To lie about DD's age to get her in free?

[Kasterborous]

I'm prepared to be told I was being unreasonable. We took DD who turned three 24 days ago to our local Wildlife park today. Under three they get in free, over three it's £10.00 which seems a lot so we said she was two. I know it was dishonest and next time we will pay for her.

it is not just about breaking the law though - I expect honesty from my kids - teaching them to be honest is partly done by setting that example, not by lying (and getting them to lie).

Could you not find a case to back up your statement that you could get a criminal record for pretending your 4 year old is 3 at an amusement park?

No one is saying its crime of the century but it does have a knock on effect on people who won't lie about their kids ages. The theme parks must choose the cut off ages with the knowledge that, for example, if they want all 4 year olds to pay they will have to have a cut off age of 3 due to the numbers of people who will lie.

We lie all the time.

DD2 has only just her annual pass for the local theme park, she is 4.5 and has spent the last 1.5 years being carried in by dh - they don't ask if child is being carried/pushed. The kids have no idea - and that includes my 8yo dd1.

DD3 magically becomes under 2 so we can all share one family room in premier inn type places. The kids have no idea.

I lied about dd1's age on the bus for a 1.5 years. She never knew. I used to send her ahead to get a seat .I was only ever asked once anyway. When the time comes I will lie about dd2 and dd3 as well.

I also do the clubcard Ebay thing.

Give me a way to get it cheaper and I'll do it. Love the thrill of getting a bit back from the thousands of companies that rip me off every day of the week with huge mark ups.

I couldn't care less what other people think. Good for you that you pay full price, the more people that pay full price, the better- it means they will be less suspicious and ask less questions of the rest of us. So you carry on looking down your nose at me and I will carry on not caring

That said, I do have certain places, like Monkey World for example, which I would never rip off.

YABU to go to a wildlife park full stop.

I got a 'famille nombreuses' discount at the Louvre. It was at once my proudest and most twatty moment.

Don't agree that it's victimless.
Plus if your child had any kind of accident in this place would you be expecting to claim on their insurance ?

It's only a few weeks over age.
YANBU and I used to do this with ours when it wasn't a full year.

It's not right! Hope you sweated when you paid

Someone call the cops on this bad motherfucker.

Seriously, worse things happen at sea. Don't beat yourself up about it, life's too short x

And the sort of people getting totally wound up and hysterical over this woman not paying are the sort that high five traffic wardens. Get a GRIP!

I think we said everything we could say about it when this thread was started.

Why have you resurrected it? So we can all turn on each other and bicker some more?

Wow this thread is a fun read - feels like reading about life on a different planet!

I have shady morals at times - am no angel

But it's no different to shoplifting ! By lying , you are stealing from them the revenue you should have paid

Ticket price
Chicken breasts at the self scanner

Same difference

Also if you can't afford it - don't fucking go !

I actually got told to do this by a bus driver a while back. I got on and asked for one and a half, he asked how old dd was. I said she was 5, and he said "no, tell me she's 4", so I just said "Er, ok then" and he just sold me the adult ticket. I generally don't like lying, but I wasn't going to argue the point with him after that. I think it depends whether you're going to something that is a small family run place/cooperative, in which case it would be really shit not to pay, but if it's a big commercial type thing, the staff (like this bus driver) probably don't care all that much.

I did this for as long as I we could get away with it. I don't feel at all bad about it either.

I think it probably all evens out in the wash. When we went to legoland last year my ds got in free as he was under 3, however he is super tall so was able to go on almost all the rides. On the other hand there are plenty of average and short over 3s who pay and wouldn't get as much value out of it.

I can honestly say I've never lied about my dcs' ages to get them in free to anything.

Not because I'm sanctimonious or anything, because Lord knows I'm not as pure as the proverbial driven in other areas, but for 2 reasons:

1. My mother used to do it to me, for children's portions in restaurants, or cheaper entry into attractions etc and I hated it. It made me feel small and unimportant (not to mention hungry, in the case of restaurants )

2. I am extremely fortunate to be able to afford the things we want to do. There was a time when I wasn't so lucky, as a single parent, and I (and consequently ds1) missed out on a lot of things because I couldn't afford them and felt too uncomfortable to lie about ds1's age.

But do I mind if other people do it? So they can have a day out too? No, I don't. I'm quite happy to subsidise that, actually. I don't believe for one minute that if the cost to companies and organisations was lessened by everyone being wholly honest that we would see that reflected in a reduced entry price.

I've never done it.
You should have paid for the service they provided. If you don't like the price then don't go, no one is forcing you. Next time check online how much it is before you go anywhere.

My son is 11 and a half and should now be paying to go on the London underground but so far we've been getting away with it. It's because we haven't got around to getting him an Oyster Zip. Need to soon as he's getting a bit tall. Oh and once at Legoland we said our 5 year old was 6 so she could go on the driving school. She was nearly 6 though!

i do this a fair bit, the extortionate £2.00 im charged for each kiddies drink and then a further £30 on a couple of drinks and some lovely gristle sandwiches makes up for it.

i dont get ds to lie though, hes normally hanging back so he doesnt hear whats going on.

It's interesting that people are happy to steal services when they wouldn't steal an item from a shop.

To the posters who are grandly saying that they would never, ever do this. I frankly don't believe you. In all your years of taking your children I refuse to believe that you have ever told a fib regarding their age and with this being the Internet, we have no way of knowing one way or the other.

In answer to your question OP. Yes, this is something I would definitely have done and did do until, sadly, DS got taller than me He's now 12 and could easily pass for 14.

Most people do it. You really do get some very self-riteous people on here. How is it taking money away from the zoo if an adult is visiting at full price?!

To the posters who are grandly saying that they would never, ever do this. I frankly don't believe you. In all your years of taking your children I refuse to believe that you have ever told a fib regarding their age

I couldn't give a shiny shit whether you believe me or not. I've never lied about my childrens ages to get them into somewhere free/cheaper or to do something they aren't old enough to do.