Managing Your Kids Emotions for the Eventual Move

Moving is Emotional For Children

We all know that moving is hard on all of us, and not just physically, but emotionally as well.  But children, who can be very reliant on routine and tradition, have no idea what may lie ahead of them.  This uncertainty can affect their emotions and behavior.  Some kids, like some adults, can handle change without a problem.  They have personalities that tend to seek out challenge and change, and thrive on it.  But others may fear the unknown.  Here are some tips to help you prepare your young ones for a smooth and healthy transition.  And who knows?  Maybe talking it out and addressing it as a family will help the adults manage the move better as well.

1 You Are In It Together – As you begin to talk about the move with your children, make sure they understand that each member of the family will have their own reactions to moving.  Encourage conversation about what you are looking forward to in the next home/town, and what you’ll miss in the town you are leaving. Express member of the family should feel comfortable about expressing their emotions, including the adults.  But it’s important for the adults to remain positive in front of the children.

2Shop Together – When a move is inevitable, and you know where you are heading, make sure the kids feel like they’re a part of some of the decisions.  Getting their buy-in early will help them accept all the newness that is coming their way. After you’ve identified the neighborhood based on schools and other criteria, bring them along to help you pick the specific house.  This will help them get excited about the features and highlights of the house you are buying.

3Recruit Their Help – As you begin to pack, host your yard sales and basically pack and purge, make sure they are participating.  Get them to give away some toys to Goodwill.  Give them a small box and let them pack some stuff.  It will give them a sense of ownership and control over the moving process.

4Access Information – The internet can give you a ton of information on a new town.  Let’s the kids explore the sites that provide ‘things to do’ and ‘family fun’ events so the kids have something to look forward to. Drive by the school they will attend and ask for a tour so your child knows where he/she will be going, can ask questions themselves and  feel more comfortable when they first attend.

5Resources - Depending on their age, there are books that can help keep the conversation going about your impending move.  Books are a great starting point for discussing concerns and questions.  There are book that help children say goodbye to friends, how to meet new friends and how to manage anxiety they might be feeling. 

Cynthia Schick,

CCP Web Design Staff Writer and Google Author

 

4 Tips For Moving in Cold Weather

In the event Mother Nature moves in on your moving day here are a few tips from TNT Moving Systems that will help you combat the elements.

If This is Your Moving Day Call T-N-T Moving Systems, We Can Handle It!

We all know that there’s so much to think about when moving.  It can be both physically and emotionally draining when all goes right.  But when an unforeseen circumstance, like bad weather, interferes with the actual ability to move on your scheduled day, things can get rough. T-N-T Moving Systems suggests you have a Plan B in place just in case Mother Nature gets cranky on your long-standing date to move you precious belongings.






T-N-T Moving Systems owners, Todd Koepke and Tom Tulowiecki are cold weather seasoned.  Both are from the North and used to the cold weather.  Moving people in bad weather is nothing new to them and their crews.  Additionally, Tom and Todd travel with the Carolina Panthers 365 days out of the year.  If they don't get there the Panthers don't play.  They are well seasoned travelers that know how to get things moved when they absolutely have to be there.  You can count on Todd and Tom to get you to your destination but here are some tips that you can do yourself to help "smooth the move".

Plan in Advance for Cold and Icy Days

1.      If the forecast calls for a cold and icy day, have on hand some salt, sand and a shovel to melt the walkways that your movers will be using.  Keep in mind you’ll need to do this on both sides of the move – the old dwelling and the new one.  Ask your moving company about extra wrapping materials for anything not packed in a box. If you can’t get extra wrapping, you can do this yourself in advance with old sheets, towels and blankets that easily wash up.   

2.      Protect your floors and rugs with a drop cloth, tarp or cardboard boxes to lay down on the high traffic areas to protect them from salt, sand and water damage.  And remember you need to do this on the property you are moving from and the one you are moving into as well. 

3.      Check traffic reports for any kind of road closures or accidents that would prevent the truck from getting to your new place. The last thing you want to happen is to see your stuff all over the highway because of a weather-related accident.

4.      And finally, in the event of one of these 100 year storms or the next hurricane Sandy comes barreling in towards your hometown, ask T-N-T to schedule an alternate date to handle your move. 

