Parents and parents-to-be know that for all the wonders that raising children brings, it’s not a stress-free experience. 
Aside from child proofing your home and creating rooms they will come to love, it’s understandable to worry not only about how your children will fare in your property, but how your property will fare with them. After all, you have worked hard to put your roof over your head, and children are somewhat reckless by nature.
Wear and tear are always sensitive areas of concern in property ownership, and in many ways, children can accelerate its presence somewhat rapidly through their shenanigans. However, if you know what issues to anticipate and what preventative measures to take, then it might be that you can minimise the amount of damage they inflict on your property. You’ll find a few suggestions below.
Blocked Drains and Toilets
Even temporarily unsupervised, younger children will certainly cause mischief when it comes to your plumbing.
You could talk to your kids about what is flushable in toilets. Smaller children are often in favour of doing things just to ‘see what happens’, figuring out the world through processes of trial and error. If they start flushing their toys, food, or anything else that isn’t toilet paper, then blockages will inevitably occur. They may start depositing toys or litter in your outdoor drains too.
If you notice that your drains or toilets are blocked, then you might need to consult the experts. Drain Detectives offer drain surveys in London to identify the cause of the issue and find the best way to fix it. Their local engineers are well-trained in repairing blocked drains, toilets, sinks, baths, and showers, which means they can soon set matters right if your children cause trouble in these areas. If in doubt, you can call or email them first, where you’ll engage with a friendly representative of theirs that will talk through your options with you. Ultimately, if your kids get the upper hand here, it won’t be for long thanks to services such as these.
Stained Carpets
Kids are quite capable of staining your carpets beyond all recognition.
You might think you know how muddy kids can get, but it’s something you really can’t quite believe until you see it for yourself. Don’t discourage your child from playing in the mud, as it can actually be good for their wellbeing at younger ages. Instead, instigate a rigorous ‘no shoes indoors’ policy, or a quick hose down in dire circumstances, should help keep the mud at bay.
They may also be more prone to slips and spillages, which is bad news if they’re using paints or drinking fizzy drinks. Try to confine these activities to areas of the house where cleaning comes easier, such as dining rooms and kitchens, and numerous crises will be averted.
Broken Technology
Expensive gadgets are harder to replace, so extra precautions are necessary here when it comes to letting your kids be around them.
Obviously, you shouldn’t ban them from the use of the television, nor should you construct a defensive wall around your technology. Instead, you can implement a range of insurance coverages to help fund any replacements that may need to be incurred. Unfortunately, policies such as accidental damage insurance won’t cover expensive gadgetry, so you’ll need to cover your tech individually via other providers and policies. The seller you bought your gadgetry from will likely have recommendations, or you can do some quick research online.
Preventative measures can take place from a parenting perspective also. Kids often get carried away in overzealous play or find themselves succumbing to temper tantrums rather quickly. Sharp reminders that these behaviours won’t fly, even when nothing gets broken, will ensure that incidents of broken technology seldom occur.
Wall Art
Thankfully, not all property problems are too serious in nature, and such is the case with your children’s inevitable wall art.
When your child draws on the wall, remember that it’s nothing a new coat of paint or a well-placed picture frame will fix. In fact, you can even match your kid’s creativity and roll with their décor contribution. One family did this themselves, framing their child’s drawing as a point of pride while recognising that kids will always do things that they shouldn’t.
It’s a useful point to consider, because as the parent in the situation, you do have say in what constitutes as a true ‘property problem.’ Obviously, blocked drains and damaged electrics are somewhat major, but the occasional bit of drawing on the wall has no potential to cause any future problems.
If you do want to control when and where they draw on the walls, that’s understandable. Perhaps you can give them their very own wall in the least used room in the home. That way, your child gets to channel their creativity with an exciting new canvas, and you don’t need to worry about your living room being transformed over the course of one afternoon.
