I am thankful I have not experienced moving to another state with kids. Partway across town was hard enough, thanks. But the one witchy thing, OMG, "where are u"! Every day followed by "when r u picking me up?" "please come now" "when is supper?"
A mom I know casually has a hilarious bit about turning off "find my" for her own (the mom's) blue dot on her teenager's phone because she was tired of getting texts like, "Can you please stop talking to your friend in the car? I can see you're in the driveway." The mom was like, "Well, now you lost the privilege to know where I am." 🤣
I tried but then dad took daughter to Europe and wanted her to have a phone in case of emergencies and we never took it back because the constant changes to cheer practice means we have to be able to communicate with her at school. I'm not happy about it but I feel like I am fighting forces much larger than myself. If other kids didn't have phones, the practice changes couldn't happen, but that's not the reality however much I hate it.
thank you! It took me awhile to decide to put in the time and money to do so but I'm glad to have the encouragement of other witches plus my tech buddy Fuzzy who helps me with things when I am like I AM TOO TIRED TO FIGURE THIS OUT!!
We moved from DC to Kenya in August and it was a good call but also the most stressful experience of my life to date (privileged, I know). Packing up our house, finding renters, getting rid of pretty much everything and figuring out what really needed to come (we did this in our own, no shipping containers) nearly broke us. We ended up flying out with 10 checked bags, 2 car seats, and 4 carry ons. It was horrendous but also a bit funny to see the mountains of luggage on the carts. My husband would disagree, he is scarred.
I echo the GET RID OF EVERYTHING sentiment. The issue we had is not knowing if XYZ would be available in Kenya. In truth, with the exception of medication, you can find what you need.
My eldest, age 6, had a harder time with the move in the lead up but once we were there she was fine. The 3 year old struggled more when we got there. I wish I had done the book thing but there were so many unknowns on arrival I'm not sure if it would have helped. It didn't help that we were staying in an Airbnb and short term rentals while we sorted out permanent housing.
But the good news is that within 2 months the kids were fully adjusted (school helped). Sometimes uprooting your whole life is worth the pain and enormous expense. I'm really glad we did it!
As someone who moved several times as a kid it was so interesting to hear these from a parent's perspective. We had employer-paid moves and were fully packed by movers. I learned a lot about how to pack from them (especially our move when I was 10). We tended to move over the summer and my school year was not interrupted. That was nice in some ways but also tricky. In one move we landed in a friendly neighborhood with lots of kids so I had some friends right away. In another move we were in a newer neighborhood that wasn't as established and I don't remember meeting any kids until I started school (although I was 5 so who knows, maybe I did and forgot).
Was that a gif from The State? Be still my Gen X heart....
thank you for recognizing it!!
my husband tried to show the kids some State videos and I was like please just don't. let us have this for ourselves.
Just want to say that this was extremely helpful! And that now I, too, have survived a cross-state move (NY to FL), mostly intact. Thank you!
Welcome to the other side! It's lovely over here!
I am thankful I have not experienced moving to another state with kids. Partway across town was hard enough, thanks. But the one witchy thing, OMG, "where are u"! Every day followed by "when r u picking me up?" "please come now" "when is supper?"
It's almost sweet when they say "where are u" like they miss u but really they just want something from u
A mom I know casually has a hilarious bit about turning off "find my" for her own (the mom's) blue dot on her teenager's phone because she was tired of getting texts like, "Can you please stop talking to your friend in the car? I can see you're in the driveway." The mom was like, "Well, now you lost the privilege to know where I am." 🤣
I love this--this so witchy
This is why i will hold out so long on giving my kid a phone or other texting device
I tried but then dad took daughter to Europe and wanted her to have a phone in case of emergencies and we never took it back because the constant changes to cheer practice means we have to be able to communicate with her at school. I'm not happy about it but I feel like I am fighting forces much larger than myself. If other kids didn't have phones, the practice changes couldn't happen, but that's not the reality however much I hate it.
I feel that. I am sure it is just a matter of time before simmering like this catches up with us.
I’m not a paid subscriber but will I still get your posts via ghost? Thanks!
yes!
I am really glad you are moving away from substack!
thank you! It took me awhile to decide to put in the time and money to do so but I'm glad to have the encouragement of other witches plus my tech buddy Fuzzy who helps me with things when I am like I AM TOO TIRED TO FIGURE THIS OUT!!
Yeah for Fuzzy! The Guardian article that you linked to is disturbing and I wonder if others will be moving away too.
We moved from DC to Kenya in August and it was a good call but also the most stressful experience of my life to date (privileged, I know). Packing up our house, finding renters, getting rid of pretty much everything and figuring out what really needed to come (we did this in our own, no shipping containers) nearly broke us. We ended up flying out with 10 checked bags, 2 car seats, and 4 carry ons. It was horrendous but also a bit funny to see the mountains of luggage on the carts. My husband would disagree, he is scarred.
I echo the GET RID OF EVERYTHING sentiment. The issue we had is not knowing if XYZ would be available in Kenya. In truth, with the exception of medication, you can find what you need.
My eldest, age 6, had a harder time with the move in the lead up but once we were there she was fine. The 3 year old struggled more when we got there. I wish I had done the book thing but there were so many unknowns on arrival I'm not sure if it would have helped. It didn't help that we were staying in an Airbnb and short term rentals while we sorted out permanent housing.
But the good news is that within 2 months the kids were fully adjusted (school helped). Sometimes uprooting your whole life is worth the pain and enormous expense. I'm really glad we did it!
As someone who moved several times as a kid it was so interesting to hear these from a parent's perspective. We had employer-paid moves and were fully packed by movers. I learned a lot about how to pack from them (especially our move when I was 10). We tended to move over the summer and my school year was not interrupted. That was nice in some ways but also tricky. In one move we landed in a friendly neighborhood with lots of kids so I had some friends right away. In another move we were in a newer neighborhood that wasn't as established and I don't remember meeting any kids until I started school (although I was 5 so who knows, maybe I did and forgot).