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On the Move
Helping Children Adjust to Moving and Relocation
By Carma Haley
One of these includes getting the child involved in their favorite activities – whether sports, academic or dramatic – before the move actually occurs.
"Children can help do research on the town or city, find out about sporting events, teams, school systems and what they offer as well as interesting facts about what will be their new home," Steiner says. "It helps a lot if a child knows ahead of time if their new area has the same kind of theater club or the same kind of football team as they participate in where they are now. Quite often, the experience with these types of clubs will help them bridge or make friends right away especially if they go to visit the new schools where they will be participating. This is an easy way for kids to know what the students at another school are like."
Another technique that will enable parents to help their child adjust to a new environment, town or city is to allow them to become familiar with the area before the move actually occurs. Taking a vacation, a weekend getaway or even a day trip to the area will offer the child an opportunity to become familiar with the sites, sounds, stores and social activities of what is soon to be his new home. As a result, when the move occurs the child no longer sees these surroundings as "new." It is no longer a first-time visit – it is a return to the area.
"Our move was to a place that was under a half an hour away but required chnging schools," says Sherry French, a mother from Port Perry, Canada. "We made it a positive experience by discussing the positive aspects of the new house and driving regularly by the new school. Understandably the kids were nervous. The new school is in town and so much bigger. We combatted this by taking them out of school one day before moving to visit at the new school, meet their future teachers, see the classroom and take a tour around the school. I think all of this helped them to feel that instead of losing something, they were gaining. They were adding to their list of friends, not starting all over."
