Gently transitioning 2 year old into new house...

[mamabird83]

Hello,

We are preparing to move next week and I am wondering if anyone has any suggestions for making the transition as gentle as possible for my 2 year old daughter.

My husband and I have lived in our downtown apartment for the past 5 years together and this is the only home our daughter has ever known. Although we are thrilled about owning our first home, I know I am going to feel sentimental about leaving our apartment. Dd and I are very similar and I expect she will feel the same way.

We will still be in the same town, so at least she will have the same people around her. The plan is to maintain as much consistency as possible.

I am wondering what to expect- do any of you have stories to share about moving your children into new environments. Any tips or suggestions on making this easier for everyone?

Thanks in advance!

[insahmniak]

We moved when our daughter was 2, about 1000 miles away. We took pictures of her with her favorite people and places and made a photobook to look through. She looked through it often.

Congratulations on your move!

[Litcrit]

We moved when DD was 2 and she barely noticed - it was all fun.

[moonlitemama]

I would take lots of pictures of the old house and any special places in the neighborhood.

Make sure you set up your DD's room and unpack her toys first. Not only does it give her something familiar, but it will be helpful to have a safe place for her to play while you unpack and settle the rest of the house.

Congrats on the new house and good luck with the transition!

[K1329]

We moved when dd was almost 2. Like a pp's dd, she barely noticed. We moved locally, too, and visited the new home as many times as possible before the move. I think this helped - it wasn't a totally new place!

[SunshineJ]

Originally Posted by moonlitemama

I would take lots of pictures of the old house and any special places in the neighborhood.

Make sure you set up your DD's room and unpack her toys first. Not only does it give her something familiar, but it will be helpful to have a safe place for her to play while you unpack and settle the rest of the house.

Congrats on the new house and good luck with the transition!

This. We moved once when DS was 3 and DD was 15 months old, and a second time when they were older (5 and 7). The one thing that seemed to help the most in both cases was to have their rooms set up before we brought them into the house. They saw that everything they cared about was there, it was familiar and comforting, and we didn't have a lot of issues with it.

[dex_millie]

Originally Posted by Litcrit

We moved when DD was 2 and she barely noticed - it was all fun.

: I think kids at this age adjust well.

[MamaPhD]

My SIL moved when her toddler was 2 or 3. At first, she said, no this is not our house even with all her things in it. So SIL took her to their old house (same town, it was totally empty!) and showed her and said, "yes this used to be our house, but all our things and family live in the other house now". Toddler was totally shocked to see the place emptied out! But she came back to their new house and never asked about the old one again.

[LaughingHyena]

We moved last year, DS was nearly 3 and DD just turned 5. They both adapted far better than I though they would.

Before the move we spent lots of time making sure they knew that all our stuff was coming with us. I would have liked to declutter some of their things but they seemed very anxious that we would lose things so I didn't. DD played "moving" with her dolls house and we borrowd a couple of moving hosue booksfrom the library. We also took photos of the old house before we left.

Move day itself we had a friend come and watch the kids but we kept them with us. We wanted them to see the lorry loaded and so on. I packed them each a bag with some snacks and new colouring books, stickers etc which they opened as soon as we reached the new house. That way we kept them out of the way.

We made sure thier rooms were ready for them to sleep that night. I made sure we did not change the bedding and we took a familiar air freshener to help things to smell as neutral as possible (the previous owners were smokers and had dogs so we were a little worried about smells).

[Aufilia]

We moved shortly after DD turned 2. She had never lived anywhere else. We had the opportunity to move in slowly -- our new house needed a lot of work so we spent about 2 months replacing flooring, fixing holes in the walls, painting, and cleaning. So DD got a chance to become familiar with the new house before we moved.

We painted her room in the new house exactly the same as her old one. Same furniture, same bed, we even put in a closet organizer just like her old one. The only new thing in her room was her curtain, since the window was a different size.

After we moved, we visited our old house. DD expressed fear that our old house was going to disappear. Like since we didn't live there it wouldn't exist anymore. So for the first couple months, we drove past our old house once or twice a week (fortunately it was nearby!) just to show her it was still there. Gradually she asked to see it less and less; I don't think we've been past it for 6 months, now.

[amma_mama]

We moved three times in 5 months when DD was 2.5yo, both times overseas, and she did great (we moved to Egypt for a 2-month assignment, then back to our home in the US for one month, then overseas again). She had a few episodes of "I want to go home", but it faded with time and she took to her new surroundings despite EVERYTHING being different (people, places, languages), except Mommy and Daddy. I was totally amazed at her resilience as she had been, well, not an easy baby.

Oh, I forgot to answer your question! We were unfortunately not in a position to bring a lot of her stuff with her (a few toys in the suitcase) and she still coped up well. I would have preferred to maintain more consistency, though. Like the PPs said, get her stuff packed last and unpacked first, perhaps with a few new things to enjoy in the new house.

[tbone_kneegrabber]

we moved when ds was one, so a bit younger, but we moved over the course of a month or so, we would bring stuff over to the "new house" and talk about stuff for the "new house" and go over and hang out in the back yard while dp was redoing the kitchen and stuff like that. He did just fine (and we went from being dp, me and ds in a apartment to living in a 3 story house with 7 people!)

[Liberty5_3000]

We moved a month before my son turned 2 and he was fine with being in the new house, but we had a few things left at the old place. It was quite a mistake for us to bring him to pick things up, that is when he got upset. When we made a second trip, I was able to just leave him with my mother-in-law, so he didn't have to leave the old place again.

[Katie T]

We moved when DD1 was 3 1/2 and the first thing I did after we got done with the actual moving was to unpack her room. Of course she turned out to be one of those kids who didn't seem to care one way or the other, but I didn't know how she would do and thought at least she can have all her stuff unpacked to play with and make it feel more like home to her.

[thehappydeer]

Great Suggestions!

We moved several times last year when our DD was 12-18 months. It was a pretty tumultuous time for us, but she did so well and enjoyed exploring each new space we were in, from hotel room, to family's homes, to temporary rentals.

We had a few things with us for her that were always the same, a wool rug, that I considered her safety zone, and I always set that up for her wherever we went with her toys. When we finally moved into our permanent home, where we live now, I had found a sweet little tent for her, so I set that up while we were bringing things in over a few days, and kept it up for her as we moved things around so if the space became over whelming ever, she could slip away into her own tiny cozy space and look at books, or eat a snack.

She was so relaxed about it all, and I think she was very excited to explore new places. I am really grateful for her bravery.

Good Luck!