How Moving Can Affect Children

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 Growing up I went to four separate elementary schools in two different countries and four high schools in two different states. Some may think how wonderful that must have been to have the chance to travel to different places and meet new people. It was to a point. The part that wasn’t so great was that every time that I would start to feel comfortable in a new place we would up and move again.  In elementary school it wasn’t all that bad but come high school it was very hard as people had friends that they had hung around with throughout a big part of their lives. I would make a few close friends and then have to leave them behind to go and start all over again.

What The Experts Say About Uprooting Children

Some children will suffer from constantly being uprooted which can cause depression and even lead to suicide. Not all children can cope with change very well and moving around from one place to another can be traumatic and very stressful. There have been studies done with children that are not uprooted and with children that are. The percentage of children that both attempt to commit and succeed in suicide have a higher percentage than those children that do move around.

Self esteem as well as self confidence is affected from uprooting. Behavioral problems can occur which in turn can lead to alcohol and drug abuse.

Many times people do not have a choice and have to move or there is a divorce and or relocation is an absolute must. Children in foster homes are constantly being uprooted.

When I look back to my personal situation I can see many of the problems that I had. I am not blaming anyone but I did have a self esteem problem, suffered bouts of depression, ran away from home and after doing the research on uprooting children I am happy that my problems were not as severe as they could have been.

With my own family we have lived in the same town for the past 22 years and fortunately my children only had to change schools once in their entire lives. I really do envy them as they have had the same friends since kindergarten and I truly believe that because of this they have a high confidence level, feel totally secure in their environment and in their own skin.