Single parent guide: Helping your children prepare for a move

0
Preparing for relocation is never easy for any single parent. There are more than a handful of things that you need to do practically alone for the most part. But if the prospect of an upcoming move is difficult enough for parents, especially for a single parent, keep in mind that it may even be more stressful for your kids. Just picture this scenario: they’ll be away from everything familiar to them. Helping them deal with relocation may be a bit daunting for a single parent like you, especially if you don’t have your partner with you, but if you make them feel like they’re part of this major family decision, your children may be less apprehensive about the whole thing. Here are a couple of suggestions to help you ease them into it:

Tell them about the move as early as you can. A sensible idea is to inform your kids about the upcoming move as early as you possibly can. Being a single parent means you have much more responsibilities than if you were part of a couple, so it’s a fairly safe bet to anticipate major dilemmas like this one. If you tell your children about the relocation early on, they will most likely feel that you are not excluding them in important family matters. Perhaps gather them up in the living room when they arrive from school and explain the situation to them. You may not have a lot of time in your hands precisely because you’re a single parent, but it is certainly worth it to make time for this one.   

Make use of technology to help your kids maintain their existing relationships. Parents can considerably lessen the impact of a move on the kids if they utilize easily available resources. For instance, if your children are old enough, encourage the use of modern technology to help them keep in touch with the friends they’ll be leaving behind.  If it wouldn’t hurt your budget too much as a single parent, maybe offer to buy them a laptop (if they don’t already have one) so they can regularly log on Facebook or Twitter and other social networks. As a single parent, it is important to know that your children feel they are not alone and they can still be part of their old friends’ lives. 

In a nutshell, help your children go into the major transition of an upcoming family move as easily as possible. Granted, it is not as simple as it sounds, especially because you’re a single parent, but if you help your children prepare for it, they will gradually take it in stride.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here