Moving anywhere, regardless of the distance, can be a real challenge. But once you add young kids to the equation, and if you’re trying to move you and your kids to a whole other country, the challenges associated with moving just got a whole lot trickier.
But despite how stressful and uncomfortable it might be to move your life from one country to another, the results could be just what your family needed. So to help make this transition go much smoother for everyone involved, here are three tips for moving abroad with young kids.
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Allow Them To Be As Involved As Possible
Depending on the ages of your children, you might not think that they can or even want to be involved with the processes of moving. However, from a young age, children can pick up on what’s going on within their family and that things are changing. So to help them adjust to this quickly, Victoria Richards, a contributor to the Huffington Post, recommends that you allow them to be as involved as possible in what’s going on.
This involvement could be a big as helping you pick out what home you want to buy and live in together to something as small as choosing which of their personal items to either give away or store before the move. But the more you include your children in the conversations and actions leading up to your move, the more they’ll look forward to and welcome this new change in their lives.
Keep The Right items With You
Packing up the entire lives of multiple people and moving them to a new country is no easy task. Especially when you have young kids who might not entirely understand what’s going on, the prospect of packing up your home can be a struggle.
To help with this, FIDI.org, advises that you keep the right items with you while you’re actively moving to this new country. This means that you should allow your kids to bring a new of their favorite items with them on the plane so that they can have immediate access to them once they arrive at their new home. This can help them feel much more comfortable and familiar in this new environment.
Try To Line Up With The School Terms
If your kids are school-aged, then the ideal time to move abroad, according to Carole Hallet Mobbs, a contributor to ExpatChild.com, is before a new school term has started in this new country. By trying to line up your move with these periods of time, your child will be able to start school at the same time as other students and may have an easier time adjusting, making friends, and keeping up with the curriculum.
If you’ll soon be moving to a new country with your young children, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you find success with this transition.
