Children fall a lot – fortunately, usually not far. The right tool for protecting them isn't life insurance (which can't even be taken out on a child), but well-sized accident insurance: fixed amounts for fractures, hospital days, surgery – and, most importantly, a solid sum for permanent disability.
- Accidental-death life insurance cannot be taken out on a child – their real risk is accidents, and that's what accident insurance is for.
- The school/kindergarten group policy is a good foundation: automatic and cheap – but its amounts are typically modest, and its scope varies by package.
- Your own cover is a layer on top: in force round the clock, all year, with amounts sized for the serious cases.
Why accident insurance – and not life insurance?
The rule is clear: accidental-death life insurance cannot be taken out on a minor – and that's how it should be. Children's real risk is accidents: fractures, sports injuries, minor surgeries. Accident insurance pays out for these, with the emphasis on the permanent disability benefit – the element that softens a lifetime of adjustment after a serious case. The family's financial protection, meanwhile, comes not from a policy on the child but from cover sized to the earners – mixing up the two is a common misunderstanding, which the article on the family approach sets straight.
What does school insurance cover?
Where the institution or its maintaining body has taken out group accident insurance, the child is covered without any extra paperwork on your part – but this isn't automatic and doesn't exist everywhere: it's worth asking at the start of the school year. It has two limits: the amounts are typically modest, and the scope of cover – its time and territorial limits – varies by package: some apply only during institutional hours, others reach further. It's worth asking the institution for the terms once – too many parents only discover the content where they shouldn't: at claim time. Make this a routine at the start of the school year: the children's protection checklist walks you through it.
Your own layer: not an alternative, an addition
Compared with the school base, your own policy isn't "either/or" but "both": the base stays in place, and your own cover adds amounts for the serious cases – typically in force round the clock, all year, including holidays and weekends. The focus of sizing is permanent disability: it's worth choosing a strong amount here, because for a child the long-term stakes are the highest. The fracture and hospital elements are the "everyday case" layer – almost every family ends up with a cast on an arm at some point.
The athlete child is a separate question
Club sport with a competition licence gets separate treatment in the terms – an everyday policy won't necessarily cover it automatically. If your child is a registered athlete, this needs to be declared when taking out the policy: the article on athlete children goes through the options in detail, from club cover to add-ons.
Thinking as a family
The most cost-effective form of child accident insurance is often a family package: two adults and the children on one policy, with a combined premium. This also takes care of the parents' accident cover – which, from the family's financial point of view, is actually the primary question. When you request a quote, we put the cover together based on the children's sports, any existing school package, and the family budget. It's especially true for children's insurance: the most expensive option isn't the best one – the well-targeted one is.
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