To tell a little porkie pie about DDs age

[KellyElly]

DD was three today. I'm taking her to a place tomorrow where u pay ridiculous money when they are three. I am planning to say she's two as its just by a couple of days. I am very skint and this will mean I can get her some lunch out, a rise and an ice cream. Otherwise it will be the attraction and home. AIBU?

Took dd to a meal at a Chinese about 2 years ago when she was 10 or 11. One adult and one child please. Waitress tried to charge dd for adult price. I said no she is a child. Waitress said "she is too tall for child price". WHAT? Yes she is very tall for age but she is a CHILD! They still tried it on when we finished our meal. I paid one adult and one child although receipt said 2 adults. Ridiculous. Went again and waitress asked if she was a student (as they get 10% off). No, she is 12. This time it was put down as one adult one child. And they also say child is up to 12. Not in my book it isn't.

If you don't want to pay full whack, why go somewhere you can't afford?

When we go on the bus ds2 is supposed to pay full fare before 4.30 and half fare after. He is just five and tiny.

We would doubtless 'get away with it' but when I realised how much it was, we got off and walked as I didn't have enough money and it was a huge rip off.

the next time, we had to get the bus, it was half fare time, I had the cash - and the driver looked at him and said 'he's not paying' or something and smiled and let us off his fare.

I think maybe karma looks after you sometimes. I am just glad not to have the guilt, iyswim?

also I seem to have spent my LIFE trying to teach ds1 not to lie. And now he is 9 and pretty honest - I'd be undoing all the work if I started teaching them it was Ok after all.

It doesnt make sense to tell our kids one thing then encourage them to lie when it suits us. Does it?

I was in a bus queue of three 'older' people the other day. We all had free bus passes which entitled us to get on a bus at 9.00am. We all talked abut whether we'd be allowed on the next bus. The 9.00am bus arrived 3 minutes early and the woman at the back of the queue told me that I was the 'pioneer' and it was up to me to get us all on. The driver looked at his watch, hummed and haaed, so I bleated a bit, said Thank You and marched further down the bus. The others were allowed on. I did thank him specially as I disembarked though. Age....... whatever end of it

YANBU! Just say she is two, we do it all the time :)

RuleBritannia It was a treat that has been promised to her for ages. I would have been able to pay 'full whack' if her dad had bothered to keep up with his maintenance payments this month but he didn't and so I ended up skint for her bday. Not her fault or mine so I didn't want to disappoint her. It's not like she's three and a half she was over the age limit by one day. Noone asked, all the adults paid, noone asked her to lie and we had a lovely day. I feel no guilt whatsoever and am glad we went.

My mum tried this with me on the bus one day, I was 5 and she told me to say I was 4 if the bus driver asked. Cue me saying very loudly, as we got on the bus 'so does that mean that when I'm six I have to say I'm five and when I'm seven I have to say I'm six and when I'm eight I have to say I'm seven...?' (small child, intrigued by the infinite implications of this!) Think my mum was so embarrassed she paid the fare!!

I was always made to lie about my age when getting on buses mad trains.

I have not grown up to be a liar, thief or swindler.

Glad she had a lovely birthday OP.

Buses and train's

I don't think YWBU in this case, but I think it gets dodgy if you make a child older, because those age restrictions are usually about safety, not price. I also think it's a bit dodgy wrangling train or bus fares, because no matter how old you are, you are still using the service to its full. I remember my own mother being gutted over train-travel when I turned 16. She never bought me an under 16s ticket, though.

Also, re the "tell them she had her party yesterday and her birthday's tomorrow, but you told her it was her birthday on her party day" - I have worked on the gate for attractions (Monkeyworld actually - hello Monkeyworld lovers!) and that is just a little bit bonkers... Why would you say you lied to your own child about her birthday!? Just say it was her party yesterday and she's getting confused about the date, not that you lied to her about it!

And FWIW, as an ex-gateperson, the less complicated your lie, the better it sounds. If your kid pipes up it's age, just laugh it off or say something stupid. The ones with loads of background sound dead fishy.

(I'm now not associated with Monkeyworld )

Hope your DC had an awesome birthday, OP!

KellyElly - if you think this sort of lie is OK now, who's to say you won't think it is OK the next time, and the time after? And I am sorry if you don't want to hear it, but lying about your child's age in order to get a reduced entrance price, is fraudulent.

I always lie about DDs age so I don't have to pay bus fare for her.

Do it

We went to Paris when we were little - about 12, 10 and 4. My Dad paid for two under 10s and an under 2

My mum is always trying to use family tickets, with me (im 27) as one of tge children. Her defence is 'but you are my child!'

On those grounds, a few days is nothing :-)

Eds, that's mad that the bus company makes a five year old pay full fare!

the voice of experience here as well, just do it and don't tell her.

I like your mum britta, if it doesn't specifically state then fair enough

I tend to pay full whack as my children are tall and it would be hard to lie anyway. Sometimes it the other way and I have to prove I'm telling the truth

On holiday we were paying to go on an attraction, the operator said that DD (12) was an adult so had to pay adult fair. Fair enough I said, she can take DS on the ride with her because she's an adult and I won't go, they were both happy with that idea so went off with the money whereupon the operator said she couldn't take DS on the ride because "she's not an adult". Fine I said, paid for one adult and two children and took them both on the ride :)

I am wondering how tax evaders justify themselves.

"Well, everyone does it"
"Everyone would if they could"
"Starbucks does it"
"Its only a few quid"
"I haven't made as much profit this year"
"My xw doesn't pay her tax"
"My xh doesn't pay maintenance"
"I'll pay next time"

OP yanbu. I do it all the time, dd3 is a shortarse and I can easily get away with not paying for her as long as she keeps quiet

Its a choice between days out that other families wouldn't bat an eyelid at, happy memories for my children or being stuck at home bored senseless. Its a no-brainer to me.

Yes indeed. Where do you draw the line?

If this was a thread about evading council tax, claiming family credit, etc etc people would be Up In Arms.

You wouldn't get ANYone saying 'my child is 17 but I told them she was 15 so we get two years more CB' or however it works.

Maybe that's because that's seen as stealing from other taxpayers, while this is seen as stealing from - I dunno, a company, or whatever.

The thing is if you're not paying then the company will lose money and they'll put their prices up for everyone. So it's not a very nice thing to do.

YANBU - take no heed of the numpties on here blowing it out of all proportion.
Oh and for those of you on the moral highground who are gonna grumble at my comment... go right ahead as i ain't coming back to read ur sanctimonious nonsense.

Are you Scottish? Something about the tone.