It’s the scourge of any parent taking the kids on a long road trip: you never know when the boredom is finally going to get to them and result in a full-blown screaming meltdown on a jammed freeway.
If one UK statistician is to be believed, however, the time it takes for kids to have a temper tantrum in the back seat is more predictable than you might think. Working alongside insurance firm LV= Britannia Rescue, Dr James Hind of Nottingham Trent University believes he’s cracked the formula for how long the average child can last before they explode: T = 70 + 0.5E + 15F – 10S.
What does that mean? Well, based on a survey of 2,000 parents, the time (T) it takes for a child to have a tantrum on the road is, on average, about 70 minutes. Keeping them entertained (E) will stretch this time out, and food (F) will delay it by up to 15 minutes – but beware, because siblings (S) will knock around 10 minutes off the clock.
“If you have only one child, and you can keep them entertained and occasionally bribe them with food, you could manage two hours of tantrum-free driving. Unfortunately, two children with no entertainment and no snacks can brew up a tantrum in just 40 minutes,” said Dr Hind.
According to the research, boredom is the main cause of the dreaded back-seat tantrum, followed by the journey taking too long, with hunger coming in at number three.
“Snacks are important but there is a limit to how much they can help, so keep them to two an hour max. Entertainment is key, but even that fails with really long journey times,” said Dr Hind.
“Taking breaks to ‘reset the clock’ is important for preventing tantrums, as well as making sure you are not tired while driving.”
Oh, and in case you were wondering, the average time for a child to ask “are we nearly there?” is around 32 minutes, and parents can expect to hear it about four times during the journey – which frankly, to us, seems a little optimistic.
