There are many jokes about change—probably because change isn’t easy, and we tend
to joke about what makes us uncomfortable. It’s a way of relieving the stress. The first
two jokes that come to mind both involve vending machines. One states simply:
CHANGE IS WHAT YOU GET FROM A VENDING MACHINE. The other involves a
teenager kicking a candy dispensing machine. His mother asks what he’s doing. The
teen replies, “The stoopid machine won’t give me my quarter back.” At which the mother
tells him, “I thought you knew change isn’t easy.”
And indeed it isn’t. Not for adults and not for kids. Two AcuteByDesign books deal with
helping kids adapt to change. When I Got a Sister deals with the advent of a new sibling
for the child protagonist and first-person narrator of the book. But it is the other book,
Moving Day for Alex, that we want to focus on in this season.
“What season? You mean spring?” you may be logically wondering. No, not spring. We
are talking about the run-up to moving season.
“Moving season?” Yes. Many parents of school-age children time their moves, when
possible, so that the move coincides with school vacation. This way, if the move
requires the child changing to a new school, he or she does not have his school year
interrupted by the move and the change. He simply starts off the new school year in a
different school. (Even if the move keeps her in the same school, merely riding a
different school bus can be upsetting.)
So spring is when many parents start their search for a larger or nicer home, or a move
from being apartment dwellers to homeowners, with a view to finding the right place and
then moving after this school year ends and the new one begins.
As you begin your search, and then start accumulating empty boxes to pack your things
in, may we suggest you do one more thing in preparation for the move: If your child is in
the three-to-eight range, we suggest you buy him or her a copy of Moving Day for Alex.
Alex, the protagonist of the story, is upset when he’s told that the family is moving. But,
like most books for young kids, the story has a happy ending as Alex discovers all the
good things about his new home and becomes not merely reconciled to the move but
happy about it.
If your family is moving this spring or summer, we wish you much happiness in your
new home, and may your child accept the move easily. Moving Day for Alex can help!
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