Moving can be a stressful time for anyone, but especially young children who might have difficulty adjusting to a new environment and handling the transitioning period. Whether you’re planning a cross country relocation for a new job or just moving to a new home on the other side of town, leaving behind the home that your child is familiar with and potentially requiring them to transfer schools and learn to navigate a new area can be equal parts upsetting and stressful. Moving is a fairly inevitable – and often worthwhile – part of life, and one that children are typically able to adjust to in time. Keep reading for a few simple tips on how to make moving easier for your child. 

Keep Explanations Simple 

Moving can be overwhelming for young children as they might feel like everything around them is changing, without them having any say. To avoid overwhelming them further and giving them anxiety about any potential factors of the move that could be challenging, try keeping your explanations to a minimum until your child comes to you with questions about what is happening. For many parents, this can be as simple as letting your small child know that you are moving to a new house where they will have a new, better bedroom and a different space to play. 

Pack Their Belongings Last 

To give your child a familiar safe haven amidst the chaos of moving, it is important to avoid packing up their room until it is absolutely necessary. The day before your movers from Black Tie Moving come to collect your belongings is a good time to pack up your child’s toys and bedding. Additionally, you should be sure to unpack their things and set up their bedroom as much as possible first, before doing anything else in your new home. It is important that your child has a place that is familiar to them and any items they might need to soothe themselves after a stressful day of moving. 

Let Them Say Goodbye

In the midst of the excitement of a move to a new home, don’t forget the importance of giving your child time to handle their emotions and say goodbye to your home, in addition to giving them time to say goodbye to friends, classmates, and teachers if your move is requiring them to switch schools. From taking plenty of pictures in your old house to letting them host a goodbye party with their friends, it is important for your child’s emotional health to give them the opportunity to say a proper goodbye to everyone and everything they want to. 

Whether your child is headed to their first check up or about to undergo a minor surgery, it is likely that the thought of visiting the doctor might make them feel a bit scared. While being afraid of or anxious about going to the doctor is normal for children of various ages, as a parent, it can be heartbreaking to watch your child experience such difficult emotions. Going to the doctor’s office is an important part of keeping your child healthy, so it is important that you work with them to ease their anxiety. Here are a few tips for helping your child get over their fear of the doctor. 

Set a Good Example

Often, children are nervous about going to the doctor because it is something that is relatively unfamiliar to them. One of the biggest ways you can help your child to feel less anxious ahead of a doctor’s appointment is by setting a good example. Whether you’re going to the doctor for your own annual checkup or about to undergo a minimally invasive surgical procedure at Northwest Surgery Center, having a positive attitude and speaking about the doctor in an assuring way can help your child feel more comfortable going to their own appointment. 

Offer Distractions

Children often allow their anxiety about the doctor to build for hours or even days, making their imagined experience of what their visit will be like much worse than it actually ends up being. To calm your child’s fears and keep their anxious thoughts at bay, try offering them a distraction. Whether it’s talking to them about a different subject on the car ride to the doctor or allowing them to watch their favorite show or YouTube video on your phone or tablet during their appointment, keeping their minds busy can work wonders for calming them down and keeping them from feeling quite as anxious. 

Provide Incentives

Sometimes, it can be difficult to ease your child’s fears about the doctor altogether. When this is the case, your next best option might be to reward them for good behavior at a medical appointment in spite of their fears. Offering to take your child to their favorite restaurant, buying them a new toy, or giving them another incentive to make it through their appointment might be just what they need to face their fears. 

When you have kids, having a functional and well-equipped backyard is important. Giving your children a space to play and explore is crucial, and having a kid-friendly backyard is the perfect way to motivate them to get outside. Whether you’re looking for a new home with the perfect backyard or looking to renovate your own yard with the help of Classic Home Concepts, here are a few kid-friendly backyard ideas that both you and your little ones are sure to love. 

Build a Playground 

A classic backyard staple is a large playground or swingset. The right playset can give your child space to play and explore, as any child is sure to love spending hours climbing, swinging, and sliding. When investing in a playground, be sure to choose a set that is right for your children. Experts advise seeking out a playset that can be used by children of all ages and will continue to be functional as your children grow up. 

Include Sand or Water Play

Nothing is more fun than spending a day at the beach playing in the sand, but unfortunately, doing so is not realistic everyday for many people! IInstalling a sand box or a water table in your backyard is the perfect way to replicate this at home, and to encourage younger children to explore new sensations and learn as they play. This is a great option for nearly any sized backyard, as sandboxes and water tables are available in a variety of sizes and styles that can be easily incorporated into any space. 

Provide Plenty of Shade 

Installing large umbrellas or a canopy in your yard can serve as an effective way to protect your children from the sun’s harmful UV rays, while also serving as decoration in your yard. Choose an umbrella pattern or canopy style that matches the rest of your outdoor decor and keep yourself shaded in style. 

Include a Space for Crafts

If your child loves arts and crafts, giving them a space to work outside allows them to express their creativity and pursue the arts and crafts they love, while helping to keep their messes from entering your tidy household. This is a win-win for both of you! 

Install a Pool 

Whether you have a large outdoor space that is big enough for the installation of an inground pool or are working with a limited amount of yard space and want to give your children a small space to cool off on a hot summer day, backyard pools of all sizes are the perfect addition to your home. 

If you are lucky, you have a mom that deserves to be celebrated! Take a moment to think back to your childhood classroom around Mother’s Day: I’m sure you can recall crafting with glue and cotton balls and markers to make a “masterpiece” for her that she proudly displayed on the refrigerator for years after. Why did this creativity have to stop in second grade? 

We have listed a few ways to unearth that uniqueness for you and your mom. Here are some different ideas to help you share something special and personal with one of the most important women in your life.

Get Your Van Gogh On

Picture this: wine, blank canvases, and you and mom sprawled on the floor crafting something special. You can buy all the materials you need (canvas, acrylic paint, and brushes) for under $30 from most craft stores or box stores like Wal-Mart. You can even find kits like this online that have all you need in one purchase.

No need to be intimidated by what to paint either. If you can’t think of what to create or where to start, you can always find tutorials online. There are thousands of options on YouTube if you do a quick search!

After your masterpieces and memories are created, you and your mom can swap paintings! You have a memory and a gift, all in one. 

Create a 5-Star Dining Experience

You don’t have to be a Michelin chef to create a good meal. Get creative in the kitchen with your mom. The two of you can sit down and start with the basics: do you want to create something sweet or savory? Breakfast or dinner? Vegetarian or meat? After answering some basic questions, head off to the grocery store and get to coming up with ideas together for the perfect meal!

After you craft your meal, you can sit down and enjoy a fine dining experience in the comfort of home. You could light some candles, turn on some Frank Sinatra, and share a bottle of wine or sparkling water. Finish your fancy meal with a movie and popcorn for an extra touch!

Everlasting Memory: Tattoo Date

What better way to create a lasting memory with mom than to get tattoos together? There are a lot of great options for tattoo shops that are highly rated for specialized tattoos like Certified Tattoo Studios. You can get your mom’s handwriting on your wrist or matching images on your ankle. The options are endless and Pinterest and other websites offer great ideas for mother/child tattoos.

Spend some time talking about what both you and your mom want for a tattoo. You can decide where on the body you want it, what color, and the detail behind it. Whatever it is, we suggest you don’t rush this one! 

Have Fun

A great mom is someone to not take for granted, and if you are here – you want to give her something special. Now it’s time to get painting, cooking, and booking that appointment at your local tattoo shop. Have fun!