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When to talk to pre-schooler about pending move abroad?

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sharonpbrown
  4/23/2014 11:57 EST

My family will be moving overseas in July and in those three months, my oldest will finish her first year of preschool (with kids she assumes she'll be moving on with next year) and we will spend the last month traveling and visiting relatives in other cities, so she will be leaving her home of the past three years a month before we leave. My question is about when to tell her about the move. At her age, she lives very much in the moment and three months is a long time, so I thought it might be best to wait until the move is closer to tell her, but then I want to make sure she has a chance to say good-bye to her school friends, her neighborhood friends and her home before we leave as well. Do you have any thoughts on timing in terms of telling a preschool aged child about a pending move?

Thank you!

Sharon

suziehammond
  4/23/2014 14:57 EST

We did this with our children when they were right about the same age. I seem to recall that future and past were very unreal concepts. "now" was what mattered.

They are grown up and hardly remember those children who were their very best friends. It was as they got older that this
concepts became important.

We had a small party to sort of say goodbye. But while our grown kids now recall the party they don't recall the friends.

They are going to have a new great adventure and I wouldn't spend much time on goodbyes. Now if they were 12.....different story.

Goodluck!

Suzie Hammond --
is the author of; I am Not Sure Where I Want to Be -But it's Not Here (A Comprehensive System for Finding a New Home You'll Love )
http://www.goodwriter.info

Blog & FREE Special Report- http://www.goodwriter.info/Blog/index.html

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