Kids can be hard on floors. They’ll spend years running back and forth, stomping, falling down, spilling their drinks, and more. As such, when choosing a carpet for a home with kids, your primary concerns are to find something durable yet soft that’s also stain resistant. Here are a few kid friendly carpet options.

Frieze

Frieze fibers are longer, and tightly twisted. It has a look similar to shag, but slimmer and sleeker. The length gives it softness, so it’s more comfortable underfoot—not to mention better at cushioning falls. The carpet is also durable and will stand up to heavy foot traffic and other wear and tear from kids, pets, and more.

The long fibers also hide dirt well, so you don’t have to clean the carpet as often. The flipside, though, is that they can make spills even worse, causing them to spread further than they would on a short fibered carpet. However, if you get your frieze carpet in a stain resistant material, such as nylon or wool, it can help you keep it clean.

Berber

Berber can have a number of different definitions, which cover a number of different styles and constructions. However, for our purposes, it refers mainly to a looped carpet with short, tightly woven fibers.

The tight construction helps provide berber with stain resistance. Spills don’t penetrate the carpet as quickly, allowing them to be cleaned more easily. The drawback is, if those spills are given time to sink into the carpet, they become almost impossible to get out. However, much like frieze, getting a material like nylon, wool, or another stain resistant fiber can help counteract that.

Berber is also very durable and can stand up to heavy traffic. The loops make it prone to snagging, but generally not from simple everyday use. Moving heavy furniture across the carpet can cause it to snag and tear away from the backing, if you’re not careful. However, kids playing on it or pets with claws walking across it shouldn’t pose a problem.

The other drawback is that berber often isn’t as soft as some other types of carpet. But it can be ordered with extra cushioning in its backing, to help counteract that problem and make it more comfortable.

Modular

A modular carpet comes in individual tiles, rather than one giant piece covering the entire floor. This makes it easy to install and provides a lot of flexibility in terms of aesthetics. Different colors can be combined to make all different patterns to fit with a variety of décors.

Like the other types of carpet on this list, modular tiles are durable, soft, and easy to maintain. Furthermore, if part of the carpet does become stained, damaged, etc. it’s easy to deal with. You can just take out the one or two tiles that are causing problems, rather than having to replace the entire thing.

These are just a few of the carpet options that are good for families with kids. Talk to your local flooring specialist to see what type of carpet will best fit your lifestyle and your décor.