This isn’t a freak accident

You walk into the living room, and you discover there’s a lot of random scribbles made on your couch with a permanent marker. One of your kids is suspiciously quiet, the other is unbothered. You’re angry, but you don’t know where to get started with fixing the damage.  

If you have kids, this situation is a little too common. And despite your meditation practice, this still gets on your nerves if you’ve spent thousands on making your home. Children in the house mean furniture damage isn’t a “what if.” It’s a “when.”  

In a study by Mortar Research, nearly 84% of the 1040 parents surveyed said that their kids had damaged their homes an average of 56 times in the past year. So this is pretty much in line with the kind of behavior you expect from them. Now along with the damage, if they also get hurt despite the childproofing? It can get really, really frustrating.

Everyday family life is a playground for accidents, and breaking furniture is just one of the many after-effects of fun going wrong. If you want to be better prepared for the next time your children breaks your furniture and not pay exorbitant prices for the damage, read on.

Kids + furniture = Real-life stress test

Kids are uniquely hard on furniture, and not because they’re trying to be difficult, but because that’s their way of having fun. But as a parent coming back home from an exhausting day at work, handling the crisis of the day your kids put up can make you lose your cool instantly.  

But their way of thinking is different from ours. With children, couches become trampolines, laundry racks turn into failed jungle gyms, and every fabric or spot of clean space becomes a canvas.

Sometimes, they gradually wear things down, like loose seams and lumpy cushions on the couch.  

The rest of the time, it’s instant: a juice spill that soaks into the carpet, or the coffee table that shattered while they were jumping on it. Most of this is normal use in a family home.

Let’s not even get into sharp corners. If you’ve stuck padding on every single corner to protect them from bumps, they’ll still get around it somehow.  

And that’s the thing: even if you think you’ve child-proofed your house, they’ll find a way to undo it and then get hurt.

Why it hurts you more than it should

Parents have to prepare a hundred different scenarios on what their kids will break, and keeping track of these all the time is impossible.  

“My 3 y/o wanted to see what was in the toilet tank. He picked up the lid and understandably, it's heavy, so he dropped it back on the tank. Cracked it. Took 3 weeks to get the new tank in. $100.”
- A parent sharing their experience on Reddit.

Unfortunately, manufacturer warranties usually cover defects, not accidents. Things like stains, tears, and spills are often excluded, leaving you to fend for yourself. This isn’t even the worst part though, because most of the time, you’re trying to keep your kids from accidentally hurting themselves while they’re having fun.  

Playing escalates fast. It can go from them enacting an imaginary adventure to getting caught under a heavy wooden shelf. And this happens all the time. An average of 11,521 children are treated in emergency departments each year for furniture or TV tip-over injuries. So many of these accidents can go wrong so fast, it can knock the wind out of your sails. And in that case, the entire focus then naturally shifts to taking care of them, not the furniture damage.  

What warranty actually assures

When your kids get hurt, your brain doesn’t always go to “What’s the warranty on our dining table?” Even if the damage cost tens of thousands, if your kids are getting treated in the hospital after their aggressive attempt at playtime, you don’t have the bandwidth to think of anything else.  

Any help at this time would do wonders for your emotional wellbeing. If you’re trying not to think about the $3000 dollars you spent on a recliner at this time, having accidental damage protection helps. Not because it prevents chaos (nothing does), but because it removes one more thing from your plate when you’re already stretched thin.

Without protection, these moments usually end the same way: you pay out of pocket, live with the damage, or replace the furniture sooner than planned while losing a lot of money in the process.  

None of those are great options when medical bills, time off work, and emotional stress are already in play. With accidental damage coverage, the decision is simpler. You file a claim. Someone else handles the repair, replacement, or reimbursement. You move on to what really matters.

What coverage to go for as a parent

The standard, manufacturer’s warranty doesn’t cut it when you have more accidents happening than the weeks of a year. But to select a proper protection plan, you need to know the difference between the types of coverage available. Usually, we see these in play (pun intended):

Now, if you do decide to go with getting furniture warranty that covers your children’s shenanigans, you would still have a bunch of options for providers to pick from. We recommend that you take a look at these factors when selecting:

• They explain what is covered in plain English.

• The claims process is quick and easy.

• The providers don’t blame you for the damage and get back to you with solutions that actually help.

Once you compare your options based on these parameters, you should be able to pick a provider who fits your family’s needs.  

These days, modern providers like SureBright understand that real life isn’t a sterile lab where every product remains in perfect condition. They have the backs of real-life families with kids (and their curiosity) included. So you can rest easy in at least one front of your busy but joyful life.

Your home is made with love and chaos

Homes are meant to be lived in, and kids, no matter how much joy they bring, are capable of so much destruction.  

Furniture warranty won’t stop the damage, but creates one less thing to worry about when parenting already demands everything you’ve got.

If your household also includes pets, you might want to explore how to keep your electronics safe from them, because kids aren’t the only ones testing your home’s limits.

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