Moving With a Toddler :: A Smooth Move Survival Guide

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We all know that toddlers have lots of big feelings and emotions. Understandably my husband and I were a little nervous about moving our two-year-old out of the only home she’s ever known and into a new one. We didn’t want her to be scared, or to hate the new house. And we really wanted her to be as excited about it as we were.

Here are some moving tricks that helped us!

  1. We brought her with us when we looked at houses. This way we could see what she liked too. Some houses she would run right into and others not so much.
  2. We brought her to the new house as often as possible before actually moving in. While my husband replaced carpet with laminate flooring our daughter and I would bring him food and she would spend time running all over the house. 
  3. We let her pick out her bedroom on one of the first visits after we bought the house. This way every time we went over she could check it out and get excited about putting her bed and toys in there. I also let her get some Moana wall stickers just for her new room, and she was constantly talking about putting them up.
  4. She helped pack boxes. As we packed up the old house I would try to have her help as much as possible. She liked “labeling” the boxes with colored pencil and smoothing down packing tape when we closed up boxes. As we packed I would tell her that everything was going to the new house and we wouldn’t forget anything. She was especially concerned about her toys and the dogs coming with us.
  5. We packed her room last and unpacked it first. This seemed to help a lot, because she had consistency between the two houses. Once we had the furniture in and the bed set up she had fun going through the boxes of books and toys with her Nana as they put things away together.
  6. We had her grandparents come down from Colorado to help. Our daughter really liked showing off the new house to them and it was great to have someone to occupy her for awhile while my husband and I got stuff done. Before they came we made a list of things that needed to be done around the new house. It included changing out light bulbs and putting up closet hardware. That way they could help us get these things done and wouldn’t have to leave at all. 

Overall our move went as smoothly as it could and our daughter really likes our new home. Have you moved with a young child?

What tips do you have that we didn’t think of?