All in all, the average cost to parents is £449 per child per year, equating to £14,537 for the average family with 1.8 children.
Emma Grant, head of trade experience at Checkatrade, said installing safety features can minimise the damage done to your home.
“While there’s no doubt children bring a great deal of joy into our homes, they also bring an impressive ability to leave a trail of chaos in their wake – often with a hefty repair bill to match.
“The good news is that there are simple and affordable ways for parents to child-proof their homes. Whether it’s opting for washable materials or installing additional safety features, you can save yourself a lot of time, stress and money in the long run by taking some precautions before the tantrums are thrown,” she added.
Electronics and other damaged goods
Electronics are the single-most expensive type of item that parents spend money replacing after damage from a child. Parents whose children have damaged items in the past year have spent an average of £325 replacing electronics.
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Meanwhile, the most common items that children damage in the home are their own belongings, such as toys or equipment, furniture and carpets. Children also cause damage by drawing on walls, scratching flooring, slamming doors or kicking walls.
Many parents have made changes to their home to guard against damage where possible. These include washable paint, replacing carpets with hard flooring and installing screen protectors on TVs and electronics.
Most expensive ages for damage
Young children and older teenagers cause the most damage, while there’s a dip in between. Four-year-olds cause over 100 incidents of damage per year, but this falls to just 28 times per year for 11-year-olds and 19 times per year for 13-year-olds.
However, the figure rises again after this – to 37 times per year for 16-year-olds and 46 times per year for 17-year-olds.
Five-year-olds and 17-year-olds are the two age cohorts where the highest proportion of damage was as a result of angry outbursts – 31% and 29% respectively, versus an overall average of less than a quarter.
Accidental damage
Adding accidental damage cover to your home insurance is one way to ensure that larger incidences of damage by children would be paid for by your insurer.
Recent figures from insurer Aviva show that children are the reason for 13% of accidental damage insurance claims, with common causes ranging from throwing and dropping items such as laptops and tablets to accidentally knocking into possessions – such as TVs – while playing.
The insurer said more than a third – 34% – of all home clams are for accidental damage, making it the most common type of insurance claim.
