Lying about my age.

[Count of Cutesy]

Hi, Benny here. Just recently I have had my 20th birthday. In a few weeks, me and my parents are going to a hotel in Milwaukee. There, we will go sight-seeing and do other things. The problem is that my dad wants me to LIE about my age to the hotel clerk so I get a discount. I've always been against lying, but I feel like my parents are forcing me on it. I'm also worried that if I lie about my age, and the hotel finds out that I'm actually 20 when I told them I was 17, I could go to jail for it. What should I do.

On another note: I am going camping soon, and my dad told me NOT to bring my DS with me. So I asked him "What am I supposed to do when I'm done swimming and there's NOTHING else to do?" He then suggested me "Bring a book." And then I told him "When I'm bored out of my wits, a book is worse than nothing."

[Puncia]

As to the boredom I suggest a good audio book. I can show you where to get the full, high quality trilogy of His Dark Materials, if you'd like. though that requires you to have an MP3 player. You could draw while listening to it.

[Count of Cutesy]

No books or stories at all, please. I get depressed easily by certain stories.

And the main topic is having to lie about my age to the hotel. (Interesting tidbit: The Hotel Clerk from the first time I went there had the same first name as me, despite being a different gender.)

Edit: Like for example, I do not want to listen to "His Dark Materials" because 1: The animal buddies are named Demons, which makes them sound evil, and 2: After watching The Golden Compass, the LAST thing I'd want to find out is that all the animal buddies actually turned out to be evil. That would depress me. (I'm so pathetic.)

[WhiteTiger89]

Well Benny, I think you'll ultimately feel better if you don't lie about your age.

And for boredom, why is a book worse than nothing for you?  I'm an author, so this is simple professional curiosity.  

[Count of Cutesy]

At my young age, it was because I hated reading because every time I picked up a book, I could NOT stand to read one for more than 5 minutes. I would usually get bored before finishing one chapter. Now adays, I get depressed easily by things that portray animals as evil, or stories where humans must kill animals. Stories like The Wizard of Oz saga might be fine, but stories where there are even animalistic monsters could make me sad. After all, there's a reason most of my characters are monster anthros instead of anthropomorphic existing animals. Even if a story doesn't depress me, I still get bored with it.

Also: me and my dad have a terrible relationship. I always end up angering him somehow, and he always interrupts me when I'm trying to talk to him. And right now, I have a feeling he's dead serious about having me lie about my age. I don't know what to do. Should I take the honest rout and risk angering my father and costing us money, or should I lie about my age and risk going to jail?

[WhiteTiger89]

I can sympathize with that. My relationship with my adoptive dad (the one who raised me) was so bad that, by my choice, it's effectively non-existent now. I haven't talked to him in three years.

Speaking from experience, I still say you should be honest about your age. As angry as it might make him, it'll ultimately make you a stronger person if you don't violate your morals just to please him. It's a hard thing to do I know, but it's also an important thing to do.

[Count of Cutesy]

But I'm also worried I might not have enough money to be truthful about my age? I have 200 bucks, and I'm also going to the zoo, the art museum, the science museum, and other places as well.

[guest7107]

Little Red Riding hood and other similar stories upset me cos the wolf is evil

[Count of Cutesy]

Okay, but what does that have to do with the subject? I guess it partains to the side subject as well, but the camping trip is over, and now I want to get back to the main subject.

My dad says they're probably not going to ask me my age, but I'm still unsure.

[Lunaris]

Well, we're not going to advise you to do something illegal, so I fear that the only answer we can give you is to be honest, regardless of what points of conflict you have.

The fact that you are doubting means you know what is the right  thing to do.

[FurryDan]

It certainly wouldn't bother me to lie about being 3 years younger than I really am.  I used to do it all the time to get into the flea market.  My parents would always say I was 12 years old even though I already had grown a beard.  Those employees are pretty dumb.  Now I get in for free by taking the vendor route and just parking the car anywhere in the back.