Preparing Children For Moving To New Home
When you live at a particular place or locality, then both children and adults get used to that place. As a natural consequence of this, one develops a sense of attachment and belonging to the place. There can be a number of reasons for which one has to move out. These can include purchase of bigger house, shifting from rented premises to own house or shifting to another city or state due to change of job. When one decides to move out the first apprehension in the mind of all is leaving the old place and friends living around. This is often painful especially for children. They may have fear of new place.
Before moving out it is essential to prepare the children for this change. The kids may be of any age but need counselling, the level of explanation depending upon age and the level of understanding. Children should be advised that change is the law of nature. For growth and progress change is a must.
The primary fear in the mind of the children is losing old friends, school and markets with which they are familiar. Before telling the children about the plan to move out, do some home work to know about the new place. Once familiar, sit with them and start the dialogue. Explain to the children about the reason for the decision to move and the advantages this will have on the whole family. Then inform them of the place, the surroundings and the facilities available at the new place. If a computer is available open some search engine and input the details of new place. In all probabilities you will get lot of information including pictures. These can be used to familiarise the children with the new place.
The next fear in the mind of children is losing friends. Tell them that in this period of fast communication keeping contact is not difficult. Almost everyone is available on phone, email and networking sites like Facebook etc. and after going to new place they will be able to tell their friends about new experiences. Invite all friends for packing, midway let them break for a small party, take pictures and distribute them amongst other children, and tell them not to forget each other. Give them some writing material so that they can exchange pleasantries, phone numbers and e-mail ID etc.
When at new place tell the children to themselves decorate their room. Give them some money to buy decoration pieces for new bed room or study room. Once the house is in place, take them for a round of city and let them enjoy food and movie of their liking.