The process of relocation makes every person vulnerable and sensitive. Usually this is what changes do with everyone. Still there are some groups of the society that are living through the movement harder and they need to receive special attention.
Old people and children, as also teenagers are some of the groups that may cause many troubles. That is why when you have teenage kids and old parents you will probably need to give them special attention and leave much time for talking.
When you have a kid on fourteen or more, they will usually make a big drama out of the relocation. They will get through different stages, which will drive you crazy, but you still have to remain patient during all of them. At first they will be irrelevant to what you are telling them, refusing to believe that you are about to separate them from their friends and company. Then they will hate you and yell, refuse to cooperate and make just the opposite to everything you want from them. If you manage to keep your temper during all of these stages you will succeed with everything else.
If you see that your kid gets really depressed with the idea of moving house, suggest him or her to by a moving journal. This will help them see that they are not the only ones having problem with changes and that people on their age have survived after the moving. From the journal they will also get nice suggestions how to manage with the new situation and easy make friends on the new place.
Teenagers feel worst when they are neglected and their problems are seen as not so important. They also like to take their opinion in mind. Use that in your favor and ask them for everything. For example engage them in the house searching. If you manage to do that you will have a person helping you and a teenage friend which can be very useful.
When you have real vision of the new place, suggest the kid to be the first to choose a room and start to collect ideas about how he or she likes it to be looking. This will engage the interest and the whole energy of the teenager and will make you feel good. It will also safe you a lot of sleepless nights trying to figure out how to make the room of your child nice and good enough for him or her.
Let your kid do the research for the school in the new place by himself. When you are moving to a bigger and cooler city, than the one you were living in till the moment, your child may even realize that the other kids will soon be jealous at him or her, and even start to like the idea for the relocation.
The special moment of saying goodbye to the old friends should not be neglected. Put your last efforts and organize a party or anything else in the limits of the reasonable to gather all his or her friends for the last time on the old place. If the children are old enough and you are not going that far away let them be sure that it is not impossible to pay visits on holidays.
What is the most important of all – do not break the personal space of a teenager. This means that in no case you should pack their things and decide what to take and what to leave behind. When they want to have something too heavy or an object that seems really useless to you, try to negotiate and make the child leave it on his or her will. Do not let them feel pushed.
