Make MOVING with Kids Unbelievably Easy when Moving Out of State

You're looking at moving to Idaho and you're wondering what you should do to prepare your kids to move here to Idaho. I've got the Top 8 ways to prep your kids for the big move here to Idaho and I'm getting after it right now.

It's a huge change, a big transition. I went through it myself with my wife and my 3 young children so I know exactly what you're going through and how difficult it is to make a huge move, like what you're about to undertake. So I'm going to be covering 8 different ways that you can talk with your kids and be prepared mentally for different things that might happen as well that are going to help you just make a much smoother move here to Idaho.

8 Ways to Prepare Your Kids to Move to Idaho

#1 Start Engaging with your Children

As you're planning to make the move, maybe a couple months away, a few months, even a year away, you can start engaging with your children and having a conversation with them and talk about making the move. Help them feel like they're part of the decision to make the move. Ask them how they feel about it. Talk through how they're feeling, what are their concerns.

And ultimately, you'll make the decision, but you want them to feel like they were certainly a part of that decision making process and that they have time to process that decision and to make that move. That's what we started doing with our children. I have younger children, I don't have teenagers. It might have been harder for sure with teenagers.

That's actually a reason we moved now as opposed to waiting later is because it is easier with younger children. But even with my 5 year old, we started that process months ahead of time just saying, “Hey, we're thinking about moving, what do you think about that?” “Hey, we're thinking about moving, what about this state that we visited? Remember we visited friends here? What did you think about that?” “Remember your friends that you met, you want to go, maybe live with them?”

So questions like that help engage them and help them start making that process. At first, it was a definite “no” from my 5 year old. She was like, “Nope, don't want to move.

I'm good here. What are you talking about?” Even from a 5 year old, we got resistance right up front. You're going to get that probably pretty much at any age, I'd say above 4 years old. You're going to be getting some kind of pushback and resistance. But over time, that started to melt. 

And once we made the decision to actually make the move here to Idaho versus some other states where you're looking at, she was okay with it and she became excited about it. And another way is kind of a bonus way that I'll throw in here is once we decided on the home we were going to be purchasing, we began showing her photos and videos of that home.

And she got really excited about the new home we were moving into and how much better it was than what we had in California. And that created a lot more excitement around making that move. 

#2 Goodbyes Are Not Forever

That was another thing that we prepared them for. “Hey, you're just saying goodbye to your friends and your family right now, but it's not forever. We're going to come and visit them. They're going to come visit us.”  A big way you can get ahead of that is if you're able to plan a trip home in maybe 3 months or 6 months. That's what we did. We just went ahead and planned a trip with our camper trailer back in San Diego 6 months out. 

So we knew we were coming home for at least a week to 10 days and that made a big, big difference. Also knowing like they had something to look forward to, going to be able to see their friends and it helped their friends too and our family be more okay with it too because it's not just about the kids, it's also about everyone else in your life that's being affected by this. They knew that they were going to be seeing us again in just a few months. 

#3 Move in the Summertime

So you know, you can move any time a year. I think the easiest time to move is probably going to be in the spring, late spring and summertime. Certainly as schools getting out. And during that summertime transition, if you have children, young children especially. And the big reason for that was not just because of the school transition, that was certainly a part of it. 

We ourselves homeschool, or in our case right now due to homeschool hybrid programs, we did need to time it with the school year starting up, but there's just so much to do in the spring and summertime. Of course there's winter time activities as well, but it's just a lot colder. It's harder to go outside. We kind of have to make a big effort to do it. But when it's summertime, yes it's hot, but there's a lot of things to do with the river splash pads, playgrounds, water, parks, mountains.

There's so much to do during the summertime that can keep your child really, really busy and active so that it just makes them, I don't want to say forget, but kind of forget about the fact they just left all their friends and family behind. And it makes that transition just a lot easier when they're staying super active. And for yourself too, cuz you're going to be going through similar emotions as well, missing everyone.

And if you're staying busy and active and and more importantly getting outside and getting all that vitamin D and all that sunshine is going to help you stay a lot more positive, help your kids stay a lot more positive and just be much more happier about making that transition. And that is something that you got to be aware of especially in the winter months, a lot of lack of vitamin D up here.

