Junior Injunctions
– Brits spend over £1,400 per year in hush money for their children(1) –
Wednesday 17 August 2011: Proving that injunctions are not just for the rich and famous, the average British parent admits to imposing 83 junior injunctions each year by asking their children to keep secrets.
The study(2), commissioned by Sheilas’ Wheels home insurance, found that one in ten (10 per cent) British parents admit that they regularly ask their children to keep secrets from others. Although junior injunctions cost nothing in legal fees, parents spend £27 each week on hush money and treats - ranging from new clothes to junk food - to convince their children to keep quiet.
The top secret that parents ask their children to keep is a surprise gift (54 per cent) for someone else. The remaining top ten secrets however were less well intentioned with a staggering five per cent of British parents having asked their children to keep a secret when they had broken the law.
Top ten secrets that parents ask their children to keep:
- A gift that is to be given (54 per cent)
- Their real age in order to pay a reduced price (26 per cent)
- Staying up past their bedtime (22 per cent)
- Eating junk food or sweets (16 per cent)
- Extravagant purchases (13 per cent)
- Their real age in order to get them into an age restricted film (nine per cent)
- Breaking rules set by the other parent (eight per cent)
- Breaking something in the home (seven per cent)
- Breaking the law (five per cent)
- Damaging the car (three per cent)
Technology was the most common bribe to convince children to keep secrets with the typical parent spending an average of £176.80 each year on consoles and gadgets. The average parent also bribes their children with £156 worth of clothes, £147.30 in shoes and trainers and £140.40 in fun activities annually.
Proving that there really is a bank of mum and dad, the average British parent also hands over a staggering £114.40 each year in cash to their children to encourage them keep a secret.
The survey found that parents are often wasting their time however as, like many super injunctions, 40 per cent of adults admit that most of their junior injunctions are eventually exposed. The average junior injunction lasts 14 days before the beans are spilt, while more than a quarter (28 per cent) last less than just two hours.
Despite this, 70 per cent of parents tell their children to never keep secrets from them, sending out the message that it is one rule for them and another for their children. Half of parents (53 per cent) said that there was nothing wrong with asking a child to keep the occasional secret, although 32 per cent admitted that they feel guilty about it.
Two fifths of parents (41 per cent) even admit to paying off other people’s children, despite the fact that 65 per cent said they would be outraged if they discovered their own child had been asked to keep a secret from them. 15 per cent of parents have even asked their children to keep a secret from their own teachers.
Siblings are the most likely to be kept in the dark as a result of a junior injunction (39 per cent), followed by grandparents (26 per cent) and mother-in-law’s (21 per cent).
Dads were the most likely to take out a junior injunction with 12 per cent admitting to doing it regularly compared to eight per cent of women, which echoes the trend for super injunctions to be overwhelmingly taken out by men. More than one in ten (12 per cent) dads have even forgotten to pick their child up on time and then asked their child to keep it a secret from their mum.
Jacky Brown at Sheilas’ Wheels home insurance said: “We were all appalled to find out what some famous faces were getting up to in secret, but it seems that most Brits are hiding more than a few secrets of their own.
“Asking children to keep quiet so as not to spoil a surprise such as a birthday present or a party is all part and parcel of the fun of keeping secrets but some things should never be swept under the carpet and hidden away. Almost one in ten of us ask a child to keep their lips sealed when we break something in the home, but it is better to simply own up and ensure that you have adequate home insurance.”
Regional Breakdown
72 per cent of Londoners teach their children that keeping secrets is wrong, while the national average is just 39 per cent. Despite this, Londoners still came top for regularly asking their child to keep a secret as one in five (20 per cent) do it on a regular basis.
Parents in Scotland were the most likely (20 per cent) to impose a junior injunction to hide an extravagant purchase, followed by Londoners (18 per cent). Children are most likely to watch an age-restricted movie in the West Midlands where 13 per cent of parents admitted to asking their child to keep their age secret in order to get in.
Top regions for parents regularly imposing junior injunctions:
- London (20 per cent)
- North East (18 per cent)
- Yorkshire (nine per cent)
- North West (eight per cent)
- East Midlands (seven per cent)
- Ends -
For further information please contact the Sheilas’ Wheels press office at Mischief on 020 7100 9999 or email sheilaswheels@mischiefpr.com
Visit the media centre: www.sheilaswheels.com
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Notes to Editors:
(1) £1,404
(2) Sheilas’ Wheels used the independent online research company Fly Research who surveyed 1010 parents with children aged under 18 from 5 to 7 August 2011. Fly Research is an online market research company. Its researchers are members of the MRS, PRCA, BPC and Esomar, and abide by their guidelines. Further information is available at www.FlyResearch.com
