A 2-year-old from the Salt Lake City area accidentally shredded $1,060 that his parents had been tirelessly saving to pay the child’s grandparents back for purchasing University of Utah football tickets for the couple. And if ever the statement “you’ve got to laugh about it or you’ll cry” were applicable, it’s in this situation.

According to the Washington Post, that’s exactly what the boy’s parents, Ben and Jackee Belnap, did. They laughed. Well, not before Jackee felt the urge to almost drain her body’s water supply through tears. But she got over that inkling quickly, she says, and the couple ultimately laughed it out.

So how does a 2-year-old know how to use a paper shredder? Well, aside from the fact that toddlers are insanely ingenuitive and unstoppably stubborn once they get a notion in their minds, the couple had been allowing their son to “help” shred mail and other documents.

Seems innocent enough. I’ve let my kids “help” with all sorts of things. It’s what parents do.

Except parents don’t always expect their darling children to decide to be “helpful” when they’re not around, which is precisely what the couple’s child did when he stumbled upon the envelope full of money and determined it, too, needed to be destroyed.

After searching everywhere for the missing cash, the Belnaps finally found it, and not in the place they were hoping.

The good news, though, is that they may have a chance to recover the lost currency. Apparently, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing has a “Mutilated Currency Division” that will, in some instances, replace ruined money with fresh dough, so long as the money, which must be sent to the Bureau in plastic baggies, passes inspection. If all goes well, the couple could be reimbursed in 6 months to 3 years.

File this one away in “good things to know.”

I remember my parents telling us about the time their Irish Setter, my dog from childhood, ate 100 bucks and the last shred of their sanity when he was a puppy. They sure could have used the Bureau’s services back then.

All in all, I think the greatest takeaway here is this: if kids can destroy it, they most likely will. That and the obvious: the Belnaps are clearly good sports.

Oh, and of course, the fact that this, folks, is why parents can’t have nice things. Like ever.

This is parenting, people considering having kids. Come over to the dark side with us.