8 year old upset about moving house

[barbiedoll2]

Hi,
We currently have a 2 bed flat no garden in middlesex and have found a lovely 3 bed with a huge garden in the heart of surrey.

BUT DS1 (8 years old) is getting anxious and upset at the thought.

We will not move until septemeber (I am hoping before school starts again) ..

He said he doesnt mind moving (now we have ds2 we need another bedroom) and new house has fantastic views of hills and trees, is near to a school and shops.

We have tried saying; his current friends can visit; n0one of us will know anyone; he can call his friends; he can have lots of great things for the garden; he can choose fish for the pond;

advice anyone - please?!

barbiedoll2, is there anything in particular that he is anxious about? If it's the thought of going to a different school is there any way you could pay a visit to that school to ease the transition?

hi barbiedoll
maybe you could try and see if anyone on MN lives near the new area and has children the same age as your ds,if you make friends now it might be easier for him,try meet-ups.

cany ou look up clubs like football or Karate so he has some mates int he area?

I too have an 8 year old and we too are hoping to move to a completely new area.
When we went to look around the new area I made sure that the day was fun for him, we went to toy shops and I enthused that they were better than the shops back home, the same with play areas...infact anything we saw.
This seems to have worked because he now of his own accord often compares where we live now to the hopefully new town and the new town always comes out the best in his view. he can't wait to move. I think my little scheming trick may have worked! - of course the new place IS far better than where we are now, so I wasn't lying.

Another thing I anticipate, and as you are nearer moving than I am is, to try your best not to let him see you stress over anything to do with the move. We know we will stress, packing, phone calls, changing bills etc etc, but I know I will definitely try to do it all with a smile on my face...hey we're mums, we can do anything with a smile on our face!!!

Good luck

We're going through similar with our 7 yr old -moving country, back to an area he last lived in aged 3. Hoping to line up an activity week run at his new school and to pack in seeing the friends we left behind (not that he really remembers them). We're not talking it up too much though as we will all miss where we are leaving. Have you been able to enrol him at a school yet ? Could he visit and meet some new classmates before he starts ?

We have recently moved to a new area and our older children (aged 8, 7, and 5) were upset about moving too. However, I can say that within half a term of starting their new school, they felt much happier. I think it will be hard for your son until he starts school and becomes immersed in the new life. I made sure my priority once we had moved was to get them enrolled in all the same activities they did in our old home - cubs, swimming, ballet, etc. I am finding that choosing a new home (we are still at it!) also helped my children feel excited about the move rather than thinking of the home we had left behind. Finally, my children are looking forward to getting some kittens when we settle. It was something we were going to do anyway, but now it is helping to focus them on their new life rather than the old one. HTH