An online debate is brewing among parents about whether or not you should ever lie about your child’s age for free entry.
The heated conversation began yesterday when one mother asked whether or not fellow mother’s on Mumsnet lied about their children’s age for free entry into events and activity parks.
She explained that she paid £22 for entry into an adventure farm for two four-year-olds (her own child and her friends) and was then told off by her friend for not saying that the children were both two-years-old as children two and under go for free. The mother than posed the question asking if other moms lie about their children’s ages or tell the truth and the results were mixed.
One mother said:
“I do, especially when it’s the option of doing the activity or not being able to afford it. My daughter has just turned 3 and I don’t see what difference a few months makes. Passing a 4 yo as under 2 is more than pushing it though!”
While another wrote:
“Others might disagree but I would have paid. Lying about ages to not pay is dishonest and (probably- I’m a bit out of date and it’s not my specialism) technically a criminal offence under the Theft Act.”
And while some mothers were a firm “yes” because they didn’t want their child to miss out over the cost of an activity, other mothers were a firm “no” because they believed it set a bad example and simply morally wrong, but the majority believed it “depended”.
“It depends, if it’s a couple of quid I just pay but there’s a soft play near us that starts charging at 12 months, it’s £5.45 plus £1 per adult and as my daughter didn’t even start crawling until 13 months it didn’t seem worth paying entry so she could sit on a mat, I did however buy lots of food and coffees while I was there.”
What do you think? You can read all here.
