Helping Kids Adjust After a Move: A Therapist’s Advice for NYC Families

Kids Adjust After a Move

By Yana Shenker, LCSW-R
Founder, Resilient Mind Psychotherapy – Brooklyn, NY

Moving to a new home can be exciting—but for children, it can also feel like their world has been turned upside down.

Whether your family just relocated to a new borough, a different city, or a new apartment down the block in Brooklyn, change brings challenges. Kids thrive on routine, familiarity, and comfort. When those are disrupted, it’s common to see emotional or behavioral shifts.

At Resilient Mind Psychotherapy, we work with families across NYC to help children adjust to life transitions like moving. Whether your child is showing signs of stress or you simply want to support them proactively, therapy can help ease the transition and foster emotional resilience.

🚚 Why Moving Can Be So Hard on Kids

Even if you’ve made the move with the best intentions—a bigger space, better school, or new opportunities—your child’s brain doesn’t process those benefits the same way.

Instead, children may experience:

Loss of familiar surroundings (home, neighborhood, school)
Separation from friends or extended family
Uncertainty about what comes next
A sense of instability or loss of control

Younger kids may not be able to verbalize these feelings, but they often show up in behavior: clinginess, tantrums, trouble sleeping, or regression (e.g., thumb-sucking, baby talk). Older children may become withdrawn, anxious, or defiant.

🧠 Common Emotional Reactions After a Move

Anxiety: New environments can feel scary. Kids may worry about making friends, fitting in, or not liking their new school.
Sadness or Grief: Leaving behind a home or community—even if they didn’t love it—can still feel like a loss.
Anger or Acting Out: Some children express transition stress by pushing boundaries or “acting out.”
Regression: Going back to earlier developmental behaviors is a common (and temporary) coping strategy.

🧩 5 Therapist-Backed Tips to Help Kids Adjust After a Move

1. Validate Their Feelings

Let your child know it’s okay to feel sad, scared, or even mad. Avoid minimizing their experience with “You’ll make new friends” or “You’ll get used to it.” Instead, try:

“It’s okay to miss your old room. It was a special place.”

Validation builds trust and emotional security.

2. Rebuild Routines ASAP

Routine = comfort. Try to quickly re-establish familiar rhythms:

Bedtime rituals
Mealtimes
Homework hours
Weekend traditions

Even one or two consistent routines can help anchor your child.

3. Create a Sense of Ownership

Let your child help decorate their new room or choose where their favorite toys go. It gives them a sense of control and personal space, which is especially important in big cities like NYC, where space is shared and tight.

4. Get Involved Locally

Explore the neighborhood together:

Find new parks or libraries
Join local activities, sports, or groups
Introduce them to neighbors with kids

If you’re in Bay Ridge, Park Slope, or Carroll Gardens, these communities have excellent local resources and playgrounds that help kids build new connections.

5. Consider Child Therapy

Sometimes, children need more than parental support to process the change. Therapy provides:

A safe space to talk about their feelings
Play-based methods to express emotions
Coping tools for anxiety, anger, and sadness
A neutral adult to help them adjust and feel empowered

At Resilient Mind Psychotherapy, we offer child therapy in Brooklyn and across New York State, both in-person and online.

🧸 How Child Therapy Helps After a Move

Our therapists specialize in helping children:

Understand and process difficult emotions
Develop resilience and self-esteem
Rebuild their sense of routine and safety
Strengthen family communication

We use play therapy, art therapy, and CBT techniques to meet kids where they are emotionally.

Whether your child is age 5 or 15, therapy can offer tools that last far beyond the moving boxes.

🏙️ Serving Families Across Brooklyn and NYC

Moving to a new home, borough, or school is one of the most common life transitions we help families navigate.

Our child therapists support families in:

Bay Ridge
Williamsburg
Park Slope
Brooklyn Heights
Throughout NYC and across New York State via telehealth

💬 Final Thought

Moving is hard. You’ve likely felt the weight of it yourself. Your child is feeling it too—just differently.

With a little structure, validation, and possibly the help of a therapist, your child can not only adjust—they can thrive.

✍️ About the Author

Yana Shenker, LCSW-R is the founder and clinical director of Resilient Mind Psychotherapy in Brooklyn, NY. With over 15 years of experience, she helps children and families build emotional resilience through play-based and evidence-based therapy—both online and in-person.

📚 References

American Academy of Pediatrics. Helping children adjust to a move.
https://www.healthychildren.org/
Psychology Today. Moving with Kids: Strategies That Work.
National Institute of Mental Health. Childhood Emotional Wellbeing.