A study has found that mums lose two days of their lives searching for misplaced things that children have either conveniently or genuinely lost.
Not only that, but they spend more than $2,000 replacing items that are lost by their kids before the age of 10.
The research found that on average, children will lose 483 belongings in the first 10 years of their lives – and found that hats, jumpers and cuddly toys were the most likely to go missing.
Of those 483 things, 62 per cent will never be recovered – which is where the $2,835 spent on replacing things comes into play.
The strangest places to find a misplaced item were fridges, in tumble dryers and, in one instance, on the roof of a car.
The study, commissioned by Neatlynamed, a manufacturer of labels for children’s clothing and belongings, surveyed 1,000 mums whose children were aged between three and 10 years old.
Fiona Mills from Neatlynamed said: “We commissioned this research to show just how difficult it can be to keep track of children’s belongings.
“Mums might not realise how many items will go missing during their kid’s formative years so it’s really interesting to see the figures for this.
“As mums prepare for going back to school over the coming weeks these findings also make you wonder just where all the items lost disappear to.”
The most popular place that an item might go missing was at school or day care, followed by inside at home while playing.
But another shocker – although maybe not all that surprising to parents – found that around half of mothers surveyed had seen their little ones lose items within just 20 minutes of getting them for the first time.
Four in ten admit they’ve had to replace the same item repeatedly and 47 per cent of kids have even lost items belonging to their mother.
However, six in ten mums said losing items as a child helps them to appreciate the value of things later in life.