And so it's easy to kind of get depression because you're inside so much not getting that sun. Make sure you get outside as much as you can and take vitamin D supplements. That's going to help a lot too. 

#4 Be Prepared for Some Regression

And that is regression potentially in behavior or if your children are potty training there could be regression that occurs and that's because of all the stress that is surrounded around moving. And even in yourself, in your personal life, you might have some regression that you might find too. 

It was very stressful moving here and it took some time for me to get my business up and running and once I was settled in, I had the mental energy to really focus on it and push forward really, really hard. You're going to find that same thing likely in your children as well. We found that out through friends and family that helped to see that and that's okay, like be it to be prepared for that. And that's okay. 

Just cut them some grace, cut them some slack, give them some grace. You're aware of the regression that might occur. For instance behavior, they might lash out a little bit more at you. It's not because they're, maybe they're mad at you necessarily. It could be part part of it being a little upset about a move, but there's so much stress that they might lash out a little bit more.

Just be prepared for that. We were potty training our 2 year old at the time and he was mostly potty trained before we moved. And then we moved and we moved into a short term rental for about 6 or 7 weeks. We had some issues around getting the house. There was a lot of chaos and we ultimately got it and then moved in and then once we were in for a number of weeks, all of a sudden he just decided diapers were coming off and he was potty trading himself.

As soon as things settled down, then it wasn't probably more so that regression period was over and we could move forward. So just be prepared for that as well. 

#5 Find Your Tribe Quickly

Whatever that looks like for you, whether that's school, church activities, sports, I would definitely recommend trying to find as quickly as you can. Of course you want to make the right decision on certain things, especially things like church. Those are harder to change and schools are harder to change over time as your kids get settled in.

But as quickly as you can definitely find those activities that your kids are interested in, find your friend group around those things that you are interested in in particular, and build your tribe of people here. Build your friend and network and that's going to help your kids fit in a lot faster and get comfortable being here and just get through that process of making that transition.

#6 Easily Accessible Cards, Letters, Envelopes and Stamps

A pro tip for my wife, of course, is to have easily accessible cards, letters, envelopes and stamps so you can write to your children's friends back home. My kids love making little note cards, making their little drawings. We'll just take a piece of computer paper and give it to them and they'll draw their names or friends' name, draw them together, then doing things together and we'll just slip it into an envelope, put a stamp on it and send it off to them.

And we'll get the same thing back as well from their friends or cousins, family. And that's a really great way for them to feel connected with their family back home. So writing cards for your children is a really great way to keep that connection back home. 

#7 Take Pictures

Next is that we also took pictures with our friends and family before we moved. We made sure to go around and get pictures with everyone. We had to go in way party for ourselves and we made sure to get pictures when we were there. And so then we could create a photo album with all of our close friends and family, and especially our children's friends as well, and put them into a photo book, a memory book so they can create, it helps them remember them and look through it.

So again, help them feel that connection that they might be missing otherwise. 

#8 Use FaceTime

And the last pro tip for my wife and wraps up this blog is that using FaceTime, how your children use FaceTime is going to be a lot different than how we use FaceTime. I would definitely recommend that your kids use FaceTime to communicate with their friends and family back home, especially with grandparents, if that's the case.

But specifically with their friend group. We look at using FaceTime as just a way to visually see someone we would otherwise be talking to on the phone or texting with the kids. Basically use it as a way to play. 

All these fun little stickers you could put on the FaceTime filters. All of a sudden you can look like a chip mug or a raccoon or a unicorn or whatever. And kids love to use those features to play with their friends back home. I would look at FaceTime as a play time for your kids and it's a really great way to have them continue to build that connection and friendship through play over technology, through FaceTime.

That was 8 ways to help prepare kids to make the move here to Idaho. Getting way in front of it, preparing them, helping them buy into the decision to move and all the different tips and tricks while you're actually here.

Curtis Chism, Realtor
208-510-0427 | Mobile
boise@chismteam.com 
Chism Team | NRDS# SP56593
brokered by eXp Realty