again on moving to a new house

[*PL*]

I also have a 3 yr old son. Should I expect any problems when we move? if we are away out of town, and he's getting ready to be done with it - he'll say "wanna go home now Momma". He knows every nook and cranny of this house - what cupboards his snacks are in, who sleeps in whose room, etc.

I'm afraid he'll be upset. Does it take 3 yr olds long to adjust?

[KIDPOWER]

You son might be upset for a little while, but if you are calm instead of worried, you can teach him that it is okay to be anxious about change - and then to enjoy the adventure.

Young children want to understand what is happening and to know that they will end up with their parents. If they are leaving people they care about behind, they need to know that they will make new friends and keep their old friends - sending photos on the Internet or having little recordings with messages from people they are leaving can be a big comfort.

To help him prepare to understand the move, you can make little mini-dramas using his toys to act out what is going to happen.

YOu can also help him to understand the situation by making a little book by folding some pieces of paper in half and stapling them down the middle. The title of the book might be: Our Family Moves.

the plot can have photos or simple line drawings that tell the story -
1. We like living in our house. We know where the cupboards with the snacks are, who sleeps in what room,and where my toys are.

2. We are moving to a new house. We will have to put everything in boxes and take apart the beds. It will be a big mess for a while.

3. We will go to our new house in the car and on the airplane.

4. When we get to the new house, it will be a mess with boxes and beds all apart everywhere.

5. We will work hard to put everything together and make it nice.

6. Our new home will have nice rooms, nice cupboards, and good places to play.

[*PL*]

THANK YOU :kiss:

I have been taking him to the new house here and there - and we walk through the rooms and I'll say "this is Nathan's room", "this is momma's room", "this is Maddy's room" - and he'll repeat after me and then when he saw the ensuite off my bedroom he said "is this were momma go pee" :lmao:

Is that good? Showing him the house before we move into it? He asked me where his bed was, etc. I told him we will move it in one day and he will sleep there.

[KIDPOWER]

It is great to show him the new house - at age 3, as long as you stay happy, he will take his cues from you most of the time.

[Busty Vixen]

When we moved to Atlanta, DD had just turned 4 and I was so worried.

I let her decide which shelf her snacks would go on in our new pantry and which drawer her cups would go in. In her room, we asked her, "Do you want you bed on this wall- or this wall?" It seemed to help her to have some control over her new environment.

[cara7166]

PL, my son was 4 when we moved to another city for the first time. He really took it in stride. He was so excited about his new room and getting to make some choices "Do you want your bed against this wall or this wall?" We even let him pick out a new bathroom set. He loved that.

[raw]

Our son was 3 when we moved- again, we involved him in the process by allowing him to choose the color of his room etc.

We did make one HUGE tactical error. We bought the house pre-construction, and then told them that we were moving to a new house, and showed him the hole where it would be. He was a bear for about a week until I finally figured out that he thought that we were moving from a great house that he loved into a hole in the ground.

[cara7166]

lol raw omg your poor son...I can't imagine what must have been going through his mind on that!! lol I bet he was a bit out of sorts! lol

[raw]

Out of sorts doesn't begin to describe it. :lol: Live and learn.

[*PL*]

these are great suggestions Ladies! I will let him decide where his snacks are, where his bed goes, where is toy box goes, etc. :love:

[TNVols]

These are great ideas. C will be just shy of 4 and B just shy of 2 when we move back to the States. I think we are going straight to our new destination instead of stopping to visit family so we can find a house as soon as possible. This will be C's first move really because when we moved from Germany to here, he was 11 months old. Didn't really bother him, too, much.

Those are great ideas and I will have to keep those in mind.

[Buttercup]

My son is 3 and with our move out here it did not take him long to adjust to the new place. As it has been said just be calm and it should go smoothly!