Relocating to a new home or apartment can be one of the most stressful experiences you’ll face in your adult life. However, the experience can be just as stressful for any children or pets who are being asked to uproot their lives as well. Let’s take a closer look at the tactics that you can use to reduce their stress levels and make the process of moving easier on yourself as well.
How to Make a Move Easier for Your Pets
On the day that you actually relocate your new home or apartment, it’s generally a good idea to keep your animal confined as much as possible. When packing the moving truck, it will ideally be kept in a single room that contains a few toys, a soft bed and a few treats.
If you have an outdoor animal, it may be possible to keep it in the yard or a common space where it can run around and get rid of its nervous energy. Keeping an animal outdoors may also prevent it from having an accident in the house or causing any other type of damage.
In the event that neither of these options work, consider taking it to a friend or family member’s house. This will allow your pet to spend the day in a relaxed environment with people it trusts as opposed to stuck in a noisy house filled with strangers. Of course, removalists in North Sydney will be able to help you relocate in a timely and professional manner even if an animal is present in your residence on moving day.
How to Make a Move Easier on Your Children
Ideally, you will send younger children to grandma’s house on moving day as opposed to risking their health and safety during moving day. Alternatively, you can send them to a friend’s house, to a childcare facility or to any other location that is not your house for the day. If these options don’t work for you, it may be a good idea to give your child small tasks to keep them busy.
It’s not uncommon for small children to want to feel as if they are part of helping the family move, so giving them simple tasks can make the move fun while keeping them out of your way. For example, you could have them tape packing boxes shut or put labels on unmarked boxes. You can also have them fill a backpack with any toys or games that they’ll want to have available as soon as they arrive at the final destination.
How to Emotionally Prepare a Child to Relocate
A child who is not emotionally prepared to relocate may hamper your effort to complete the transition to a new residence in a timely manner. This may be especially true if you are forcing a teen to move to a new school away from his or her current peer group.
Therefore, it’s important to highlight the positives of the transition so that your children can be enthusiastic about their new start. It may help to take your kids to their new house or apartment before moving day to help them get accustomed to their future surroundings.
This can be especially effective if you are moving to a larger home or to one that has features such as a pool, basketball court or other amenities that your current residence lacks. If you already know other parents in your new community who have kids similar in age to your own, you should consider scheduling a playdate. Doing so can ensure that your children can begin building their new social network before starting at a new school.
How Does This Make a Move Easier for You?
Even if you hire professional removalists to help you with your relocation, there are still a number of tasks that you’ll need to complete on moving day. For instance, you’ll need to make sure that the utilities are turned on at your new residence as quickly as possible. It may also be necessary to make sure that everyone knows your new address so that you won’t miss an important letter or notice from a creditor.
If you are currently living in a rental property, you’ll likely need to clean it before you leave to ensure that you get your security deposit back. In some cases, it may also be necessary to mow the lawn or take other steps to make the exterior look presentable before vacating the premises.
By accounting for the needs of your children and pets ahead of time, you will likely have fewer distractions on the day of your move. This can help you complete the process of relocating to a new place in less time and with less aggravation. It also minimises the risk that you will forget to complete a key task because you were too busy attending to a crying child or to an animal that is nipping at the removalists.
Relocating to a new property requires patience and attention to detail from the moment that you decide to leave your current residence. Hiring a professional removalist to help with this monumental task may make it easier to focus on ensuring that you and your family can do so without incident. It’s worth noting that professional removalists can typically help you move regardless of how much stuff you have, how far you’re moving and when you are scheduled to leave your current place.