Changing homes brings many positive aspects, however, it also brings with it a stressful situation and big changes that will affect family members, especially children. It is important to make the move easy for children, especially since they could suffer from the so-called childhood migratory grief. This can manifest itself in different ways depending on each child, but it usually involves an emotional challenge that the family must deal with.
Child migratory mourning is the adaptation process that a child must go through who is experiencing a great change, such as moving to another city or even to another country. So everything known, such as friendships, other family members, routines or even the native culture, is left behind and changed for something new. This implies a considerable emotional demand on the little ones in the house, which parents must know how to detect and manage properly.
The nature of the change itself, as well as the circumstances in which it has taken place, will greatly influence how childhood immigration grief will affect the child. And how it will manifest itself. One of the most common symptoms is fear or worry, since minors must say goodbye to everything that their world was up to now, including their circle of friends. So they can feel sadness and loneliness.
Childhood migratory grief can also cause the child to isolate himself, especially if there are various conditioning factors, such as language or culture, which make reading an even greater contrast and make it difficult for him to feel integrated. Another of the most frequent manifestations is anxiety.
The role of parents will be to accompany their children during this adaptation process and this begins with understanding. It is essential that children feel that their emotions are validated by their family, who should show empathy with them, without judging them or downplaying their feelings. This will be achieved through effective and constant communication, for example, offering them as much information as possible about the new place they are going to and what their day-to-day life will be like there. In this way, listening to their worries and fears and being understanding will help them increase their security.
The symptoms of a child going through a migratory duel can be very diverse, they could even affect their body, in the form of headaches or upset stomach, for example. For this reason it is important that parents pay attention to their children, in order to identify them as soon as possible.
