4 year old having hard time with move - advice? encouragement?

MEL73104

Hi everyone, we are moving next week and I am so upset about how my 4 year old son is handling it. We've lived here for a little over 2 years, so I'm sure it's the only home he remembers and he's quite resistant to change in general.

He's always been such a sweet, loving child and although he still is in many ways, he also has many moments where he seems angry, disrespectful, and high strung. I feel certain that this is because he feels anxious about moving, but I'm just at my wits end about how to handle him. I feel like I handle it pretty well for a while and then after so much, I become impatient with him. I'm trying to give him some extra grace, but it's a hard thing to balance sometimes. To make it harder, my husband has been out of town for a week and I've been handling calling lawyers about closing (we sold by owner), finding a rental (b/c we haven't found a house we want to buy yet), trying to pack up the house, and take care of the kids. So I'm sure he feels my stress, which can't be helpful.

Have any of you moved with a child around his age, particularly one who had a hard time with it? Any tips or words of encouragement? He said he wants a dinosaur room, so I've been gathering things to make it extra special for him. And we've been talking about all of the great things that will be around our rent house (which is in the area where we want to buy...only about 15 mins. away from our current house, so school, church, etc. will all stay the same). Thanks for reading this, I'm sorry it's so long!

KristyLee2011

We moved with a 1.5 year old so it was different but my advice to you would be to just try to not show the stress to him because he IS picking up on it. Is he helping you pick out stuff for his new room? That could help give him a feeling of safety and control. Is he talking regularly with his dad?

I'm sorry I can't be of more help but I feel for you.

Princess_Lily

I moved every 4 years my entire life.

I remember my mother having me help with the packing (easy things), and sorting stuff of what to donate, etc.  This helped tremendously.

Also a favorite toy/blankie...DO NOT PACK THOSE.  This is the security they need during the transition.  I have a animal I took with me on every move, and it was quite comforting.