Back to school with neatlynamed

Did you know that us Mums spend £1,589 replacing items lost by their kids before the age of ten – and nearly two days in total looking for them, according to a new study commissioned by Neatlynamed, manufacturers of labels for children’s clothing and belongings.

Researchers found the average youngster misplaces a total of 483 belongings between the ages of three and ten – with hats, jumpers and cuddly toys among the most commonly lost items. And 62 per cent of possessions which go missing, such as coats, school uniform items and books, are NEVER found again. But this might not surprise mothers as the fridge, the tumble dryer and the roof of a car are among some of the strange locations lost items have later been discovered.

Obviously school or nursery is the place children tend to lose things most often – followed by when playing inside at home. And around half of mothers said they have known their little ones to lose items within just 20 minutes of getting them for the first time!

I think I’ve been pretty lucky. With two children at school neither of them have lost anything yet. Last year my son did misplace his brand new M&S jumper which I hadn’t got round to labelling but fortunately it turned up within days. Maybe it’s because I drum into them how important it is to take care of their belongings, but I think we’ve just been lucky so far.

A savvy three quarters of mums put name labels on their youngster’s belongings to prevent them being lost with 64 per cent of those polled saying items initially lost and subsequently found had name labels. I’m a huge fans of labelling everything. My poor mum is visiting this week and I will be recruiting her to help me – her stitching is so much neater than my own!

Neatlynamed provides a range of self-adhesive stickers and name labels designed for children’s clothes and personal items. This includes its Peel ‘n Stick clothes labels, iron-on labels and shoe and sock labels as well as stickers for marking personal belongings. All labels can be personalised with a child’s name, choice of colour and an icon. They kindly sent us some of new range of Disney themed labels to help engage children in looking after their items and ensure they are easily identified. The new brightly coloured labels feature some of the most popular Disney characters including those from Cars, Planes, Frozen, Disney princesses as well as Mickey Mouse and friends. Parents can check out the full range of products and place their order at www.neatlynamed.com.

My children chose Cars 3 (the 7 year old) and Mickey Mouse and friends (the 5 year old). Both were absolutely delighted with them and we can’t wait to stick them on water bottles and book bags.