Checklist
Moving with kids checklist
Choose the age of your children and whether they change school. Enter the move date to see when to tell them, when to visit the new place and when to pack their room.
Telling them and planning together
School and childcare
Goodbyes
Packing their things
Moving day bag
The first week
Tips for this list
- Time the news to the age. A teenager needs months to adjust and should hear early; a toddler measures time in sleeps and is better told two or three weeks ahead.
- Their room is the last packed and the first unpacked. A made bed with familiar things in it does more than any explanation.
- Give older children a real decision, not just a task. Where the bed goes or what colour the wall is counts.
- If a child stays very unsettled for a long time after the move, talk to their teacher or doctor. This checklist is about organising, not about health.
Questions
When should I tell my children we are moving?
School-age children and teenagers as soon as the move is certain, which this checklist puts about eight weeks ahead. Babies and toddlers closer to the day, about three weeks ahead, because a long wait means little to them.
Is it better to move during the school year or in the holidays?
Families do both and there is no single answer. A holiday move avoids missed lessons; a term-time move means meeting classmates straight away. Ask the new school what they find works for new pupils.
How does the list change with age?
For a baby or toddler it adds nappies, feeding, sleep and keeping comfort objects out of boxes. For school age it adds a countdown, friends' addresses and their own box. For a teenager it adds a real choice, exam courses and getting online early.
Related lists
8-week moving checklist
The full two-month plan: enter your move date and every task from booking to handing over keys gets its own day.
Moving day checklist
One day, in order: before the truck, loading, locking up, unloading and the first evening.
First-night essentials box
The one or two boxes packed last and opened first, sized for your household and the wait for everything else.