Buying a new house: what do children think?

Buying a house can be a tough task. But when children are involved, it gets a bit more complicated. So what do they think of it? We asked two girls, aged 10 and 8, whose parents recently bought a house what the experience was like.

My name is Mathilde and I have just moved house.

You might be thinking that doesn’t really matter as thousands of people in the world move house, but there’s more to it. You see, even though so many families in the world move houses, each person has a different little adventure and today I shall be telling you about mine.

I come from Paris and we moved to Australia in 2014 so this is our third year here.

The first house we lived in was a very nice house with a lovely front garden and three bedrooms. Even though the front garden was not very big, we still had lots of fun playing in it and the cubby house and watching the fish swim around in the pond.

I had to share a bedroom with one of my sisters. To tell you the truth, it was a very nice experience. She was actually rather good company and we used to giggle. A lot. Now I probably won’t ever share a room with her again.

We lived in that house for about a year and then rented another house as the owners wanted to live in our first house.

This house was not as big but we could still all have our own bedroom. The garden was small but very empty so we would be able to scoot and cycle around. During the weekends we spent every spare minute looking for houses.

I cannot tell you how tiring this is. The good bit was that, with my sisters, we’d see all sorts of wonderful bedrooms and imagine the people who might live in them. The bad bit was that weren’t allowed to bounce on the beds, run around or, most awful of all, hop in the pool!

But it was worth it as we eventually found a house. This house, our new home, still needs a bit of work, but at least it was ours.

We had a working bee with our whole family a few weeks after and it was really fun. We got to paint the walls and get very dirty.

My cousins and I also added two swings to the big old trees in the garden, one at the front and one at the back. The garden is very wild but that’s what so fun about it.

We have now moved in and it is fantastic with all the furniture in it.

I think that moving house can be a pain but I like think of it as a wonderful experience. And also, it’s good practice for me when I’m older.

Mathilde’s younger sister, Charlotte, 8, had a different take on the experience:

This is the house I wish my parents had bought…

Or something like this would have been cool…

Photo: AP (Photo/Fabian Bimmer)

This is how it feels looking for a house every weekend…

And my sisters and I wished we were doing this instead…

But after a long time of looking and looking and talking and talking my parents finally bought a house.

And now my parents want to renovate! Argh!