened as a result of that home move.

#4 Open Me First Box.

Let the kids pack, or help decide what to pack, in their first night box. This is all the essential things that your children need to make them feel comforted, things that are familiar to them, and that will keep them stimulated and occupied on moving day. Don’t forget to include some treats for them too.

#5 Let the Kids Help.

Why not let the kids decorate or write on their bedroom moving boxes? Not only will this be fun for them but will make it fun for you too. Don’t forget to leave out their favourite toys so that they can go in the open-me-first box.

#6 Take time to say goodbye.

It might help your children to have a farewell party, especially if you are moving far away. Perhaps you could even organize a leaving scrapbook for your children, filled with happy photos and the contact details, such as telephone numbers, addresses, and Skype addresses, of all their friends. For those friends of your children who cannot attend the going away party, perhaps set up a social network page where they can post their farewell messages.

#7 Keep the kids safe on Moving Day.

Arrange for a babysitter to keep the children out of harm’s way on moving day. Not only will it be safer for them, but should you get stressed on moving day they will not witness it.

#8 Make the 1st Night Fun.

Rather than dive straight into unpacking everything on moving day night, plan to organize the children’s bedrooms first so that they are comfortable, and safe and have some familiar things around them. It will help the transition from old to new home easier for them. Why not arrange to have some of their favourite food that first night, perhaps play some games if the TV is not set up? And if there is no furniture or beds yet, why not turn one room into a campsite for the first night. It will be a memory they will treasure.

#9 Music makes Memories.

Having a soundtrack for moving day and that first night in your new home may help the children relax if it contains some of their favourite music. You can play it in the car on the journey to your new home and in your makeshift campsite that first night.

#10 Relocation Depression.

A lack of familiar things may make your child pine for their old home or bedroom. Include some of their favourite things to unpack on your first night, as well as curtains and bedding that will be familiar, and which will also make their room more comfortable for them. Don’t forget to include a night light and extension cable just in case.  

You may also like to read: How to Childproof Your New Home. This is an essential guide full of useful and practical tips to ensure that your new home is safe for your children.

Tips for Moving Home with a Teenager

Being a teenager when your whole world is twixt childhood and adulthood is a stressful and bewildering time.

And if you are just about to announce a family home move to your teenagers, then life is about to become even harder for them.

It may well be that your teenager has never known any other home.

Couple that with the fact that their friends and social circle, who are their support mechanism to get through everyday life, are also about to be taken away from them, and you can imagine that their world is about to be turned upside down.

Unfortunately, your teenagers will not have the life skills that you have acquired to deal with those changes.

But with the right approach, this could be a fantastic opportunity for your teenagers to learn some new social skills, have new experiences, and learn some valuable life skills.

But how do you convince them of that? Parenting teens through a move is never going to be easy. You know that before the calm there will be a storm. Shouting, door slamming and long silences will almost certainly be their reaction to the news of the family moving home.

You may also like to read: How to Leave a Home You Love. There are numerous coping strategies within this guide that your teenagers may find useful in helping them cope emotionally with the home move.

So what is considered the best way to help teenagers to cope with moving home?

#1. Be empathetic

Yes, their preferred form of communication with you is likely to be ranting and raving. Stay calm, you will be expecting that reaction, and responding in the same way will just make the situation worse.

Listen calmly to what they are trying to say, mirror their statements back to them to show that you are really listening and that you have understood their point of view.

You may even share some of their same concerns, so let them know that, and share with them how you are dealing with that emotion or situation.

#2 Talk openly

Sit down and have an honest conversation with them.

Teenagers are neither adults nor children, but by talking about their fears and anxiety regarding the impending home move, you will show that you value their opinion and that what they have to say does matter to you.

This is not about you changing your mind, or bending to their wishes, it is about respecting their point of view.

Share with them the reasons why the home move is happening, and what a fantastic new start this will be for the whole family.

Teenagers have short attention spans so this is not the time for a war and peace length speech at them, but it is the time for them to air their point of view, and you yours.

Having had this conversation, it may well be that a cooling off period when the subject of the home move is not discussed would benefit all concerned.

#3 Involve them in the home move

Involve your teenagers as much as you can, and do this as early in the home-moving process as possible.

Let them see the new home you are moving to, and ask them how they envisage the layout or décor of their new room.

Suggest to them that they get on the internet and find some places that they would like to visit, and to find exciting things to do around the region.

Maybe they could enroll the family in some social media groups for your new area, find out what local events are taking place soon, and even check out things like what will be on at the cinema when you move.

