Follow Me On Twitter

Parents Help Your Kids Learn ABC's and Spelling
Premier learning tools help kids excel.

Parent To Parent Archive

Parenting Advice

Parenting Humor

More Parenting Articles

Parenting Blog

Spring brings a plethora of For Sale signs. No matter the current housing market, the fact that most of last years' signs are still out there doesn't halt any new ones. Emerging from the melting snow, the bulbs we planted last fall bring forth new life, new hope, and for many families, the search for a new home. Unfortunately, a growing share of those will be due to impending foreclosures.

It can be scary to little kids to have a friend just disappear. But sometimes that's what happens when a family just ups and moves into another neighborhood, another school district, or even another state. Sometimes it's a job change, or divorce, or maybe they're just trying to stay afloat in this difficult economy, but more and more families are losing their home to foreclosure. And finding a roof over their heads, wherever it may be, takes priority to notifying all their children's friends that they have to move.

So how can you ease the pain of being left behind? As adults we know we have the easier job, that of staying put. But our children may be feeling abandoned, especially if more than one neighborhood chum has moved away.

Depending on his age, and how close the friendship was, your child's first concern may be to find his friend. Luckily, many modes of modern communication can be maintained through moves of varying distances. If the friends, or the parents, had been using email before the move, there's a good chance they can stay friends no matter the distance. Cell phone numbers also can survive a local move, and some will even maintain their old number through a long distance move, at least initially.

While email and phone calls can get immediate replies, writing a letter or drawing a picture to send to an old friend via the old fashioned US Post Office can also do the trick.

If the family is still close by, maybe just across town to another neighborhood or just the next town over, you can help your child maintain their old friendship by offering to drive. Whether it's an afternoon play date or just hanging out at the mall, just getting together again can help both friends dealing with their new situation. At the same time, you should encourage your child to welcome any new kids to the neighborhood or classroom.

Be aware that some families may not wish to remain connected to the old neighborhood. In that case, you can try to cheer up your child by helping them to draw or write down their feelings, and then getting involved in a new activity. For some children, they simply need to know that their friends are well, and happily making new friends in their new home. They may ask why they don't play with a certain former playmate for a few weeks to several months, but then talk about them less and less, moving on to new friends.

Not all friendships are meant to last forever, but that's a hard lesson for children to absorb. Even teenagers who know about a move ahead of time may still grieve for their lost friendship very deeply. Don't belittle their feelings. Navigating through an entire school day without your best buddy at your side can be traumatic for some kids. And then there are those who move on to the rest of the gang without missing a beat, you never know.

Either way, parents can soften the blow by supporting them, allowing them to express their feelings, and encouraging new adventures. Which, in turn, should lead to more new friends. As the song says, "Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other is gold."

Comments

Name

E-mail (Will not appear online)

Homepage

Title

Comment

To prevent automated Bots form spamming, please enter the text you see in the image below in the appropriate input box. Your comment will only be submitted if the strings match. Please ensure that your browser supports and accepts cookies, or your comment cannot be verified correctly.