Home Insurance – Terrible Toddlers

We all know that children can sometimes spell disaster for the contents of your home.
To this effect there are certain casualties we expect – the odd broken vase, perhaps a tear in the wallpaper, the odd fizzy drink stain on the carpet. Research has shown that damage to homes in the UK caused by children totals £122m in the last year alone.

A whopping 68% of “carpet related” damage was caused by carelessness with food, drink (the obvious contenders) and of course paint – could a childhood be complete without this item of stationary?

A report by Halifax chronicled “the curse of the crayon” which accounted for 65% of the damage caused by young children. As you can imagine removing the latest “work of art” from the wallpaper in the lounge, scrubbing off the attempt at abstract art in the hallway and trying to wash off the latest interpretation of Van Gogh’s “sunflowers” from the kitchen door (you’ve just repainted) can be a mammoth task.

Interestingly male toddlers were said to be 20% more likely to cause damage than their female counterparts.

The average claim stands at over £500 - a small fortune to some parents already stretched beyond their means. This is where home insurance comes in – usually you will be able to make a claim for accidental damage and most policies will cover the cost of a re-paint or new carpet should it be necessary.

Funnily enough thousands of homes have been damaged not by the toddlers dwelling within but by friends of the family bringing their “terrible toddlers”. Parents appear to be extremely tolerant in this area with only 2% of those surveyed indicating that they would charge the parents of the responsible child.

House insurance can be particularly valuable for families with young children and indeed children of any age. Items at high risk include; mobile phones (attractive to small children), Laptops (with the average laptop coming in at around £600 an expensive item to replace should your toddler decide to play “office”) and of course not forgetting a sometimes inconspicuous item the “common (or “lesser spotted” where paints involved) carpet” which can cost hundreds of pounds to have professionally cleaned or replaced.

The moral of the story it seems is to be careful with storage and usage of expensive items and accept that accidents can and probably will happen where children are involved.