Help with wheel choice 15" or 17"

I tend to buy 15" to 16" wheels with tall side walls. My kids get the bigger size wheels with the three to four inch sidewall tires. My son curbed his car last month. He had to replace two very high priced magnesium wheels and two high priced tires. If he had the taller side wall tires his wheels would have been ok.
If a daily driver I would go with taller side wall tires. A low use car go the low sidewalls.