Top 10 Tips to Transition to Two New Homes

1. Making a house a new home by putting your personal stamp on it. You’re no longer negotiating the colour of the walls, style of the furnishings, or dishes you want. Keep the children involved so they know and feel they are an important part of this move.
2. Keep the kids involved in seeing the new house under construction or visit the common areas of your building together. Get them excited about the new school and explore the new playground and, when you are present with them, to encounter new friends. Reassure them about choices they make and taking on new responsibilities.
3. Safety proof the new abode with fire, smoke, carbon monoxide detectors. Ensure house insurance is current and fully covers your family and property needs. Take all other necessary precautions to ensure the safety of your younger children. Not sure what the regulations entail? Contact the information line of your city, local fire department. Confirm the house is safe to your children of tender years helps them feel secure.
4. Realistic expectations in the face of what may be, for some, a powerful emotional passage. Hope, curiosity, fear, courage, excitement, loss. Set up bathroom, kitchen and kids’ rooms first. It’s a great way to help settle into known routines quickly. With an overwhelming number of decisions facing you, acknowledge it’s not a contest or a race.
5. Honour memories Preserve good memories and release the difficult ones. Leaving the familiar may entail grieving and closing a period of your personal history. I look forward to positive new adventures. Elizabeth Stirling, a psychologist from Santa Fe, frames it,” No matter how much you move, you still take yourself with you”. Seek a confidential ear to find comfort: you’re not alone.
6. Create new experiences: tech-free hands-on exploring of the neighbourhood on foot. Feeling content and grounded in your new home may take some time. It’s a process just like the decision to move.
7. Laugh at the silly things: A mislabeled box lead to the discovery of the cracked shampoo bottle tucked into a corner next to the white linen table cloth: you just have to laugh out loud!
8. Brag about the little accomplishments: you did what you said you would. Share bragging rights with the children and lavish affection and attention for a job well done. Building trust and unity together one step at a time.
9. Preserving routine with flexibility Gain trust with gentle allowances in the bedtime and morning routines until everyone is comfortable finding their way in the new home. Ensuring predictability and holding the line at safety and security.
10. Enjoy the surprises: An old newspaper tucked in a door frame crevice for insulation. A love note fell from a book. The dancing ballerina starts up again in the jewelry box. Your childhood puppets come to life in your child’s hand.

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