- Show the children the new home and their new room prior to moving. If this is not possible, pictures or videos will help them visualize where they are going.
- Assure children that you won’t forget their friends.
- Make a scrap book of the old home and neighborhood.
- Throw a good-bye party. At the party have their friends sign a tee shirt.
- Have your children write good-bye letters and enclose their new address. You may wish to call the other children’s parents so they will encourage return letters.
- When packing, give them their own box. They can decorate it so they know which one it is.
- If you move far away, buy postcards when you stop so they can remember the trip.
- When unpacking, allow them to unpack their treasures; then have them play with the boxes while you unpack.
- Start a scrap book for their new home. Include a diary of “My first…”
- Visit their new school, park, church, etc… Take a camera.
- Help your children invite new friends over to the house.
- Let them choose a new favorite restaurant. This will help them feel in control of their new world.
- Encourage them to send letters about their new home to their friends.
- Involve your children in groups, sports, and activities like the ones they used to participate in.
- Remember, even if you only lived in a home a few years, to a young child it is nearly their entire lifetime!