7 Tips to Keep Your Kids Safe on Moving Day

Don’t Be Afraid to Give Old Children A Little Bit of Freedom

One of our kids is a few years older and a bit responsible however, and we simply told her that she is old enough to take care of herself and that we trusted her. Not only was she thrilled to not be ordered around, but it made her feel like a real part of the family team by deciding for herself what she could handle working on.

Give Them a Designated Safe Place to Play

Going further with the idea of occupying your children, a passive method of this doing could be to possibly have them play in your backyard during the whole process (given that the weather is warm enough). If the weather doesn’t cooperate, how about designating a safe room somewhere in the house where the kids can be amongst themselves and out of the movers’ way?

Designate the Children to Help Take Care of the Pets

If you have a pet, then that’s even better as you can give your kids the task of taking care of it during the move. This can give a certain level of task fulfillment to young people as it lets them know that they are playing a role in making the moving process run more smoothly.

Allow them to Help Pack

And though this may work for some kids of a certain age group, mine are slightly older so I allowed them to pack their own stuff from their bedrooms. We felt like this taught them a great deal about responsibility for their own possessions. That, and it was a slight load off us grown folks’ shoulders – a real win-win!

Don’t Pack the Car Too Full

So once we were all packed up and ready to go, I knew that we would encounter another slight road bump before reaching our new home – the drive. Obviously, our kids need to be properly constrained in moving vehicles (whether it be in a secure car seat or with seat belts), but let’s not forget about those smaller items you’ve probably packed into the car as well.

I had to try my best to not stack too many items in the car since there was the slight risk of certain items acting as projectiles in the case of sudden breaking. I did my best to keep things either with the moving van or in our trunk, and really didn’t have much else in the car other than a couple small bags of snacks and drinks to keep the car as safe as possible. Safe to say, we arrived at our new home without a scratch, but yes, slightly phased from all the hecticness. But more than anything though, to see my family stay safe and sound throughout the entire ordeal was well worth the effort.