Tips and Tricks for Moving with Children

Buying and moving into a new home can be challenging for any family. It can be hard to find your balance in the chaos of boxes and moving trucks. But, buying and moving into a new home can also be an exciting time for families.

Below we have posted some of our favorite tips and tricks for moving with your children.

#1: Recognize your family’s limits

The reality is that most kids have a much shorter attention span than adults. So, while we can spend hours packing up boxes and moving them, they become bored. And bored kids tend to get into mischief. As you pack, be sure to recognize your kids limits. Keep mental note of how long your child is actually capable of focusing on one project. By changing your expectations of them, you’ll be less likely to become annoyed at their high energy levels.

#2: Ask for help

It’s incredibly important that you make your children a part of the moving process. Involve them in as much as the packing as they are capable of doing. Some of our favorite ideas for having children help include,

• Make a game of packing. Ask your older children to see how can fill the most packages in one hour using your packing rules.
• Give them tasks that require lots of big movements. Ask your busy kids to do things like moving boxes across the room, or going upstairs to get you things. These big movement jobs will help tap into all of that extra energy that they have!
• Play a guessing game. Before you have your children pack their rooms, play a guessing game. Ask them how many boxes they think it will take to pack their room and then each of their siblings rooms as well. Tell them that the child who guess is the closest will get a prize.

The biggest thing to remember on moving day is that just because your children are small, doesn’t mean they are useless. Don’t be afraid to ask for help; you just might be surprised!

#3: Get organized

When you have a lot of people to move, it means you have even more stuff to organize. Before you even start the process of packing, get organized!

Some of our favorite tricks for getting organized with kids, include:

• Let your children pick out their own patterned duct tape. This way they will feel involved and you’ll know which boxes go where when you get to the new house.
• Write out a schedule for your kids. Distribute your time evenly between your kids. Post a schedule of when you will help each child and for how long. In this way, they’ll feel special to get some one on one time with you, and you will be able to help them sort through their things before they go into boxes.
• Buy new markers. Before you start packing, go out and get some new markers. Then as you pack each box, let your kids label them with words or drawings to show the contents of each box. It’s one less thing you’ll have to do and it will help keep their interest in their project.

Have you recently moved with your family or are you in the process of moving with your family? Let us know your favorite tricks and tips for moving with kids in the comments below.