Tips for moving with small children.

[FrostedCupcake]

We're moving house very soon, I have a 2 year old and a 3m old, along with older DC.

Firstly any top tips on packing would be really helpful. We have removals for the move itself but we are packing ourselves so everything needs to be ready to go.

Second any tips on preparing and making it easier for my toddler. He's so sensitive, clingy and hates change. The Lockdowns have had such a huge impact on him. He was 15m when we went into lockdown so such a bad time. He's very slowly starting to build up his confidence and now we're moving. We've talked about the new house, we walk past it and wave at it often. But I think he's going to really struggle so anything you think may help him would be greatly appreciated!

Let your DS pack his own belongings. Toddlers like to be involved with everything! Yes you can always re-do the shoddy packing once they’ve gone to bed! Once at the other end you can show him this box to demonstrate how everything has been brought across from one house to the other. He can also help unpack it.
Don’t buy him a new bed or other furniture straight away. Hang onto things that feel familiar and help build a sense of security in the new place. Get their room ready first, so from day one, something feels familiar. It might even be a good idea to arrange furniture in a similar way in the new bedroom.
We had a separate bag with all the essentials – favourite toys, snacks, books, our phone chargers etc which was always accessible during the day. We also invested in a Kid’s Amazon Fire which was useful once the TV was unplugged.
Try to keep his regular schedule for meals and sleep. Also make sure you build in regular fun activities amongst the house move activities.
Avoid making other big changes too soon, like toilet training.

Moved every year for 17 yrs... Tackle one room at a time and start early! When you have packed away wipe out cupboards and skirtings while you are there it saves a huge amout of time.Pack everything you dont need now and write on boxes where its going..Keep a bag of things for the kids out on the day,change of clothes,toys,food and drinks.Keep the kettle and milk handy also so you can have a cuppa when you get there. Seems daunting but you will be ok. When you get there do the kids spaces first then they can play whilst you get a few things done.

Getting ready to move with an asd tween. Is it the process of changing or the resulting change that your toddler struggles with? With ds, it tends to be the transition so I have to be careful not to talk too much about it. I will be rolling up his bedding and putting it straight onto the new bed so that it smells right. Also, unpacking his stuff first and setting up his room. Then headphones and iPad!

I’m also going to get in first by myself for a good clean so that it smells more familiar.

In terms of moving tips what I’ve written on my list (but not yet road tested) are:

Make up beds first.
Then unpack kettle, mugs, tea and milk.,

Put elastic band around hangers in wardrobe and then into black sack to move clothes. You can hang them up and snip them elastic in new house.

Don’t pack lots of heavy stuff in big boxes

Number your new house rooms (100, 200, 300 etc) and draw a plan which you pin up in hallway. On each box write the number (underlined) of the room and box number (301, 302, 303) then keep a list of the categories so you can find stuff easily.

Wrap things in cling film - stuff like cutlery trays

Use clothes between dishes and glasses as padding - but only if both will be unpacked straightaway

We moved when DD was 3. Our nursery gave us a book, cannot remember the title, and we went through it with DD just to talk about it.

We gave her too moving boxes, lots of stickers and crayons and she decorated them. We then decided what should go in it, basically all the stuff she would need for the first night and treasures. These boxes also went with us in the car, not the van.

We used a packing service for all but clothing and it meant DD wasn’t overwhelmed with boxes everywhere and vanishing stuff. We got it packed the day before and after nursery she could see what they did, we had a quick dinner at the pub and on the next day she went to nursery from the old house and we had the hands free to do the move.

I agree with setting up her room first. It helped her feeling a bit normal.

Thanks for the tips guys! I was going to do his room first, I like the idea of making sure I don't wash his bedding just before so it's very familiar. And I hadn't thought about staying away from the new house , we could stay with my mum for a few days, he's happy there. then we can get his room set up perfectly before we move in.

@thelegohooverer I think it's just because we've been in lockdown and he hasn't really saw many people or been to many other places. If we go somewhere he tends to get upset and asks to go home. I was shielding due to high risk pregnancy and then baby was born so we've literally barely left the house. He's back with the childminder now, took almost 8 weeks to settle, we had to do an hour at a time for weeks because he was so upset! He's coming out of it now, just confidence and not used to be anywhere other than home!