If there is a choice of schools, perhaps that is something that they can research.

This is all about getting them interested in the new area and finding something that will stimulate them.

Even just something as simple as finding a vegan takeaway may be the one thing that tips the new home into the cool, or at least mildly interesting, zone.

#4 Keep in contact

Of course, all the communication platforms that are available will make the miles between old friends and new home seem very small.

Show your teenager how to cope with moving away from friends, after all, you are having to do exactly the same, so share how you deal with this.

Encourage your teenager to make the most of social media not just to keep in touch with old friends but to seek opportunities to make new friends.

#5 Create a Moving Journal

One of the best ways to cope with the transition to the new home is to create a home moving journal in which all the positive effects of moving can be recorded.

Your teenager can use the journal to create a record of friends’ contact details and maybe have a few photos of their old bedroom or classmates, for example.

It is also really useful for them as a platform to express their emotions, somewhere where they can write down how they feel and how they are dealing with that emotion.

#6 Pack an essentials kit

Give your teenager the responsibility of packing their own ‘open me first box’.

This will include anything that they need to get them through moving day and the first night in their new home.

No doubt it will include items such as their mobile phone charger, snacks, drinks, magazines, spinner, make-up, toiletries, and headphones. 

#7 Say Goodbye

So that your teenager can have closure and the opportunity to say goodbye to all their friends in a happy environment, why not throw a home-leaving party? Or perhaps your teenager would rather just have a few friends over?

Discuss it with your teenager and see what they would prefer. 

#8 Make new friends

A home warming party will be a great opportunity for your teenagers to make some new friends. Keep it as informal as possible so that everyone feels at ease.

Why not get your teenagers to check out the local sports clubs or if there is a local branch of Save the Weasel, or whatever floats their boat to get them involved with the local community or to help them make new friends. 

#9 Make plans to revisit your old home

If your teenager has the opportunity to revisit some old haunts or friends, it will help them to feel that they have not been cut off totally from their old life.

Even better, why not have some of their old friends come to stay at your new home? That way old and new friends can merge, and your teenager might even make the effort to seek out some cool new places that they can all hang out at.

#10 You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.

At the end of the day, we all know that teenagers can be stubborn and moody.

Sometimes they just need their own space to work things out for themselves.

You can try to include them as much as possible in the home move preparations, in the new home and even in the choice of the new school. But if they are being defiant and uncooperative, then sometimes, a retreat is the better part of valour.

You have not made the decision to move home lightly or without good reason.

Do all you can to help support and include your teenager, find ways to help your teen deal with moving home that is constructive to their learning skills, and do not resort to bribing them or caving into their demands.

Life is not easy, we do not always get what we want, nor does life always go the way we want it to.

Life constantly changes. This is a good learning exercise for your teenager.

They will get through this home move, it may take a while, but they will adjust, and don’t forget that in a few years’ time they may be off to college or university anyway, so this is good preparation for them and for you.

It is only natural that your teenager and indeed you, may experience relocation depression.

The key to staving off relocation depression is to have something familiar around you from your old home that triggers good and positive memories.

However, be aware that depression can be a dangerous state of mind that does not always manifest itself in the stereotypical way that we would expect depression to be.

If you are at all concerned about your teenager, then you should seek advice from a professional counselor as soon as possible.

You may like to read: How to Deal with Relocation Depression After Moving Home. In this guide, we offer lots of practical tips and advice to not only identify relocation depression but how to avoid it and things you could do to make the transition to your new life easier.

And whilst we have focused our attention here on relocating with a teenager and making home moving less stressful for kids, do not ignore your own well-being.

Moving home is regarded as a stressful time, so do all you can to minimize that stress.

One of the easiest steps to relieve home moving stress you can take is to hire the services of a reputable removal company to pack and move your home.

To get your free home moving cost estimate just click this link here.

We have many guides, full of useful tips and money-saving ideas that can help you to move home, easier and cheaper, on these pages.

Finally. Of course, your teenager may throw you a curve ball and be all for your impending home move, it could be the fresh new start that they have been longing for.

If that is the case involve them as much as possible and use their limitless energy to make the home move a huge, enjoyable adventure for all the family.

Who knows? Stranger things have happened, especially with a teenager in the house!

So in summary, the best advice for moving home with children and to help your family get ready for a home move is to communicate openly and at the earliest opportunity, make the move fun, and focus on the wonderful new opportunities your new home will give you all.

Change is never easy, no matter what our age, but people are resilient, and it may take time, but you will all settle into your new home and will look back and wonder what all the fuss was about.