Moving Tips- Moving With Kids

Moving With Kids: Keeping Them Happy on the Road or in the Air

It’s summer and families around the world are planning a move. If you’re one of them, your life is full of boxes to pack, phone calls to make, lists to keep and tick off, and emotions to sort out. But how have you helped your kids to cope? They may be feeling this move just as strongly as you. And if they are facing long hours of travel to their new home, how do you keep the peace and your sanity?

Here are a few ideas to pave the road ahead and avoid an emotional collision.

· Share your biggest concerns about the trip. Talk about how you can avoid those problems. It’s amazing what you can learn about your kids by simply listening while you’re on the road or in the air. Settings like these help to promote an atmosphere of openness and vulnerable sharing.

· Practice these words: “This is our big adventure!” Building enthusiasm produces excitement for what is to come. Even if you have to look for the positives, learn to “make lemonade out of lemons.”

· Start your trip with a “God hunt.” This is something parents and children can do that will give each person the opportunity to look for God in everything. It also helps your children think about seeing God in every aspect of their lives. Some of the ways to go on a “God hunt”:
“I see God in the beauty of the sunset.”
“I see God in our move. He did...”
“I see God in this day. Look what He did...”

· Choose a game or two ahead of time that everyone in the family can participate in together. Try these for fun:
Someone picks a color, like red. Then everyone looks out the window for anything that is red. Keep score of how many objects are found by each person in a certain amount of time.
Look for cars that are all a certain color, have license plates from the same state, are the same kind, or have luggage racks on top. You can add your own list of similarities.
Kids take turns “packing the moving truck” by adding an item each time they get a turn. Then the next person has to repeat all the items packed before adding one more to the list. When a player misses an item, he or she is out of the game. (“I’m packing the moving truck and I’m going to pack my toys.” Next person says, “I’m going to pack my toys and games.”) Try this game, but name items in alphabetical order.

· When everybody is in the car or airplane, give an example of what it looks like to be kind, thoughtful, and patient with one another. When everyone has been traveling for hours or days, a little kindness, thoughtfulness, and patience go a long way.

· Before you begin the trip to your new destination, pray together as a family.

(Find these tips and many more ideas and encouragement in the book But Mom, I Don’t Want to Move! by Susan Miller.)