There is a thought that family moves can create problems for a child in school, but new research suggests mobility in the early years can be good or bad.

The Foundation for Early Child Development examined mobility among young kids and found that while multiple moves can be associated with academic problems, it can also help kids, particularly if a family moves to a better neighborhood and school.

Like it or not, family mobility is a fact of life. Instead of tackling it as a public policy problem to be eradicated, we should give parents and their kids more tools to cope with change that can sometimes help not hurt their development, suggests Ruby Takanishi, president of the New York-based Foundation for Child Development, which participated in the “Workshop on the Impact of Mobility and Change on the Lives of Young Children” held June 29 and 30 in Washington, D.C.

“The kind of knee jerk reaction is to say mobility is bad and bad for kids,” Takanishi told me in an interview this morning. “I think that one of the things that came out of the workshop, which I think is quite valuable, is the notion that mobility is not necessarily bad.”

Consider the fact that many families move as they climb out of poverty and off welfare, two moves that should benefit parents and their children.

“Mobility is only bad if children move to a worse situation that would be compounded by a residential move to a worse situation,” Takanishi added.

Instead of trying to keep families put, school districts and states can help parents. For example, districts can give parents options to keep their kids in a good school even if they move outside that school’s lines, according to Takanishi. Family support programs and family resource centers also can help parents and their kids adapt to moves, she added.

“What is next is that we really need to think about particular education policies that a school district and state education (system have) that really take into account the fact that there are very high rates of school mobility, particularly among African American and Latino children,” Takanishi said.
  
Note: Ruby Takanishi is one of the featured speakers at the upcoming “Starting Strong” Conference to be held Aug. 10 and 11 at the Doubletree Hotel SeaTac. The conference is for anyone who works with or on behalf of children from birth to age 8 and is being supported by the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, Washington State Department of Early Learning, Foundation for Early Learning, Thrive by Five Washington and Washington State University. Click here for more conference information and to register.