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Hartynspren
Angemeldet seit:
02.01.2023
Beiträge: 178
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Hello everyone. We have 3 children who are all on the spectrum, have sensory issues and so on. This post is about some practical issues which I'm guessing many people on this forum have to deal with. It's not about why the behaviour happens etc, or how it should be "managed" that's obviously complex and is a topic for another day. We home educate the kids so they spend more time at home than most would (although they're out and about a lot as well !).
Our possessions and generally our house get damaged on a regular basis, mostly by one of them but they all do to an extent. For example, doors get repeatedly slammed and I currently have 6 internal doors which need some form of repair, from just a new latch (i.e. the door won't stay closed at the moment, which is a problem with a dog in the house as well) to one which needs to be completely replaced because the bottom of it is hanging off the top, it's been hit so often with chairs and similar. Yesterday a stone got thrown at a window and it shattered. Safely, which is great, but it still needs repairing. Other recent damage includes kitchen cupboard doors having things thrown at them and some of them are now splitting; the kitchen worktop got chipped when something got thrown at it; we go through several sets of kitchen chairs a year as they get smashed one way or another (we've now mostly resorted to big, heavy benches which are harder to throw, and that's helped...). That sort of thing. Also we don't have anywhere in the house which is safe from having possessions damaged, so everything we own is at risk. We care very little about possessions but everyone has a few things they treasure.
I am increasingly spending far more of my time than I would like, either fixing things, replacing them or arranging for someone to come and do that. We lost any sense of being house proud years ago, and where possible we just leave things, but this is about things we actually need (e.g. I need a door to the room I use as a home office, otherwise I can't do work). All of which takes up inordinate amounts of time, and of course money but I am less concerned about that because it's what we use a lot of the DLA money for. The biggest problem is when it's damage to the house/furniture etc.
How do others in similar situations deal with this please ? I'm wondering for example whether to invest in house insurance with a very low excess, and then getting things repaired/replaced on the insurance. I don't know whether they would count this sort of thing as "accidental damage" - the child sometimes does intentionally do the thing (e.g. throw the stone), but they don't usually want the [whatever] to break. Which is precisely how the one who broke the window yesterday, described it - yes throwing the stone wasn't an accident, but I didn't want the window to get broken. If I did that could I just get the insurer to sort these things out ? Does anyone have any specialised insurance perhaps, which covers this ? Or would I still end up having to find the person to do the work, and the insurer just pays the bill at the end ? If so that wouldn't really address the problem but it would be a start..depending on how high the premium is of course.
Or does anyone have (say) a contract with a tradesperson, or property maintenance company, or whatever ? Or any other ideas ? It's mostly DIY/minor building work that I'm thinking about.
Any thoughts or suggestions very welcome !
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AlexLake
Angemeldet seit:
07.06.2023
Beiträge: 32
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If you’re dealing with repeated damage, creating a designated safe area with sturdy, inexpensive furniture works wonders. For those renting, it might be worth checking out ***** to ensure your landlord is approachable and understanding about repairs or adjustments needed for these situations. Investing in washable covers or easy-to-replace items can also make life less stressful.
Zuletzt bearbeitet am: 13.02.2025 11:22 Uhr.
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