How much money would you pay to stop a child of yours from having a temper tantrum?

A study put together by PolicyGenius has sought to answer this question, and the results of their study are quite hilarious.

Imagine you’re at your local convenience store with a child, and they see something that they just MUST have. When you decline their demand, they start wailing and screeching and unleashing hell upon the unfortunate clerk and customers nearby. You have a headache, you’re tired from work, and you just want to get home. You buy whatever it is the child happens to want so you can get out of there and relax. Does this describe the way you would handle a temper tantrum? If your answer is yes, you’re far from alone, and many parents would actually spend a surprising amount of money to get their kids to shut up.

The survey by PolicyGenius discovered that one in five parents would spend money to avoid a temper tantrum. Of the parents that said they’d pay to avoid a tantrum, 44% claimed they’d be willing to pay $500 or more to not have to go through the ordeal. Of course, this isn’t the healthiest way to control a child’s temper tantrums, as psychologist Susan Newman explains. “Basically, giving money to your kids to avoid a fight, especially large sums of money, is bribery,” said Newman. The idea is that giving into a child’s temper tantrums doesn’t help them and isn’t a great long-term strategy. Young children push limits in order to test their parents, and bribing a child to shut up just reinforces their behavior patterns. Why stop being a little monster if you can get everything you want for behaving like one?