When we moved, I was so focused on the actual move – the boxes, the truck, the admin – that I didn’t think enough about what happens after the last box is unpacked. The house part sorts itself out eventually. What takes longer is the kids actually feeling like this new area is theirs.
We’re a family that’s always out and about, so it turned out that the thing that helped most wasn’t anything to do with the house at all. It was getting out and finding our new favourite places, as quickly as we could.
Looking back, I think we assumed the settling in would just happen on its own, the way it does for us as adults when we’re busy with work and admin and everything else that comes with a new address. But kids don’t have any of that to distract them or give them a sense of purpose in the new place. School gives them some structure, but the hours outside of school are the ones where they really notice that nothing feels familiar yet.
