METCALF MOVING BLOG
5 Tips for Moving When You Have A Large Family
Moving when you have a large family can be a mixed bag. On the one hand, there are more people to help with the packing and moving boxes. On the other hand, young children can make life more complicated, while older children can have strong feelings about leaving their homes behind. Getting everyone on board, assigning everyone a role, and letting the kids participate can make life easier for everyone.
If you’re moving with a large family, these tips can help.
1. Have a Discussion; Let Everyone Participate
Call together a family meeting as soon as you’re ready to talk about moving with your kids. Let your children voice their opinions and feelings, even if those feelings aren’t entirely positive. This will impact their lives dramatically, so they deserve a chance to say how they feel.
Tell everyone where you’ll be moving to, when, and why. Take their thoughts into consideration about features they’d like to see in their new house. If there are hard feelings about relocating, start a list of the positive aspects of moving. Try to keep your kids looking on the bright side, even as you give them a chance to voice their concerns.
2. Make It An Adventure
Whether you’re moving to a new state, town, or neighborhood, there will no doubt be many exciting things happening in your new home. So spend a lot of time discussing the stuff you can’t wait to enjoy about your new house, whether it’s a giant sandbox in the backyard, proximity to some new parks, or perhaps a new state with new entertainment.
3. Give Everyone a Role
Assign everyone a task. For older kids, duties include packing their room, painting a bedroom for selling the house, or decluttering the basement. For younger kids, the task might be sorting through toys they no longer play with or just drawing pictures for their new bedroom. Giving everyone a role in the move will help them feel ownership over the process and reduce the burden on you.
4. Establish a Timeline and Deadlines
Your kids will want to know when they’re moving out of the old house, when they need to be finished packing, when they’ll be arriving in the new home, and so on. Giving your kids a timeline (and some deadlines for finishing packing) can help your children know what to anticipate next. This can relieve stress and keep the process moving.
5. Stay Organized
It’s essential to stay organized when relocating, and it’s doubly important to stay organized when you have a lot of children. Keep a binder of all the information you want to keep track of while moving, whether that’s information about your new home, the new school where your kids will be going, your new job, etc. Show everyone in the family the binder, and discuss that it’s important not to pack it.
Find the Right Movers
The moving company you hire will be your partner in this process. You can spend more time with the people who matter to you and less time stressing about the move if you hire reputable movers. Contact us today.
