Tips please on how to make moving house and area easier for toddlers?

[nevergoogledragonbutter]

We're moving house to a completely new area and DS1 (4.5 years) is getting a bit worried about it and been really irritable. I'm not sure DS2 (2years) will notice the move.

At bedtime tonight we had a bit of a heart to heart and he is worried about it all and doesn't really understand why.

So far I've explained that we will take all of his things, that he can help find us a new house, that he can have his cousins round to sleepover.

He will be starting school at the end of the summer shortly after the move.

What else can I do to make things easier for him?

hello?

parenting schmarenting.

Why are you moving? Is it far away? Will he still be able to see any of his friends/do some of the things he did before?

We are moving soon too (well, got to sell the place we're in yet but that's the plan!). In our case it will be a totally new area, school etc, and I think it will be hard because the DCs are 5 and 7 so already at school and with good classmates. I am just focussing on all the positives - such as they will have a big garden which they don't at the mo', be nearer to grandparents, bigger bedroom etc, etc.

Sounds like you are doing the right things, explaining he will still have all his old things - it's hard to imagine sometimes what goes on in their heads,but maybe he thinks he has to leave all his old toys, pictures, bed etc behind!

Hope someone else can offer you (and me!) some more good advice

we are moving 500 miles away.
but he has some friends there already.
he will love it and i'm sure it's the right thing to do for him as well as us.

I just need him to believe me.

We just moved in the easter holidays. DD is 5 and DS has turned 3 since we moved.
DD was very much the same as your ds TBH I never laboured the point with her much before the move, when she brought it up I would never ignore the conversation but I never initiated it up much until very close to the move. She knew we were moving and I answered all her questions but until it was down to a time scale she understood it just seemed to give her things to worry about that I thought she needn't worry about.

We were lucky we had the oppertunity to visit the house a couple of times before we actually moved in and that helped a lot as I was able to give her an image in her head. We also managed a much encouraged (by the headteacher) visit to the new school and she met people she would be in a class with.

If i'm perfectly honest the thought -for dd- was far worse than the actual deed. When it came to moving she was far too excited to be worried or frightened of it anymore and she treated it as a great big adventure.

DS did aske after a week maybe to go home now etc and was probably a bit more wound up about it than dd turned out to be because he didn't sully understand but it only lasted a day or 2.

thankyou.

i think part of the problem is that i can't tell him which house we are moving to because we don't know. at first we will have to find temporary accommodation for a month or two.

more that likely he's picking up on the uncertainty of it all, and i can't allay his fears at the moment. i just keep telling him it's going to be better.

the boy needs facts!

How about talking to him about what room colour he's going to have and what he wants to have on the walls. Maybe even take him and get one of those 'tester' bottles of paint in the colour he likes so he can keep it with him. Then when you get to your new house, he can help you paint it. Maybe also some posters which he can have up in your temporary accomodation and then transfer when you get the house.
Taking pictures of places where he's going to be moving to can help too e.g. the school, the park, some of the shops, post office etc so when you get there you can point them out to him and visit them.

Good luck with the move.

Is there a treat he can look forward to when you get there - not sure what? Something he'll really want to do. A visit to a special place that's only there. Might turn his worries into anticipation. Or can you promise a party with his cousins when he gets there? Doesn't have to be major after all - a cake for moving and some jelly is a party to a four year old.

good ideas thanks.

we adopted dd and to make her transistion easier we were told to send photos of our house/park etc so she could look before she moved. she seemed to recognise her bedroom when she first visited.
we also placed boxes of her toys on each floor so it looked familiar.
good luck.