Moving the kids: telling them, moving day, the new neighborhood

Telling them

• Together if you can, once the decision is made. "We are selling the house. You will have a room at Mom’s and a room at Dad’s, both near school, and the schedule is the same."
• Answer the questions they actually ask: where the dog lives, whether they change schools, whether their friend can still come over, where their stuff goes.
• Do not ask them to choose. Which house, which parent, which room. Adults decide; kids are told, kindly.
• Show them, do not describe. Drive past the new home. Let them pick paint or a bedspread. Ownership of the small things.

The Colorado rules that touch a move

Moving day, without a scene

1. Their room first. Bed made, favorite things out, before the kitchen is unpacked.
2. Move on the other parent’s day if you can. Kids arrive to a home, not a job site.
3. Two of the small things. Chargers, toothbrushes, a set of clothes, the medications, at both homes from day one.
4. Same rules, both homes. Bedtime, screens, homework. Agree the three that matter and let the rest go.
5. The exchange routine. Same day, same time, same place, from the first week.

The new neighborhood

• Walk to the park, the school route and the nearest friend’s house in the first week.
• Keep the activities: same team, same lesson, even if the drive is longer for a season.
• Invite the friend over early. A house becomes home when someone else has been in it.
• Give it a school term before judging it. Everyone hates a move for six weeks.

Selling the old house with kids in it

Showings in a half-occupied home with children: a fixed showing window, nothing about the divorce in the marketing, the other parent’s things boxed and out of the photos, and a plan for where the kids are during open houses. How a divorce sale runs. Separate signings if you need them; the proceeds are held at title and split as ordered.