Moving Home With Kids: 5 Tips to Keep Them Engaged with Jack & Jill Removals

Moving home is not just a stressful experience for you; it is a really difficult time for your children and toddlers too. They may not understand fully what is happening, and it might involve them leaving school friends and family to go somewhere unknown.

It is really important to consider what your children are going through, so that you can help them get to grips with their new surroundings and, potentially, a new way of life. That way, you can take some of the strain off your moving day because you have prepared your children in the best way possible.

Here are 5 really useful tips we can give you to keep your children engaged during this momentous, but sometimes stressful, process:

1 – Enthusiasm and a positive state of mind

Maintaining a positive mental attitude and showcasing the plus sides of your move is critical if you want to get your kids on board with the house move. Your children will pick up more than you realise, so if your mentality is negative, that will feed into the mindset of your kids. Moving house is stressful, but try to keep that stress away from your children as much as possible by chatting with your partner out of their earshot. You don’t want tantrums and moody children on the day you move.

2 – Get your children involved

The more you can get your kids involved and engaged in house removals, the happier they will be to move. If you can, allowing them to pick their own room can really fire up their imagination and get them excited for what they can do with their new bedroom. They can start to think about the type of toys, belongings, and furniture they would like, even if you don’t necessarily agree with their choices! When it comes to moving day, your children can help tidy and box up their own belongings so that they feel included in what is happening. You might even decide to decorate one of the boxes with drawings or paintings to personalise their box, so that it isn’t as boring as yours. That way, when you get into your new house, they can see that their input and items are as valuable as anything else. This keeps your children engaged and happy that their feelings are just as important as your own. Allowing them to keep their own special toys and games also helps to reduce the amount of change they are experiencing, which is likely to reduce stress.

3 – Stick to routine as much as possible

Obviously, your routine will completely change on moving day because there is a lot to sort out. Unpacking and packing boxes also requires a lot of your time, making it impossible to completely stick to your routines. However, there are things you can definitely make sure you do. Most importantly, try to keep bed times normal, as well as meal times, nap times, and possibly even certain play times. While it may seem difficult to stick to, moving house is a monumental occasion that will turn your children’s lives upside down. By having some familiarity that they can cling to, it helps children to realise that not everything in their lives is changing, bringing comfort to them and easing any worries they may have.

4 – Don’t try to change too much too soon

Moving house is a big enough task for your children to engage in without introducing any other changes to your child’s life. A few big life events that you may want to think about delaying for a bit include:

• Weaning – Sometimes it’s not as easy as just delaying things, but if you can, avoid trying to introduce solid foods until you are settled in your new home, if your child is still drinking milk. Introducing solids can make meal times last a lot longer, which you may not have time for while you are trying to move house. Likewise, your child may be sick from gagging on new food, and again, this can add more stress at a time when you want to keep this to a minimum
• Potty training – Given that your house is likely to be amid a big upheaval, the last thing you need is for accidents to be happening in your home that could ruin other belongings and furniture in your house. Once you are in your new home and you are happy that everyone is enjoying it, then you might decide to introduce potty and toilet training
• Starting school – Try to avoid moving when your child is about to start primary or secondary school. You cannot change this date, whereas you can change your moving day. Starting school is stressful for everyone, but for your children this is already a big unknown, so to throw another uncertainty at them can make things difficult. Of course, if you are moving a long way away, this may not be possible

5 – Don’t be afraid to ask for help

This section comes in two separate parts because you don’t want everything to fall on your shoulders. You need to focus on the act of moving safely and properly. Everybody needs help once in a while, and especially when it comes to moving house. It’s renowned for being one of the most stressful things you will ever do in your life, especially if children are involved.

A – Help with childcare

If your child goes to nursery or a childminder, or if you have a generous grandparent or friend who can spare some time, it might be worth seeing if they are free to look after your children for an extra day or two. This can help with packing or unpacking boxes, which takes time despite the mundane nature of the task. You may decide this is also a safer course of action so that they don’t get in the way while you are lifting heavy boxes or furniture. Also, you don’t want to inundate your child with the house move because this will get boring for them after a while, and make engagement difficult.

B – Help with moving

You don’t need to carry out the move all by yourself. The team at Jack & Jill Removals helps families all over the country with their house moves. We know how stressful this period of time is, especially when children are involved. We have decades of experience in helping people move, and you can even buy boxes and consumables from our experts. They will guide you in the right direction when it comes to finding the best storage products for your important valuables, belongings, and furniture. Keep your focus on your children by making sure they are engaged, and we can help with the nitty-gritty of moving your house and your life from one place to the next. 

Just contact our team to discover more.