Moving house with kids can be tricky at any age. Your children will be uprooted from playmates, teachers and familiar spaces where they feel safe. While relocating with children is necessary for a multitude of reasons, it’s a challenging time for young ones who may struggle to start over in their new homes. 

Here’s how to give them a sense of agency, settle them in and make the process fun – reducing stress for the entire family. Let’s dive right in.

Moving with a newborn

Be timely with your packing

While it’s tempting to get packing as early as possible with young children and newborns, sometimes this is more hassle than it’s worth. If you pack too early, you’ll be hunting around for your baby’s things in a sea of boxes, which isn’t enviable. 

Conversely, don’t leave your packing to the last minute. We recommend packing at least a week or two in advance.

Pencil in a convenient move day

If you have the luxury of picking your move day, do it! Make sure to plan around all your commitments, whether family, personal or with work. We recommend picking a day that will minimise stress, and book time off work – we promise, you will need it!

Take a breather for bonding time

In reality, you and your partner will be more concerned about getting all the baby’s belongings unpacked – but your child won’t care too much about this, all they want is attention! So make sure to pause for cuddles and playtime. This will make for a happier parent and a happier baby.

Moving with toddlers

Plan childcare arrangements if you need to.

As well as hiring your removal company, you might want to organise childcare for the big day. For families with toddlers or primary school children, moving can be quite tough on both them and you as a parent. So taking them out of the picture for a few hours will allow you the space to crack on with the trickier parts of the move and deal with the clutter.

Besides this, there are plenty of reasons why daycare is a great idea: your toddler will have the chance to socialise and make new friends in your new neighbourhood. Just make sure to check if it’s a right fit beforehand and you should be good to go. 

Last out, first in

This goes with children of all ages: when packing and unpacking, prioritise your children’s space. This means packing away their room last and setting up their bedroom first. Not only will this give them a spot to play during the unpacking, but it will get them settled into the new home right away. 

Bring essentials in a backpack

During the move, your kids might start to get restless. Make sure to pack any essentials in a backpack you can all easily access, whether that be for food, travel sweets, water or toys. Even better, get them involved by letting them carry the hand luggage they can manage.

Moving with preteen kids

Talk them through it sooner rather than later

For younger children, simply saying “you’re moving home” can feel very abstract and intangible. Help them understand the reality of what is happening with a straightforward explanation of the process, listening to their worries and concerns the whole way. 

Take your kids to see the new home

Things aren’t as daunting once we see what we’re faced with. The same is true of moving with young kids to a new town, city or neighbourhood. Take them to see the new house before moving or go out on a day trip in the area to acclimatise them to the change. 

Help maintain old friendships

Your child might be worried about losing friends or making them in the new neighbourhood. Help mitigate these worries by helping them keep in touch with old playmates: this might involve setting them up an email (if old enough), exchanging pen pal letters or allowing them to chat via a landline call.

Be kind to yourself

Finally, remember to be kind to yourself. As much as you plan, plan, plan things do go wrong during family moves.

As a society, we tend to underestimate how much children feed off our emotions, so if you’re extremely stressed, they will be too. When things don’t quite go to plan, take a breather and allow yourself to laugh off mistakes. 

It’s all part of the parcel of learning things through parenthood. So embrace the chaos and try to have fun. 

We hope you enjoyed our guide to moving with kids of all ages. But we’d love to hear from you: what nugget of advice will you take away with you? Did we miss anything? Let us know in the comments below!