By Relocation.com Staff
Moving with your teenagers can be a harrowing experience. At such an age, these not-quite-kids and not-yet adults are quite social, and they have gotten used to the friends and teachers that surround them each day. When told of a move, teenagers often withdraw or get angry, making the entire moving process more difficult. In order to help you and your teens have a less stressful moving event, Relocation.com have compiled a list of helpful tips that you can use in your own particular situation.
1. Ask for Input: While you are looking for that perfect home, make sure that you're teenager is involved. Allow them to help you choose the home that you will move into, the bedroom that they want or like, and the area in which you will move to. Obviously, this is not something that they should have complete control of, but seriously take their opinions into account.
2. Let Creativity Reign: Once there is a specific home that you will be moving into, you should let your teen prepare by allowing them to plan how their new room will be decorated and set up. Suggest that they draw up a room map that will allow them to set up their things so that they know what the room will look like when they arrive. This will also give them something to look forward to, which can greatly reduce the potential struggle with them over the move. Also try to label their things so that the long distance moving companies are aware of where their particular items belong.
3. Dealing with School: School is a huge part of a teenagers life, and they should be a part of everything that you do that is involved in transferring schools. Allow them to be present at the registration for their new school, and try to set up a tour of the new school as well. This can help ease the stress of moving to a new place and learning to traverse a new school.
4. Saying Goodbye: It is important that you allow your teen time to say goodbye to friends and teachers at their current school before the move. Consider purchasing a scrapbook or journal that friends and teachers can sign and provide contact information in. Also think about having a good bye party that your teen is in charge of planning and setting up. Find out if they want a big party or a smaller party with only a few close friends. Once a type of party is chosen by your teen, back their plans up by making the party a reality.
5. Get to Work: Provide your teen a list of tasks that they should complete before moving day. This will help them feel involved in the overall move, and will show them that moving will really take everyone’s help. Think outside of the box on this one, and choose tasks that they can do by themselves as well as with help from other members of the family. Interstate movers can help with some aspects, but your family will have to take care of others.
Moving is never simple or easy when you have kids, especially teenagers. Teens can find relocation one of the most stressful moments in their lives. The routine that they have thrived on for so long is about to change, which can cause some major issues if you do not go about things carefully. No one wants their kids to suffer, and taking these simple tips into consideration can really go a long way to helping you and your teen make it through a move without dealing with tons of stress. Stress-free moving is possible, if you are sure to plan ahead and take the time to organize before moving companies come into the picture.