Be honest, do you lie about your children's age to save money?

[TheCatSitterDM]

I'm fully expected to get roasted and called all sorts of names but who here tells little white lies about their children's age to save money?

My DS was quite short, so I got away with him being 4 (and therefore free) on the bus until he was nearly 7 and it became obvious he was older after a growth spirt.

And this half term, I said my DD was 3 (not 4) to save money on her admission to swimming.

YABU - You're alway honest about your children's age
YANBU - You tell the occasion fib to save some £ here and there

I never did but I often asked if I could have the lower or free entry if the kids were not too far off the maximum age. This was very often granted.
I don’t lie about things like that. I never have done. It’s not a dilemma as I don’t give it any thought Iyswim -
its a shame there is such a huge cutoff in price for some things though. For theme parks height seems a better way to base how much to pay

Why is it not the same as stealing? They are giving out the free places to a certain subset of people, not to anyone who wants one.

Why doesn't the whole family lie? Why not create fake blue badges to get free entry that way (for example) if you don't have a child who looks young enough to get in?

Agree with both of these reasons

Also, I want to set a good example to my children

No but I’ve had staff a couple of times say they’ll charge the lower rate after I’ve been honest about her age. Perhaps I look poverty struck!

my parents used to do it when we went on holiday , even abroad where I would have assumed they would check well they have the means to as they check your passport.

I think things you do as a child are slightly different than as an adult. As does the law.

Why would they, it’s your crime not theirs!

I don’t need to really because they’re young but when they get older I will. I still remember being 14 and my dad saying I was 12 so I could eat free. He couldn’t get away with it with my sister as she had boobs and 2/4 of my brothers started getting facial hair very young, but with me he milked it until he couldn’t.

Also when I worked in hospitality I used to just give people the child’s meal for free if I could. Like unless he’s got a full beard and a fag in his mouth, sure he looks under 12. Hard times and all that, I didn’t really care about the massive corporations profits.

DD is 19 and I have a couple of times bought a family ticket where the cost of 3 adults plus a child would be significantly more. She has a disability which makes it much more challenging for her to work, so we still pay for her whole life.

Yes, dc1 is nearly 20 now. I didn't realise it had changed from age to height, we haven't been for a long time, about 10 years I think.

It actually works out cheaper to pay for an adult and child on family railcard than just adult. I may have put my 16 year old as a child for that reason! Train fares are expensive enough, I’m not going to feel guilty about it for the sake of a few months of age.

When abroad, a museum I went to said its free to under 26, how old are you and suddenly I became 25 (was 27 at the time). At another place I got in as a child on my 30th birthday, they just assumed. So I'm all for stretching ages as long as possible. Life is expensive enough as it is, I call them little wins.

I actually remember when she was about 6 and we were travelling with my parents (so 3 adults and her) it was cheaper to buy 4 adult tickets as a Group Save deal than put her through as a child price.
It was the ticket seller who told us this.
Train prices and deals can be a bit weird sometimes.

Some years ago when going to an evening buffet in a hotel my DS (5ish) had to stand beside a 120cm height chart. He hunched and 'lunge-squatted' to such an outrageous and obvious degree that the staff fell about the place and waved him through for nowt.

We have chosen to dress him in thicker soled shoes to visit rides with height restrictions.

But no we don't lie about his age or anything like that.

Lots of restaurants and businesses aren't massive corporations though. Even if they are big corporations, lots of businesses are barely scraping by right now. If they go bust then nobody can go to the restaurant or attraction and a lot of people will lose their jobs.

I run a business and I am so tired of people not realising that you are literally stealing from me and the people that work from me when you do things like this. You are forcing businesses to make cut backs which inevitably means people will work less hours or there are less jobs around. Do you genuinely think it's still a victimless crime?

I worked for a massive corporation that had and still has huge profits. I could see our profits per day when I cashed up, I know we still make huge profits because my niece works for them. It’s different at a small business but I’m not really that bothered when it comes to massive chains and I don’t think I ever will be.

Same for me. My DC are small so I’d get away with it 100% of the time but I choose to be honest. I’m also the kind of person that always mentions in a shop or restaurant if I’m undercharged.

I’m not saying I’ve never saved money though - often staff just make an assumption and I pay what comes up on the till and go in and only later do I realise that they assumed my 7 year old was 5 for instance. But if they ask, I am always honest.

The only area I do purposefully omit the truth in though is for sporting or more physical activities where under 8s or under 10s (for example) get an adult in with them for free to supervise - the climbing wall we go to does this - and then I do take advantage of the adult ticket to supervise. I justify this to myself in that it’s not just about age it’s also about the physicality of the child and I don’t think there should be such a binary cut off.

Nope. I have very tall children, and have enough trouble persuading people that they are the age that they are without trying to get away with saying they're younger! Also once they could talk and understand they'd both be liable to loudly correct me if I said the wrong age.

Only once.

We wanted to spend a couple of nights in a hotel. DH had stayed in this hotel a few times in the past and really liked it so we decided to go with DD. She was 15 by then so we had started to book her her own room where singles were available. However this one didn't do singles and we would have had to pay full room rate on a double for her, which we couldn't afford. However, they did have a family room available. Trouble was the age limit on staying in a family room was 14. We booked it anyway and told her if anyone asked she was 14. Nobody questioned it at all.

I was brought up by someone that loved to think she’d got one over on someone , lying was as natural as breathing.
I felt sickened by her , I still do.
I think these seemingly small things just chip away at your soul.
I’m also superstitious about attracting bad luck so no it’s not a behaviour that would benefit me .

My DC were always small and looked younger than they were and I sometimes had difficulty persuading cashiers,bus drivers etc to accept correct payment. Once or twice I remember having my payment refused at attractions despite me insisting "He's 5" as the cashier said "But he's so small he's going to be refused on most of the rides so I'm not going to charge you." In those cases I said thank you and accepted it, but I never actively lied about my DC's ages.

I bought child train tickets until I was 22 when child price stops at 15… train tickets in this country are ridiculously expensive so I don’t feel guilty about that one bit and if you look young enough you should defo use to your advantage!

Do you work?
If you are in receipt of benefits to help you look after your kids then you shouldn’t be cheating businesses out of their earnings. You’re no better than the thief who steals from supermarkets.

Yes I did actually 😂 Only a bit. I didn’t drive when elder DS was small and on buses and trains under 5s are free. I think I carried on saying he was 4 for a few months after he’d turned 5. I think I did it a bit with both my children for things for under 2s but not much.

Younger DD is small for her age and she loved a play centre which was for under 7s. I last took her when she was 8 but we did still play. She’s very quiet & well behaved so she played appropriately there- she wasn’t trampling little kids or anything and she is very slight.

Benefits recipients can't say their 3yo is a 2yo, but working people can?

The lengths some people will go to shoehorn a bit of benefits bashing in is astounding.

Do you always misconstrue things? Thats your interpretation and not what I said.
🙄