4 Valuable Things Kids Might Ruin if You Leave Them Lying Around

Having kids means waking up to a new adventure every day, and sometimes that involves discovering broken or missing items that are quite valuable. If you have kids, make sure you don’t leave the following items lying around where they can be picked up, played with, or intentionally misused.

1. Your jewelry

If you have jewelry, like necklaces, brooches, bracelets, and rings, you can expect them to be lost at some point if your kids have access to them. Sometimes kids just want to try things on and play dress-up, but sometimes kids like to collect things that don’t belong to them. Some kids will see nothing wrong with using your jewelry as a makeshift racecar or smashing it with a hammer to see what happens.

Valuable jewelry, like necklaces with precious gemstones and vintage engagement rings, is too expensive to risk like this. A ring like one from Estate Diamond Jewelry’s vintage engagement ring collection will be difficult, if not impossible to place. If any of your pieces are sentimental, you won’t even be able to replace them if anything happens.

One parent found their lost wedding ring, years later, stuffed in the toilet of a Barbie house. To avoid this type of disaster, keep your jewelry in a locked box or somewhere far out of reach from your kids. Don’t tell them where it is because they might get a stepladder and go searching when you’re not looking.

2. Money and credit cards

Many children don’t fully understand the concept of working hard for your money, so whether they see a $20 or $100 bill, it’s all the same to them. They might know money is how you buy things, but may not know those little paper bills come from your labor and time.

Some kids will rip up paper money, flush coins down the toilet, and throw credit cards around like ninja stars. It’s all the same to them, so don’t leave your wallet or purse lying around if you have a child who loves to experiment with things they find in other people’s bags.

Another way your money might disappear is if your kid decides to take it for some reason, like if they hear the ice cream truck driving by or they just want to buy something at the mall with their friends. Hopefully, your children ask first, but if not, you could find yourself short on cash.

Related: Teaching Kids The Value Of Money

3. Breakable items

Once you have kids, you learn quickly that everything is technically breakable, no matter what it’s made from. However, some items – like expensive ceramics and dishes – are less easily replaced than a $20 table lamp you got from Walmart.

If you have anything in your home that is breakable, and you don’t run your household like it’s a museum where everything is untouchable, don’t leave it out when your kids are young. It might not give your home the look and feel you want, but you can put that on pause until your kids are a tad bit older and fully understand that flailing their arms and legs around while doing a silly walk down the hallway does have consequences.

4. Computers

Most kids don’t ruin computers on purpose, but that doesn’t change the possibility of you losing all of your files in the blink of an eye. Laptops can get smashed or stepped on easily, soda spills can make your laptop nonfunctional, and you should never underestimate the danger of a kid with a screwdriver and an interest in taking things apart.

If you value your laptop, desktop, or tablet computer, keep it tucked away when you’re not using it so your kids can’t get ahold of it and accidentally destroy it while you’re asleep or out of the house. You would be surprised at the creative ways kids have unexpectedly ruined their parents’ devices. It can happen to anyone.

Keep your valuable items protected until your kids get older

These are just some of the most commonly misplaced, broken, and lost items. If you have any of these things in your home, keep them out of reach and inaccessible to younger kids. Once they get older and start to grasp the concept of taking good care of their own belongings, they’ll be less likely to damage, destroy, or lose yours.