Moving with A Toddler – My Top Tips

Hey guys. As most of you know Kevin, Molly, Owen and I just recently moved into a new home. Only been here a month now, but preparing to get here was definitely a long process! Not only because we were in escrow for quite a while, but also because we wanted to make the transition smooth for not only us, but also Owen, and especially Molly. So I got a lot of advice on things we could do to prepare them for the move. Advice from friends and family of course but also from child development professionals. I just really wanted this to be a smooth process for everyone. So anyway, I thought I’d take the opportunity today to share what I learned with all of you on my blog! If anyone else out there is planning on moving with a little one hopefully these tips help out. And please feel free to share any tips you have as well in the comments below.

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1. Have someone watch your little one on the day of the move.

This might sound like an obvious piece of advice, but I had to put it in here to start off the blog because it’s absolutely essential. We were so lucky on the day of our move that our future sister-in-law Jill took Molly for the day to play with her niece Hazel. Molly honestly had one of the best days of her life! She got to play with a ton of new toys, like play kitchens and toy cars, and every photo and video that my sister-in-law Jill shared with me on the move day was of Molly grinning from ear to ear. Not only did she have a great time, but by the time she got to her new home she was absolutely exhausted. Which brings me to my second tip.

2. Tire them out!

You want to make sure that whoever cares for your child on moving day keeps them very busy and active! That way by the time they get home, to their new home, they’re absolutely exhausted. This will hopefully lead to them to falling asleep quickly in their new bedroom and getting a good nights sleep. Molly slept like a rock the first night in our new home, which was so necessary, because mommy and daddy were both exhausted from a long moving day.

3. Don’t let them see you packing up their rooms.

I got this tip from a child development professional at one of Molly‘s toddler and me classes. She told me to make sure that Molly never saw anything in her room being packed up. And not only that, she told me to make sure her room was the very last thing packed up out of the house and on the truck. That way it could be the very first thing taken off the truck and the very first thing set up in the new home just in case Molly got home before the move was over.

In addition to that, she told us to make sure that we completely set up her room for her before she got home. And that way the room would feel like home to her as soon as she walked in.

4. Put a surprise in their new bedroom!

We wanted Molly to walk into her new bedroom and absolutely love it! So we went ahead and ordered a 3 1/2 foot tall Elmo and had it sitting in her room when she walked in for the first time. Molly is absolutely obsessed with all things Sesame Street and especially Elmo! So when she walked into the room and saw her new friend she was absolutely giddy! She instantly fell in love with her new Elmo and her new room!

P.S. If you are pregnant and looking for maternity jeans, these jeans are the BEST maternity jeans EVER!!!!! Seriously, I can’t rave about them more. The first time I wore them Kevin said “wow, I love those jeans on you!” He has NEVER said that about a pair of jeans on me before. I honestly might wear them well after the baby comes. Just had to share because, well, maternity jeans can really suck sometimes.

  1. WHITE MATERNITY TOP | 2. BEST MATERNITY JEANS EVER! | 3. MOLLY’S ONESIE

Anyway, I hope these tips are helpful to anyone reading this who is moving with a toddler anytime soon! All of these really helped us and made the transition into our new home so much smoother. And if you guys have any other tips or tricks PLEASE SHARE in the comments below! I write these blogs to share my experiences but I honestly think the best part about ALL my blog posts is the stuff YOU guys share in the comments. I love that we can all hep each other 🙂

22 Thoughts

22 thoughts on “Moving with A Toddler – My Top Tips

  1. Those pictures of Molly in the boxes are so cute!! So happy everything went smoothly with yall’s move! Can’t wait to see more pics of your home and hopefully some decorating tips! 🙂

  2. Ali.
    Great tips.
    We just build our dream home and for the past 7 months we lived with my parents. My now 22 month old went thru a lot of changes in the last few months. But he is such a great adapter to life. I mean he just goes with the flow. He didn’t have any problems sleeping at grandma’s house after we sold our first one (Same great memories like you had in your first home. All the big milestones happened there. Looking forward to great memories in the new house!!) we moved to our house last week and he been sleeping great. I was worried but he just suprises me everyday.
    We haven’t yet finished his bedroom as I wanted to paint his room. But I like your tip #4. Definitely getting him a surprise in his new room after it’s all done.

    PS I have exactly the same picture of my son when we were packing our 1st home. It so fun to document everything with cute photos!

    Also. Pls share your hair color. It’s so nice!

  3. Now admittedly my sons are grown but you made good points, such as packing up the child’s room without child there and having it ready first, never thought of that, but things have progressed from those days. I’m sure your points will be very beneficial to future movers with young children, best wishes

  4. Yep, I agree with packing a toddler’s room in their absence, but when they get a little older they love packing the room and helping you. My four-year-old absolutely had a blast packing her room, more so than I did, ha ha. We uncovered things she hadn’t seen in a while, and to her it was great fun and adventure. She also helped unpack and set up her new room. Great idea to put a surprise in the room! I wish I had thought of that! My kids are all grown and gone with families of their own now, but I remember the couple times moving with them, and it was sad and exciting and stressful and hectic all at the same time. I always had a hard time leaving homes with lots of memories and was usually in tears, but then we would make new memories, like you said. Molly is an absolute doll by the way.

  5. boxes & suitcases can be so much fun for little ones.
    Soooo cute! 💜
    Have a great weekend.

    Ps sweet of Jill & Hazel to help on move day.

  6. Love these tips! We will be moving when our daughter is 22 months so I will definetly come back to this post as a reminder! Thank you!

  7. We moved when my daughter was 18 months old. I agree with everything you did! We also came to the house before moving in to help our daughter feel comfortable in her new home. We also made sure to baby proof as much as we could before or on week 1. My toddler loves watching Molly videos! Elmo!! 😊

  8. Did you move all in one day or was it done in stages? After the first night did she still adjust well to the new environment? We may be moving in the next few months depending if my husband decides to take a new job & I have two littles, 4 & 2, so I need to get prepared.

  9. Sounds like you had a much better moving day than we did…We moved house without packing since out new house is across the road from our old one🙈, with a 2 year old that had nowhere to visit, while pregnant with pneumonia….woman, I was hoping to rather die!!!!!!! But we survived and live happily ever after😜

    1. Agreed. As a Army wife with a deployed husband, we had many moves where I had to do it in a rush, with no destination in mind. The Army would go weeks without giving an address when we got to the last minute duty station, in a state where googling “gas station & grocery store ” were needed. It was hard!

      I did not have the luxury of having someone taking care my children for the day while I packed or moved, even when pregnant. I took the opportunity to weed out broken outgrown totlys and donate them, to include furniture and clothes. Contrary to popular myth, the Army does move you, but don’t on a solid 25% of broken items and long wait times where your belongings are stuck in a storage tractor trailer thing for months.

      My boys are now 17 & 14, can make friends ANYWHERE, and are they’re the kindness, strongest, wise, most companishment men I know. Yes, your suggestions are ideal, but not sure how much benefit is caused by using such “kid gloves.”

      Kids are resilient, think travel. Think hotels and family members houses, home is where you are. They react to how you respond.

      ***Great job, Manma! Side note: If I ever win the lottery, I’d like to hire you as a stylist and a interior designer! Love the white long dress!!!

  10. The link to your best maternity jeans is broken. It directs me to a free people top on Nordstrom’s website. Can you fix and/or tell me what they are? Thanks!

  11. These are all really useful tips. We will be moving when our son is 20 months so I will definetly come back to this post as a reminder! Thank you so much for sharing this useful and informative article.

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