Kelly Bladl
Google Author

Moving a Piece of History

A moving company like T-N-T Moving Systems in Charlotte moves hundreds of couches each year.  They see all kinds of table and chair combinations.  They move every size of bed ever made.  Owners Todd Koepke and Tom Tulowiecki have been in the moving business in Charlotte for 18 years, so they have seen it all.  They have moved baby grand pianos, dressers, beds, and pieces of the Berlin Wall.

Wait…  Pieces of the Berlin Wall?

Photo Courtesy of the BBC.CO.UK

That is right.  The crew at T-N-T Moving systems was called upon to move a household and they were asked to be very careful with a true piece of history - a chunk of the Berlin Wall that their client owned.  According to Koepke, this was the strangest thing his company has moved in their 18 years of business.  The piece was a four foot by four foot display of the Berlin Wall, and the client had it set up in their living room.  The display weighed 600 pounds, and the team at T-N-T Moving Systems carefully moved it from one home to another.  They treated it in the same careful manner that they treat every item they move for their clients.  It was carefully added to the moving truck, and placed back in display at the new home.

 

The Berlin Wall was a major symbol of the Cold War, constructed by East Germany starting in 1961.  After the Soviet Union took over one fourth of German and Berlin, many citizens fled the Iron Curtain to escape into the west.  Many of the East Germans who had been moving into the west were younger, better educated Germans.  There was a mass emigration, and in response to these moves from east to west, East Germany began to put up the barriers and the Wall.

 

The Wall effectively cut West Berlin off from the rest of East Berlin and East Germany for 28 years.  According to Wikipedia, the Wall began with a simple wire fence, but between 1965 and 1975 a concrete version was constructed and the end result was a reinforced concrete wall with pipes, wire meshing, trenches, beds of nails and watchtowers.  It was a formidable block with only nine border crossings.  The Berlin Wall was designed to keep East Germans from moving to West Berlin.  It split up neighborhoods and families.  Limited in travel, many East Germans were effectively trapped in their country, unable to move away.

 

On November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall began to fall.  Germans from all over the city came to the wall with sledgehammers to take down large sections of the Wall.  Initially, East German soldiers attempted to repair damage done to the Wall, but soon the holes in the Wall, and the unauthorized border crossings became so common that the soldiers stopped enforcing it.  This allowed Germans to move from one side of the border to another, and opened up the eventual reunification of Germany in 1990.  All Germans were then allowed to move anywhere within the country.

 

The official destruction of the Wall began on June 13, 1990, when the East German military began to tear down sections.  Most of the Wall was dismantled by 1991, leaving small sections and a few watchtowers still standing for memorial purposes.  Many people had taken hammers, chisels and sledgehammers to take chunks and sections of the wall for souvenirs.  There are many sections of the wall on display around the world, and in the hands of private collectors, like the one T-N-T Moving Systems was moving.

 

According to Koepke, the 600 pound piece of the Berlin Wall was not the heaviest thing they have ever moved, but it was the strangest. 

 

Patrick Jones,

Staff Writer

CCP Web Design

 

Moving can be a great experience for children.

Our guys at T-N-T Moving Systems in Charlotte have helped move many little ones from place to place. 

Moving can be a great experience for children.  Whether you are moving down the street in Charlotte, or across the country, your child can look forward to a new neighborhood, more friends, and a new school.  According to the US Census Bureau, approximately 13 million children move every year until they reach the age of nineteen.  That’s nineteen different homes before they get to college! 

Parents know their children better than anyone else and are uniquely qualified to ease them through the transition to a new home.  Talk to your child as soon as you know you are planning to move.  Listening to him or her will help your child adjust to the idea of moving.  Have your children write down questions they may have about the move, and then discuss them.  Children will worry about their friends and their schools, so make sure to touch on these subjects when you talk about the move.  Let them know that they are not losing their old friends but gaining new ones.

Preparation for a move can be a hopeful and happy time for a child if the adult in their life approaches the change with a positive attitude.  Prepare your child for the move by exploring the new area together.  If possible, tour the new area with your child.  Visit the new home with your child.  Plan a possible layout for the child’s new bedroom.  Go through newspapers and maps from the new area.  Point out pools, parks or other areas near where you are moving that the child will enjoy.  Discuss the good things about the move.  The new home may be larger, and the move will give the child a bigger room.  The new home may be close to a park with a fun playground.  The move may put you closer to an amusement park you can visit.  Put a spin on the move that will be exciting and new. 

