It’s estimated that on average parents need to spend £2000 by the time their children reach the age of 10 on fixing the house damages caused by them. Younger children playing with their siblings or friends can cause serious damages to the households. The walls, floors and carpets alongside windows and TV get usually destroyed the most the survey reveals.
The most common damages caused by our youngsters:
- Drawing on walls
- Permanent stains on the carpet
- Breaking plates and crockery
- Damaging furniture
- Footprints/handprints on surfaces
- Scratching upholstery
- Blocking the toilet
- Accidentally smashing a window
- Scratching walls with bikes
- Blocking kitchen/bathroom sink
- Breaking beds by jumping on them
- Staining kitchen surfaces
- Breaking door handles
- Pulling up carpets
- Splashing paint on everything
- Gluing things to furniture and walls
- Breaking banister to the stairs
- Breaking the TV
- Setting things on fire
- Putting toys in the microwave
It looks like boys aged 4-10 are more rebellious compared to the girls the same age (36% of boys versus 22% girls) and 4% of children dare to set something on fire in their houses!
Playing too roughly is a common cause of the chaos. This means that parents spend on average £200 per year repairing the consequences of their children’s actions; 29% of parents save some part of their income in case their house will need post-play renovation/replacements. 22% of parents never leave their children unattended when they are playing and 25% of parents believe they can’t buy any precious items for their household until their children grow up.
If you do not want to be one of them, invest in quality time spent with your children when playing with them using safe toys or washable pens and paint. Teach them how to be a small paper artist when creating beautiful origami, following creative examples from the Origami Calendar showing control and the importance of how to be tidy. Or you could simply cover your sofas and armchairs with spill-proof blankets!
If you do not think that it is enough to protect your home consider taking out home insurance with accidental damage cover from companies such as More Than.
This is a guest post.
£2000 is scary! So far I think I've been lucky, or unfortunate that I've got it all coming at once. Nice post and it's given me a nudge to check on the home insurance cover too!!