Moving house - what to do with dd1?

[helsy]

We're moving house next Saturday - just down the road, about 3 mins drive from where we live now, near three or four of dd1's schoolfriends (she's in reception). At the moment we live very close to three or four other schoolfriends.

Here's the thing: When we mention moving - it's been on the cards for a while - she says she doesn't want to move, as she won't see her friends any more and she likes our house now. We've tried to involve her and be positive, said we'll invite our "old" neighbours round for tea in our new house, but when she realises we're talking about moving house she gets upset.

Unfortunately, I won't have a chance to decorate her room before we move in so it will be white but I'll make sure some of her stuff is in there by the time we get in. We are using a removals firm who say they'll be done by 5pm on Saturday.
As we complete early next week I plan to take her over one evening so that she can "choose" her room and decide where to put things.
We have a number of options for moving day -

involve dd1 completely, have her with us the whole time (we have a dd2 who is 7 months too);

let her stay at a friend's house all day - we have plenty of offers;

let her stay at a friends' house for part of the day.

Any ideas re above options? Also any ideas on other things we can do to make moving easier? She was very upset today on her way to school.

[jampots]

just from reading your thread title - i am inclined to advise "take her with you" -

[helsy]

Yes, realised that once I'd posted!
Anyone?

[roisin]

Helsy, two things:

Moving day is VERY stressful. I would definitely park her with friends for the whole day so you can get on with it, especially if she's likely to be emotional.

(We parked the kids with my parents for 2 WEEKS when we moved house. We'd done no packing or anything when they left, and they returned to a fully unpacked/set up house!)

If it's only 3 minutes drive, can you walk it with her at some stage so she realises how close it really is? Can you show/explain to her that you can still go to the same McDonalds, swingpark, school, etc.? Does she really understand that it's not such a big deal? (how old is she btw?) When we moved we moved 350 miles, so it really was a big deal! DS1 has only been back to visit once, and only one of his friends has been to visit us once (in 2.5 yrs).

HTH

[pabla]

When we moved I had a new packet of Stickaround type things to hand and we quickly dotted them all over the walls before ddsaw her room. So if your dd is into a particular toy or character (eg Barbie) you could quickly make the rrom look appealing before you get around to decorating it properly. Mind you, because there was woodchip wallpaper in dds room, alll the stickers kept falling off!

[helsy]

Thanks for the ideas. I've now decided I might have a chance to pop up to the house one evening this week and slosh on a coat of one-coat pink paint and some stickarounds. May well park dd1 with friends on Saturday.