Moving

I think everyone one here has moved at least once, twice, maybe more? So when do you tell your kids about moving? We're probably not moving out of here until the first week of August but the prep will start far before that.

I just don't know when to tell DD1 (3.5) about the move. She talks about wanting to stay here forever at least twice a week (oh. . .perhaps b/c my mom slipped and said "I'll send you lots of cards when you move to CA" DD was like ?!?! what are you talking about? and I brushed it off). I feel like I'm lying to her (well, because I AM!!!) when I say sure, absolutely! She is a very anxious, intense child and will think about it a LOT if I tell her now, though. We're going house-hunting in May so I'll have to say something then . . . and then May-August should be real fun.

What have you done and how did it go over?

We moved a few weeks before DD turned 4. She is the type of kid who does well with advance planning and a heads up on what is going on. We moved in late June and I think we started talking about it more in March or April. We were selling our house and explained that, showed her video of the new house, talked about how our stuff would get there, how she would get there (she flew w/ my mom and we drove), etc. But that approach was a good fit for her personality.

She handled it better than I expected. It still comes up sometimes -- why did we move, why can't we move back. I think that might be unavoidable?

We talked about it once we had a concrete place to show them and tell them about. My kids were 4 and 2.5 when we moved. The older one was quite opposed - until he saw his new backyard. He still brings up our "old town" sometimes, but he's really fine with it.

[houseelf]

Going through this right now with my seven year old. Fortunately, we are moving to a somewhat familiar area. I keep spin- spin- spinning the positives: We'll live an hour from your grandparents! We'll live 20 minutes from Kings' Island! (We have season passes). This is going to be a better life for your mom and dad because we're going to be happier!

Still, this is hard. DS has said that he never wants to leave his friends and that he is happy here. He says that there won't be as much snow play (which he loves). I try not to minimize his impending loss, but it is very hard. I just don't want our kids to have to go through this. (He is unaware that we will probably move again two years from now after fellowship too.)

Soooo, this post offered absolutely zero insight (sorry), but just lots of commiseration.

Kelly

[DCJenn]

Kids are so much more resilient than we parents though.

I remember the day my brother's best friend moved away from home. He went to school and wrote the saddest story titled, "The Worst Day of My Life."

He recovered though and while he did go and visit Jimmy a few times, eventually they grew apart.

Jenn