Help! I’m relocating.

[robotchicken2]

My husband and I are being relocated for work reasons, around 6 hrs away from where we currently live with our 12 and 8 year old children.

We’ve just finished applying for their school places and thankfully they can both start at the respective schools in September (unless there’s any covid restrictions).

We’re moving to a cheaper area and will be renting to begin with. A much bigger house than our current one and both kids will have bigger, nicer bedrooms.

I just don’t have the heart to tell them we’re off. The move was kind of thrust upon us and we’ve not had much time to prepare. Both kids have a well established friendship group. Our 12 year old daughter is quite confident and outgoing, but our 8 year old son is very shy and reserved. He also has learning difficulties. He has good friends but it has taken him a long time to get to this point. I worry that he’ll just feel like the outsider and struggle to integrate himself at the new school. The new primary is also half the size of his current one and I worry it might be more close knit or cliquey.

Any tips for how I can tell them and make it sound positive? I don’t particularly want them to see it as a negative thing, even though it absolutely is.

Has anyone been through similar and they’re kids have coped ok? I know kids move all the time, but I always feel sorry for the new ones or when our kids’ friends have to move away.

Thank you!

Hi @robotchicken2,

We're just bumping your thread to get it back into Active Conversations. Hopefully some Mumsnetters will be along soon with some advice and support.

I'm a teacher and we usually have about ten children who start mid-year or who are completely new to the school in September.

Their teachers will have lots of strategies to encourage friendships and you could introduce yourself early on in order to outline your concerns.

There's no easy way of telling them. No matter how positive and upbeat you are, no matter how nice their new bedrooms will be, they will fear starting a new school and making new friends.

I doubt that their schools are allowing visits just now, but they might well do a Zoom tour and allow key staff to say hello. You can drive to look at it and look at the website together, anything to make it seem real and less unfamiliar.