Moving with a 3 Year Old

I suggest that if you can show her your new house before you move you should. She might take it a little easier if she gets to see it and when you show it to her, use your imagination and make it a fun trip. Tell her where all her things will be and let her help imagine it too. If your going to redecorate the house take her on a special trip to a craft store or something to pick out stickers and border paper for her room. My daughters only 2 and she already loves decorating her room. I think if you can show her how fun and excited your new house will be it will be a lot easier for her and also explain to her that she will get to see her grandparents still even though you guys are moving. Maybe when you guys move throw a small family dinner party and then she can see for her self that the grandparents can still come over. Good luck and hope you have an easy move!!

When our son was 2 and we moved, we made sure the movers put his crib, dresser, toys, etc. on the truck last and it was the first to come off the truck. That gave us some time to get his room set up right away. We had him at a babysitter so that he didn't have to deal with the stress of movers and stuff and getting lost in the mess. Then we took him from the front door to his room and back again. Then we took him from his room to the bathroom and back, etc. We spent a lot of time with him looking around and taking him back to his room, making it a game to see if he could find HIS room from wherever we were in the new house. He doesn't like change so we decorated his room the same as his old room.

Kids will pick up on your emotions. Around your daughter, make sure you are excited about the new adventure, but validate any of her sad feelings. For example, when she says that she doesn't want to leave her house, tell her you also love that house, but you think she will like the new house because it has bigger windows and a place for a swing, or whatever. Then ask her what color she would like her new room to be. Distraction is good, too.

We recently moved with my 2-yr-old son and he was really anxious about it and kept saying he didnt want to. Finally it came out that he thought we were leaving everything behind, including his crib, his toys, our dog, and Daddy! Once I reassured him that we were all going together as a family and that our dog and his father would all be together at the new house just like at the old house, and so would all his toys and books, etc., he relaxed alot. Make sure she understands that - we forget that at their age, they don't know what all "moving to a new house" entails. I also got him a small new toy and had it waiting for him the first time he went to see the new house (prior to moving day) which seemed to help.
Try to keep all your other routines as normal as possible. Also, we made other plans for him on moving day until we could get his bed set up in his room and a few of his toys out so that his room would feel kind of familiar.
He adjusted pretty quickly and he is not a child that deals well with change.
Oh one more thing - after we moved in, we kept asking him if he liked our new house, and he kept saying no. Finally, we just stopped asking him and instead talked about the great things about our new house, and he would agree with us and he never again said he didnt like it. I think we were worrying too much about his opinion. She'll take her cues from you as long as you're positive about your new home.
Good luck with your move!

Make it an adventure. We moved away when our daughter was 2 1/2. We had to sell our home in Houston before we moved to Kentucky. My husband went ahead so it was just the two of us. I was working full time and got home one evening and she was cranky. I was in the process of getting her bath ready, she was running around naked and the door bell rang. She ran to the door with me coming up behind her quickly and she opens the door in all her glory. There was a real estate agent and her clients. They were there to see the house!!! I never received a call. I grabbed a towel, picked up my naked toddler and apologized. They ended up buying our house! Make it an adventure!!! We sure did!! She will be okay.

Yes, show her the house soon. Spend time in her room. Ask her, "where will your bed go?" & " Where will your books go?" & "What color should this wall be?"

She may not understand that her things are going with her. Let her help plan her bedroom. Check out the backyard together. Where will she play? etc... That will help.

She will have her feeling no matter what you say. Just make it plain that this is what we are going to do and let her work out her feelings. If you make a big deal out of it then she will to.

New homes means change for everyone, but there are lots of good in change and everyone has to learn how to deal with changes.

tell her she will have a new room, new friends to play with and that your inlaws will always be there no matter what.

We went through this last year and our daughter had just turned 3. It was rough. She cried quite a bit, "I want my old house!" Do what you can to make exciting for her and an adventure. If you can, let her paint her room whatever color she chooses. As silly as it sounds, this REALLY helped my daughter. We did most of the painting, but we gave her a small paintbrush and let her help. We also let her help decorate her room and let her pick out some decorative items that she might want. That seemed to distract her somewhat from the fact that we moved. Best wishes to you!

Try to maintain current routines in other areas to provide consistency and respond with empathy when she becomes emotional. Here are some articles with more specifics on routines and tantrums. Good luck!

http://blogs.goddardsystems.com/Cedar-Park-TX/2009/10/30/...
http://blogs.goddardsystems.com/Cedar-Park-TX/2010/02/24/...
http://blogs.goddardsystems.com/Cedar-Park-TX/2009/07/24/...