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Parenting

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Original poster

I need your top tips for moving with a 3 yr old please.

16 replies

nickytwotimes · 11/08/2009 20:44

As those of you who 'know' me may be aware, I am moving house this Friday with dh and ds, aged 3, just. We are moving 3 miles down the road, so same area. Ds is very excited, but very, very clingy. How much does he really get about moving? He has visited the house and we looka t photos of it all the time and he can tell us what each room is and so on, but I am a bit worried for him as he seems so insecure, wee soul.

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Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

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GrapefruitMoon · 11/08/2009 20:50

Does he normally go to childcare during the day or is he at home with you? Would probably be easier for everyone if he is out of the way, iykwim, plus he might be sad about leaving the old house. So if he is normally at home could you leave him with a relative or friend for a few hours?

When we moved, dd went to nursery as usual, we sorted out her room first in the new house, kept all her old stuff - she needed a new bed but we decided to wait till she had settled in. We put wall stickers up so there was something new for her to be excited about (they soon fell down due to the woodchip wallpaper )

I was the one who was homesick the first night - but then I'd had a leaking washing machine and bath to deal with by then!

Original poster

nickytwotimes · 11/08/2009 20:54

He is noramlly here with me. The Grannies are on childcare duty for the day, but we thought it might be nice for him to see the big van Daddy is driving all the stuff doen the road in. We have bought him a present for the new house and thought we would put it in his bedroom for his arrival. As you said, we will pretty much replicate his room. It is a similar shape and size.

No chance of me being homesick - it has been 4 years of misery here! Can't wait.

OP posts:

NightShoe · 12/08/2009 19:48

Ooh, glad to read this, just about to move with a just three year old too. She has spoken abit about how she feels about moving. When we had people coming to look at our current house, she got very grumpy and I eventually got it out of her that she was worried that the people coming would have children and the children would get all of her toys too She has been to the new house to see it when we viewed it so she knows what it is like and we have given her her own box to pack her most important things in. We are doing the wall stickers thing too, just to make the room abit more her own.

I just try to talk about it with her alot and also talk to her about how I feel too (although I miss out that I'm glad to be moving away from the f dogs that bark ALL THE TIME).

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Aranea · 12/08/2009 20:01

We moved house when DD1 was 2.6 yrs old. I had to do lots of talking her through the process in advance - how we were going to be packing everything up into boxes (I had to do interminable lists of all the things we would be taking), how it would all be loaded on to the lorry, and unpacked in the new house. She was a bit wobbly I think when we first arrived but not too bad considering we managed to combine it with chickenpox!

I think the key is to remember that they don't take anything for granted and have no idea at all what is going on!

goinggetstough · 12/08/2009 20:52

We moved lots when our children were small. DD aged 18 months was mortified to see her toys go on the van the first time. She thought they were being taken away to give to someone else! Once we had reassured her they were going to her new house she was fine. We also did a moving present which appears after the first night in the new house. Sometimes they are small but once an ELC climbing frame appeared - my DH was putting this together until about 1am by torchlight (not to be recommended) just so it was there the next morning!

Original poster

nickytwotimes · 12/08/2009 21:01

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deepdarkwood · 12/08/2009 21:04

One of my strongest early memories is of moving at about 4 yo (from Glasgow to the Midlands, so not a quick hike either )

I remember being hugely excited, loving the giant van (I wanted to travel in the back) and the general upheaval and excitment)

As long as you & dh are mostly calm and excited, I'm sure that's the vibe he'll pick up on

VoodooBetterGetPacking · 12/08/2009 21:06

ha Im moving with a 3yr old and a one-yr old.

tips for me too!!!!

expatinscotland · 12/08/2009 21:11

Gawd, we've moved so much and I've never given a whole lot of thought to preparing them!

Yikes!

We have to move next month on our own with all three of them around DH's work hours and my having to spend 4 hours/day just taking a bus to get them to and from school and nursery.

Even my 3-year-old is now so used to it she issues directives about how her bed is to be placed in the van.

nancy75 · 12/08/2009 21:19

we moved last year when dd was just 3, the day we moved in we spent all day unpacking her stuff and getting her room sorted out. we tried to keep the layout of her new room as close to that of her old room. i found that having dd's stuff unpacked first meant i could leave her to play and occupy herself for a little while so i could do other things, by having the new room as similar to the old room i think we avoided her feeling to unsettled, although the rest of the house was new her room still felt the same iyswim?
good luck with it x

Beccabump · 12/08/2009 22:24

Good tips here

I'm moving in 4 weeks with a newborn and 2 and a half year old.

Think I may go crazy with the stress.

cat64 · 12/08/2009 22:33

This reply has been deleted

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bruffin · 13/08/2009 12:34

I remember moving a few days after my 3rd birthday. I remember sitting in the removal van and being worried about my dollshouse, which I had been given for my birthday.

Original poster

nickytwotimes · 13/08/2009 19:10

Ah, yet more top tips. Mn is very handy at times like this.

God, the thoght of moving with a toddler and a baby would send me crazy. I am just glad that our ttc efforts have not yet been fruitful.

Anyway, thanks everyone and good luck to my fellow movers. I will be without the internet for a couple of weeks from tonight on. No Mumsnet, sob.

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UniS · 13/08/2009 22:47

Moving with a 3 yr old next week as well.
Aiming to keep him involved on the day. Have read lots of stories about moving and talked about it. I'm going over to new house with him the day before we move in to "chose" his bedroom ( just like the boy in one of our story books).
He is very excited about the "big van" and would quite like it to come to the house "right now" so he can see it.

LollipopViolet · 14/08/2009 11:37

I've moved house twice. The first time was moving 160 miles from Essex to the Midlands. I was ten at the time but still got very teary and stressy when we had people viewing the house and when everything was being packed. It. Was. Hell. Because we had to follow the vans, a normally 2 hour drive took about 5 hours, with all 5 family members (including my uncle, in wheelchair) crammed into one car.

The second time, I was 13 and we moved house within the same area. TBH, at that age I was a lot more mature and helpful, and was able to help the moving men sort out where my bed and things were going to be.

I think if I'd have been younger, it might've been easier.

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