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Encouraging Heroes. You can be one too.

For children and adults, the idea of moving to another house, city or rural area involves an element of excitement, maybe a little fear and uncertainty and some moments of sadness. For your kids, the emotion that you hope dominates is excitement and enthusiasm for the changing circumstances. There are several things you can do to get your kids excited about moving.

Promote the Highlights
If possible, take your kids to the new house or new area that you will be moving to. Before doing so, research the area to find local attractions that you know your kids will love. Visit those areas and take some pictures. If traveling to the new location is not feasible, let your child join you as you explore the area online. Point out the aspects of the area that you know your child will be interested in, like special geographical features, museums, zoos, etc.

Involve Them in the Process
Taking the age of your children into consideration, designate packing responsibilities for them to participate in. Kids can pack their own clothes and toys and numerous other, non-breakable items around the house. Older kids can help you label boxes. Color coding boxes can be a fun activity for young children.

Post a Schedule of Events
Put up a large calendar in your home. Write down pre-moving events and let your kids mark off the activities once they are completed. You could designate a day for packing the contents of each room. Events such as canceling utilities, picking up school, medical and vet records, arranging the moving van and numerous other activities are part of the moving process. Let your kids go with you so that the reality of moving becomes more real to them. This also gives them a chance to say goodbye to the staff at the doctor’s office, the dentist office and the vet.

Make Moving Day Fun
Let your kids go with you to your local moving services to pick up the moving van. The excitement of seeing the big trucks and getting to ride in a new vehicle creates a sense of adventure around the idea of moving. Once you begin loading the van, let your kids help with the small stuff. Keeping busy will help distract them from sad or anxious thoughts.

As the parent, it’s up to you to set an example for approaching moving day in a positive manner. Make everything as fun and exciting as possible. Most importantly, demonstrate in your actions the same sense of enthusiasm and optimism you want your kids to have, as they will be looking to you for behavior cues and will respond well to positivity.

Earnest Parenting: help for parents planning to move to a new home.