How to Have a Stress-Free Move for Your Children

 Moving from one house to another is seldom easy and never fun for anyone; and if the parents fail to plan carefully, a move can be needlessly traumatic for the children. If, on the other hand, parents deal with their children's concerns and needs thoughtfully, much of that distress and discomfort can be avoided.

  To a parent this house may be only the place they recently lived-a way station on the road of life. To children, however, it may be the only home they have ever known-their house, the place of safety and comfort.

 A house is much more than a roof and to a child. It is the center of his or her world. A move threatens to take that away and leave something totally strange in its place. The familiar friends, schools, shops, theaters, streets, trees, and parks-all that will no longer exist for them. Everything soon will be strange; they will live in someone else's world.

  Probably the best tactic is to get the children actively involved in the whole process. Don't just promise to let them decorate their own rooms-take them to the paint store and let them bring home color swatches. Shop for bedspreads, towels, and carpets.

  You may be faced with many more problems in your new community than they will, but remember-you can handle them more easily than they can. They will need your help, and you should plan to give them the support they need.

  If they-and you-aren't making new friends fast enough, throw a welcome-to-the-neighborhood party for yourselves and invite all the adults and children on the block.

  Remember-the newness will wear off. New friends will become old friends and best friends. This new house may become the family homestead which the grandchildren will visit every holiday season. There will be discomforts, but ultimately everything will work out fine.