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Parenting

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Original poster

Moving and then moving again with a 3.5 year old

7 replies

thundernlightning · 07/12/2019 00:15

It's nearly Christmas, and what could be better than moving to a new (temporary) home in a brand new town, and then moving again after we've bought a house. The move itself is all sorted -- movers are coming in the morning when DS is at nursery, and then everything's getting carted off to a storage place while we go stay in a friend's house for a few months and buy a house. Poor little DS seemed to be doing fine with the move, but now that things are in boxes he's started to have nightmares about being lost and not being able to get home. Poor little peanut. Has anybody moved and then moved again with young children? How did you help them through it?

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Africa2go · 07/12/2019 00:25

Yes. Sold our house and move into rented house in the same city with 3yr old twins. We made sure as far as we could that their bedroom was exactly the same (bedding, furniture set up etc) so it felt familiar. Moved again 7 months later (twins were just over 3.5yrs) into another rented house, stayed there for about 18 months, had another baby (!) then bought current house.

Think its just consistency and familiarity. Just try to keep everything the same - your routine, toys etc.

Original poster

thundernlightning · 07/12/2019 00:37

Thank you! That's so good to hear. We were planning to pack up all his furniture, but maybe we'll bring what we can.

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badg3r · 07/12/2019 00:43

We moved abroad with a 3 year old and 6 month old, then again (within the same town) a year later. It was fine. The biggest hurdle was the language barrier with our older hut apart from that just a reasonable amount of reassurance as talking about our old life was enough. I made an effort to keep up with 3 year olds old friends and also we had a photo album of our old house, nursery, neighbourhood and people etc that we looked at together which helped. The 3 year old is now 5 and sometimes says things like "we will have to move soon because we have been here for a year now" but also asks how long we will stay in current house and is happy when
We say a very long time. Kids are resilient, be consistent and keep talking and it will be fine.

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Strokethefurrywall · 07/12/2019 00:50

If it makes you feel better, we moved 5 times in 9 months whilst waiting for our house to be built.

DSs were 4 and 2 1/2 at the time. Pretty fucking stressful but we treated each move as an adventure and I'm efficient as hell at packing/ruthlessly throwing out crap we don't need.

By the time we moved into the house, we had nothing left but clothes and the kids toys!

Original poster

thundernlightning · 07/12/2019 03:15

Thank you both for the suggestions! I’ve been culling our stuff pretty ruthlessly but will be careful about DS’s things. I invited him to help pack tonight (put some of his books “in hibernation” and some to come with us) and it seemed to get him excited about the move. We talked a little about it after. Hopefully that’ll help him feel more comfortable and stop the bad dreams!

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Yoollyball · 07/12/2019 05:16

Yes- bit with a 2 &4 year old. Don't worry - kids are resilient. Focus on finding a new home

ChangingStates · 07/12/2019 06:27

My dd moved 3 times by the time she was 3 & a half- approximately once a year, not through choice. She was fine through it- am glad that there was no more moving for the next 8 years though- it was a busy time!

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