Help your children keep in touch with their friends and teachers by creating an address book to keep contact information.  You have address books to store all the phone numbers and addresses of your friends, so why shouldn’t they?  A move does not mean the end of a neighborhood friendship.  Let your child know that they will not be losing friends in the move, only gaining new ones.  You may also want to hold a moving party, where your children’s friends can come and say goodbye, or a moving slumber party where they can spend the night.

Have your children pack a bag of their “essentials” for the move.  This bag will have their favorite toys, their favorite games, and their favorite books.  Have them choose items that they will want to have near during the move, and the first things they will want to play with in the new home.  If the “blankie” is a comfort, it needs to be within reach and not packed in a moving box.

If you are planning to discard old toys or items before the move, allow your child to go through the items with you.  Having your children go through the toys and making the decisions will create involvement.  Have them also label all the moving boxes that include their belongings.  Children will feel more secure seeing their labels on the moving box, and they can follow the moving boxes as a company like T-N-T Moving Systems carry the moving boxes from the old home, into the truck, and finally into the new home.  Also, by loading the child’s room last into the moving van, and setting their room up first, you can help your child settle in faster.

 

Once the move is complete, get your children involved in the new neighborhood.  If you just moved across Charlotte, you can invite old friends over to help meet new ones.  You may want to sign the child up for a local baseball team, or the local after-school programs. 

How to Handle Moving Stress

There are many ways to handle stress.  The first step is always to figure out what is causing the stress.  Not all stress can be easily resolved, but something like bad planning can be. 

Moving was ranked as the third most stressful event in our society, according to a study by the Employee Relocation Council.  It ranks just under death and divorce.  Moving whether by choice or not takes people away from what is comfortable, and placed them into a new environment.

The management team at T-N-T Moving Systems has observed thousands of moves.  The really low-stress, successful moves that they observed started with good planning.  Home owners that established a plan ahead of time and organized the details did much better than those that did not.  The trick is to decide what needs to be done before the move.  Organize your move into manageable chunks.  Most moves can be organized using a simple plan of action like the one below.

When deciding what to do when, take care of the easy stuff first!

Some tasks can be taken care of before any boxes are packed. 

• Choose a reputable moving company, such as T-N-T Moving Systems, to help with your move.
• Arrange an address change through the post office.
• Request extra trash pickup for items you will be throwing away instead of taking.  If you have a really large move or you have been in your home for a long time, you will have more trash than will fit in your regular sized trash can.  You might consider renting a small dumpster.  You will be surprised at how in-expensive this is and how convenient it makes trash removal for those odd shaped items.  Anyone that has tried to shove old curtain rods into an already over loaded trash can will attest to this one!
• Notify your utilities of your address change – gas, power, water, phone, cable/satellite, internet, etc.  This includes having the utilities at your new home scheduled.
• Make arrangements for your pets and children on moving day.  Having friends take care of them will take the stress of watching out for them off your shoulders.  This is a HUGE detail that we cannot emphasize enough!  The guys at T-N-T have stepped over, moved, hushed and entertained more babies and dogs than you can imagine but it takes time and really seems to add enormous amounts of stress.
• Transfer your medical prescriptions to a pharmacy closer to your new home.  Holidays and moves bring on the viruses!  If you have a large family, you can almost count on someone getting sick.  Having an Emergency Health Care Center and Drug Store lined up is a huge relief. 
• Contact your insurance companies and change your address.  Also, jot down the name and number of your insurance agent on an index card and stick it in your purse.  If something breaks or gets lost, you don’t want to have to unpack the office to find their number.
• Make cleaning arrangements for once your belongings are moved out of the home.  Remember, you will be busy at the new home or traveling to the new home so if possible, get a friend to check in with the cleaners and give them a check if the job is well done.
• Establish a floor plan for your new home so that you and the movers are aware of where and how items will be placed.

The next step is to pack wisely!

While packing your belongings, label every box with the contents and the destination room.  Make sure to label on the top and all sides so that it can be easily seen inside the truck and stacked inside the new home.

Mark the boxes you will need quick access to so that you and the moving company will know to set those boxes aside.  You will need items such as towels, soap, plates, bed sheets, etc.  Consider everything you will need on your first night in your new home, and make those boxes visible.

Ensure all fragile items are packed safely and securely.  Decorative items need packaging material for any type of move.  Pack like items together.  Silverware and plates can be included in the same box, but avoid placing plates and glasses together.  Some of this may seem obvious, but placing glass vases with a television set could prove damaging.

With careful preparation, your moving day can be a pleasant experience.  For more information on successful planning, contact Tom and Todd at T-N-T Moving Systems.