Making Moving Easier

We moved last year with a 3-year-old and a 5-month-old. I expected ahead of time for sleep to be the issue with my older son (because his response to any change is to have trouble sleeping) so when we got to the new house I let the children sleep in the same room with me for a week or so until we were good and settled in, just to ease the transition. If you already know ways in which your child reacts to change, try to think ahead of issues that might arise. It helped me to anticipate and have a plan and be a little more lenient in the areas where I knew there would be trouble.

He is so little I really don't think it should be that big of a deal...I would just play up how 'fun' it's gonna be to get a 'new' house. Maybe have him help box up all his special toys and let him color on his box and make a big deal about writing his name on it and let him now that all his stuff is coming with him!?

When we moved at that age is was so no big deal. We didn't make a big deal out of it and we just talked about it matter-of-factly. We're moving next week and now our oldest is 2 1/2.. we've been talking to her about it since Christmas, showing her pictures of the new house, the beach, all the stuff that she'll have there. Granted we're moving 2600 miles so it's a bigger deal but so far she's doing awesome. Even motivated her to wrap up potty training and switch to a big girl bed! Score! She asks me EVERY day if we're going to move today.. for 3 months.. every day. It'll be Easter when we move in so she's getting big girl sheets (hello kitty bed set) and dad's going to paint a mural on her walls for her. She doesn't shut up about it!

Only move him once? Seriously just keep him away from the chaos. I just don't think it is a good idea to set him up to fail by dragging him along for everything. He is going to want to explore the new house and get into things. With the stuff out of the old house he will want to explore it again.

I packed everything before the movers came. Once everything was loaded put the kids in the car and that was the last they saw of the old place. Since we moved to a bigger place they got new bedroom furniture so they spent the day out of my hair fixing up their rooms. By fixing up I mean throwing toys all over the place but I never had to yell at them for being under foot.

They were two and four at the time.

maybe set up his room and toys first that way he has all of his favorite things ready for him at the new house.

It might take a few days for him to get used to everything, but once you have all of your stuff in place and unpacked, then he will adjust very quickly. Since having kids, we have moved around 4 or 5 times, with 1 across country. They always feel better once they have their stuff back and rooms set up.

My brother had a hard time with our childhood move - he was a hair older..I think 3? Same scenario...we just moved within the same city, just different home. I remember my mom took him back to our empty house (we were completely moved out about 3-4 days before everything closed and the new owners took possession)...anyway...she took him back and let him run around the empty house and say goodbye to everything (walls, doors, house in general...) - she said he was fine after that :)

My daughter was about the same age when we moved. She was pretty unaffected by the whole thing and reacted better than I'd expected.

I did make sure that her room was the first one that was unpacked and fully "put together" before she got there- she was at daycare while we actually moved the furniture and boxes. I also hid a few wrapped gifts for her to find in her room and throughout the house to make exploring fun for her.

Depending on your son, I wouldn't recommend making many changes within his room right now. Not a good time to get new bedding or painting the room a different color. Keep his room similar to how it was at the old house and let him settle in first.

Good luck with the move!