Moving to a new community may be one of the most stress-producing experiences a family faces. Frequent moves or even a single move can be especially hard on a youngster, and this stress occurs even when there are siblings.
Moves interrupt friendships.
To a new child at school, it may at first seem that everyone else has a best friend or is securely involved in a clique. The child must get used to a different curriculum, and finds him or herself ahead on certain subjects and behind on others, causing boredom and anxiety. Children in kindergarten or first grade may be particularly vulnerable to a family move because developmentally they are just in the process of separating from their parents and adjusting to new authority figures and peer groups. The relocation can interfere with that normal process of separation by causing them to return to a more dependent relationship with their parents. In general, the older the child, the more difficulty he or she will have with the move because of the increasing importance of the peer group.