Moving home? Get the children involved in preparing for the big day

In all the excitement and organisation of selling your home and moving, it may sometimes be difficult to remember that the young children in the family are also facing a change.

Harrison Murray development director Jackie Scotten said: “Selling the home and moving house can seem very daunting for some children, leaving them facing a huge change in their lives with new surroundings and possibly a new school.

“However, if the children are old enough, get them involved and enlist their help in showing the home to its best effect during the viewing and selling process.”

Here’s how to get the children involved:

Initially, chat to them about the family’s plans and get them on side when thinking about moving to a new home in a new area – with lots to explore.

The same basic rule applies to children’s rooms as to other rooms in the house – clear out the clutter. Many children are expert hoarders, so introduce some eye catching storage boxes and challenge them to leave only a few favourite toys on display.

Try to encourage them to keep posters and stickers off doors and mirrors. Limit wall posters to one or two tasteful ones if they insist on keeping them.

Children’s carpets can often suffer many years of wear and tear. If you cannot afford to replace them, disguise any tatty or stained carpets with a bright, plain rug.

Ensure clothes, shoes or even cups and plates from last night’s snack are tidied away. Ask your children not to use cupboards as a dumping ground in case viewers want to inspect storage space.

Keep pets out of children’s rooms when showing your property. Cadged rodents or reptiles may not be everyone’s cup of tea!

A few days before the move get them to design stickers for their boxes of possessions.

Compromise with the children. Don’t turn their room into an impersonal desert.

On arrival at the new house, encourage them straight away to put out a few initial belongings in their rooms to help make their mark on the new home.