How To Talk To Your Family About Immigration

Moving abroad alone can be stressful enough. Uprooting your entire family and moving to a new country is even harder. Talking to them about the move beforehand may seem complicated but it’s the right move.

Carefully explaining the move to your kids can help further solidify the decision in your hear as well. Here are some tips on how to talk to your family about the impending migration.

Talking To Your Family About Immigration

1. Breaking The News

While not easy, the sooner you break the news to your children the better it will be for them. While they may be heartbroken about leaving their old friends behind tell them how they’re going to be going on a new adventure.

If your kids are slightly older it’ll be tougher to explain things to them. Teens need to be shown how moving to a different country will help provide them with better opportunities for schooling, fun, and other activities. Have an open discussion with your family. Be willing to answer all the difficult questions they may have for you. Prepare if you need to.

2. Preparing Them To Say Goodbye

Let your children express their emotions freely. They’ll be upset as is natural. Everyone resists change especially the young ones. Allowing them to vent their frustrations out to you is a good sign as it means they’re getting ready to say goodbye. In act encourage them to say goodbye to their past lives. A good way to help your children accept the fact that you’re really going to be moving for good is to throw a going away party for them.

3. Teaching Them About The New Culture

While children may be resistant to change they’re also fascinated by new things. Their curious nature makes them excellent candidates for learning something new.

While bringing up the move you should tell your family all the new things they’ll have to learn when they move. Learning about the new culture, learning a new language, learning about the new cuisines can be quite exciting for the whole family if presented in the right way.

4. Help In the Packing Process

When you talk to your kids about the move help them with the process. Help them pack. It’s important that your family makes certain decisions for themselves. What they will take with them, what they’ll leave behind or give away.

5. No False Promises

While it is essential you talk to your kids about the fun you will have in the new place you should not make false promises to any family members. While the move may go smoothly the rest of transition will be very poor. Talk about the things you will do but don’t over promise and don’t oversell.

On completion of the move ensure to keep some familiar items close at hand so that your kids can feel secure in the new home. The most important thing after the move is to make sure your whole family, including yourself, has bought into the move and that you’re on the same page.

Doing things together in the initial stages of the move can be good for everyone. We hope these tips help you talk to your family about the move.

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