How to help your child overcome any fears and anxieties they may have about moving house
Lifestyle

How to help your child overcome any anxieties and fears about moving house

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Moving house can be one of the most stressful times of our lives. As part of the moving house process there is so much to think about and do once you’ve found your new home. Along side this just finding your new home itself can be stressful and anxiety inducing too.

Add children into the mix and it can become even more complicated, as you may need to consider new schools and also the impact that the house move may have on them. We moved to our current home when our daughter was 2.5 years old and I must admit I was a little worried about how she would react to the move. She was very young at the time and possibly wasn’t overly aware what was happening, but at the same time I was conscious that we made it as simple as possible for her. We made sure that she was in nursery on the day of the move to avoid the move stress, and consequently our stress that could have created unnecessary hidden anxiety and worries. Once we arrived at our house I quickly set up her room with her toys so that she would have something familiar to return home to.

Another brilliant way to diffuse any fears and anxieties that your child may have about moving house is through story telling and watching animations. To help with this 1decision have created an app called RainbowSmart to aid your child’s social and emotional development. The app is great and it is packed full of fun and colourful stories for children between the ages of 3 to 7 years, and I have really enjoyed using it with my daughter and son.

How to help your child overcome their fears and anxieties when moving house
Sharing stories with Freya that are part of the Rainbow Smart app.

The story “Orange Moves House” tells the story of Orange living next door to his friend Green, and it shares the feelings that Orange and Green have about the house move. It’s told as an animation or page turner featuring a voice recording with words on the screen that you and your child can follow. The story allows your child to understand (and you as a parent too) how they might be feeling and some of the anxieties and worries that they have about the house move, particularly about moving away from a friend and no longer being able to play together. The end of the story is very reassuring with Orange and Green continuing to remain friends and play together once Orange has moved away to his new house.

I found the story really helpful as a parent and helped me to understand quickly how a child might be feeling about a house move. It’s stressful enough as an adult moving house, and in the busy-ness of the situation we may forget or overlook how our children might be feeling. But by reading this story or watching the animation it could really help to reassure both you and your child that all will be ok.

How to help your child overcome any fears and anxieties they may have about moving house
Sharing the story of Orange moving house with my son.

In addition to this Rainbow Smart is packed full of other stories similar to this including stories about feeling worried, going for a sleep over and helping out at home. All great topics for this age group where reassurance may need to be provided to help your child learn and understand about the real world. I found it useful that you only download the content you would like to read or look at, which helps to keep the app as small as possible on your phone. In addition to stories there are animations for your child to watch, flashcards to help with language and writing, and mindfulness activities. My daughter and son, and I had fun using the app, and we enjoyed spending time reading the stories together and watching the colourful and bright animations.

How to help your child overcome their anxieties and worries about moving house
The home screen of the app featuring Stories, Animations, Mindfulness and Flash Cards.
How to help your child overcome their anxieties and fears about moving house
A snapshot of the stories for you and your child on RainbowSmart app.
How to help your child overcome their anxieties and fears when moving house
A close up of Oranges Moves House story being told with the word following the story narrative.

You can take a look at RainbowSmart app by downloading it for free from the App Store or the Google Play store, and you can find out more by visiting a dedicated section on their website.

RainbowSmart and 1Decision can be found on all social media channels too – Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

If you and your child have similar worries and fears about moving house, and could benefit from the stories I mention above, this app is really useful for helping to alleviate and diffuse those. Also if you know anyone who is experiencing similar with their child please do share this app with them, if you think it could benefit.

Claire x

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