Moving is a word that many parents dread but adding to just being one of you with children, it’s a lot more difficult. Not to worry though because while it may seem daunting and unattainable, there are several moving tips to help take the stress away and hopefully make the move even fun and exciting for all involved!
6 Essential Moving Tips To Help The Single Parent
Keep A Positive Attitude
As parents, one of the biggest things you can do is keep a positive attitude when situations get tough. Your kids idealize and mimic so many of your everyday moves and manners with you not even realizing it. Whether you are moving because of death, a divorce or just needing a fresh start, it’s going to be a huge change for you as well as your children. Try to not let your kids see when you are worried to doubt why it is that you are moving. If you stay positive, share the good things that can happen, your kids will follow suit.
Involve Your Children
Unless your children are not able to help because they are small, it’s really important to involve your kids in the process of your move. If you do this in a positive way, the process can actually be a good one for you and your kids. Allow them to help you with cleaning, separating items that they want to take with them, donate or give to a neighbor. Give them a chance to have fun with the moving process too! You can encourage them to get creative such as decorating their moving boxes that will be put in their new room or draw pictures of how they want to set up their room.
Plan Ahead
As the only parent trying to do everything yourself also known as helping your children with school, work, attempting to pack and everything in between, you need to give yourself time. At least two to three months before your move should be enough time to get everything done. Consider getting a planner to keep everything with you in one central location. Write it down and plan a day to get things done. If the children at school, take the hardest tasks to get done to give you the time to focus.
Talk To Your Children
Communication, especially with your children is important. If you are moving due to a separation, this is the time where you want to sit down together and discuss what will be happening. Allow them to ask questions and answer honestly. Having an open dialogue for both parties leaves everyone that they are all on the same page and lets them know and you know how they are feeling. Younger children might be a bit more resilient than older children who have established deep connections but again having positive conversations can help.
Call In Professionals
If you are starting to feel overwhelmed with the packing and endless paperwork, give yourself grace and call in the professionals to take the heavy part over for you. Taylor Moving and Storage is a full service and moving storage company in the Boulder and Longmont areas of Colorado. They offer commercial and residential packing, moving and storage services. They also experience unloading and loading your truck, self storage and shipping containers. Their prices are explained up front and there are no hidden charges for gas, truck fees or mileage. They just have a simple all-inclusive hourly rate. The team is an honest, experienced and reliable moving companies in the Boulder area, to help make your move easy as possible.
Image Credit: Taylor Moving and Storage
Ask For Help On Moving Day
Consider having a friend, family member or a babysitter watch the kids for you on the day that you move. It’s likely that you will be needed to the movers that you hire to ask what you need assistance with or you’ll need to tend to your children constantly and slow the moving process down due to stress and anxiety. Having someone come help can also give them something to do and allow you to focus.
Of course, in any big life change, do your best to give you and your kids grace during this transition. It’s not an easy one, especially as a single parent but knowing the destination will be worth the trip is key. Keeping a positive attitude, plan a few fun things to see if you are driving and make it a memorable experience.
Do you have a tip you would add to this list?
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