The school holidays can be a joyful round of picnics, bike rides and trips to the seaside with your little ones.
But that joy turns quickly to despair at home when their need to let off steam leads to graffiti on the walls, food blocking the washing machine and toys stuck in the U-bend.
In fact, the havoc they wreak costs all parents millions a year in home repairs, a survey has found.
The school break is the peak period for such mishaps, with 57 per cent of parents saying they faced substantial bills.
Almost seven in ten – 67 per cent – said their children had drawn pictures on walls and furniture, and 43 per cent had to call in a plumber after toys got stuck in the loo.
Meanwhile, 47 per cent said appliances had to be fixed after porridge, marmalade, custard and other food got stuck in games consoles and DVD players, and 40 per cent said fluids such as milk had found their way into hifi speakers and washing machines.
The holiday mayhem doesn’t end there, with 42 per cent saying their offspring had caused flooding by leaving taps running, while 20 per cent said a child had switched the heating on in the summer.
The joy of school holidays turns quickly to despair at home when their need to let off steam leads to graffiti on the walls, food blocking the washing machine and toys stuck in the U-bend
In fact, the havoc they wreak costs all parents millions a year in home repairs, a survey has found
Another seven per cent said children had caused costly bills by using sofas and beds as trampolines, breaking windows and flooding the garden with the garden hose.
The average bill is £265 each time something goes wrong, with 36 per cent of people having to call in a professional to repair the damage.
Another 12 per cent call a friend or relative to help, and eight per cent make an insurance claim.
Liam Sharkey, from the home-assistance firm HomeServe, which carried out the survey of 2,000 British parents, said: ‘These mishaps are more common than you’d think, and often catch parents off guard. Kid disasters bring most mayhem in the holidays. It only takes a moment for a small accident to turn into a costly repair.’
