Moving home may just be one of the most challenging parts of your child’s upbringing. Of course the effects this has on your child will depend on a huge variety of factors. Age, the distance of the move and overall happiness with the current settings all play a huge factor in the success of the move. As always you need to be extremely careful with this situation as the sudden chance can really unsettle your children and even lead to arguments
This being said a change of settings can also do some good in many kids. If your child is unhappy in the current school or is suffering bullying in the local community this could just be the break they are looking for. At the end of the day, the effects of the move will have on your child will always be a case by case situation. Deep down you should already know if this move is right for your child.
In this blog post, we will be covering some of the key factors your child will have to deal with when moving home. We hope this blog post helps parents around the country understand the hurdles your kids will have to overcome, therefore, better-equipping you to help support the children through this transition.
Adjusting To A New School
The single hardest part of moving home is the complete change of school. Not only is this difficult from a social standpoint but it is also very important that this change of school doesn’t have a negative impact on grades and overall academic progress. Luckily, young children are much more likely to adapt to this change better than older ones, this is due to the fact that friend groups are at much lesser of importance during younger age.
To help make sure that this change is a productive one we encourage you to properly research the new school that you will be moving them to. Teaching and facilities need to be the same standard or even better than the previous school, therefore, helping to make sure that your child is at no disadvantage at their new school.
Learning To Make New Friends
Being able to make new friends is a skill that many of us never master. Luckily, moving home as a child puts is in a situation where making new friends becomes a part of your everyday life. At first, the shock of the move will be extremely difficult but it’s crucial that you support your kids with their new adventurer and really push them to put themself out there a bit. A great bit of advice would be to join a local sports club or take part in the extra curriculum activities, this should help them build a network of friends relatively quickly.
Effects on Physical Health
A study with 1,515 participants aged 15 years olds was completed to see how moving house affects physical health over the years. After many faces to face interviews with these participants over the years discovered that child mobility had next to no negative effects on physical health. Specifically, there was no association between childhood mobility and physical health measures such as blood pressure and weight.
Effects on Mental Health
The same study completed stated that those who moved at least once had a significantly higher chance of scoring 3 or more (indicating distress) on the questionnaire for psychological distress than those who had not moved at all. Well, what does this information mean for you? Well, moving home is likely to have some negative impacts on mental health but with the right support and care, you will definitely be able to reduce these impacts and help your child adjust to these changes in their life.
We encourage you to take the time to read more about this study by researchers from the Medical Research Council, the University of Stirling, Queen’s University and Scotland’s Chief Scientist Office. Allow yourself to your own conclusion on how can moving home affect a child today.
Kian is the content writer for Quicksilver and updates our blog every month. He enjoys helping out our customers with moving tips and advice.
