[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by Redway

My issue was passing for a broad range of ages when I was in my late-mid. to late teens. Most people definitely thought I looked at least somewhat older than I was but there was a time when I was 18 where certain people insisted I only looked 15/16 but like I said I had a beard and moustache so I really didn’t look that young. You might look young in the face alone if you have small-looking deep-set eyes (I have that and it was worse in my teens) but the rest of your body is a more accurate and consistent clue. That’s why I looked 25 to some people and barely 16 to other people when I was 18. As you can imagine I used to hate it when that demoralising minority insisted I only looked 80% of my age.

Yeah it's awful when you're a teen, surprising how fast it changes to hoping you look younger than your age though!

[Redway]

Originally Posted by AnnieK

I can't remember ever getting asked for ID here when clubbing. I did always look older than I was and a lot of the people I went with were older too so I kind of got in the middle of them on the way in

When I was in the States it was a pain as I was 20 and they card you EVERYWHERE there. I turned 21 whilst I was there but used to use my International Driving Licence as ID and that fooled them into thinking I turned 21 a couple of months before I did as they read my birthday as 3rd January instead of 1st March due to the inverted way they write dates

America’s a nightmare when it comes to things like that. 21 being the official drinking age is already absurd but over there they essentially operate on challenge-40, meaning basically any young-ish person gets ID-d everyone and without fail. A lot of my cousins (and I have a lot of cousins in the States, especially North Carolina) still have it real-tough. Me, my U.K. problem has never been anything much more than patronisingly being asked for my age by the shopkeeper when I was 18 and buying alcohol (they must’ve been part of the small body of people who thought I only looked about 16) or the same person asking for it over and over again. There’s a woman in a Home Bargains I go to sometimes who always, always used to ask me for I.D. despite remembering my face well (with me being quite a regular customer then) and insisted it were the shop’s rules, not hers, and that she were only doing her job. But the thing is either no-one else asked me for proof of age or even if they did they only asked once and stopped when they’d seen me enough times to remember me. It’s not like anyone ever de-ages back to being a 17-year-old once they’re 18+ so it makes no sense whatsoever to keep asking for I.D. when you know they’re old enough. You should’ve taken note at some point between the first 1027 times you asked.

[Redway]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

Yeah it's awful when you're a teen, surprising how fast it changes to hoping you look younger than your age though!

Oh, that’s the one. It’s good to look younger and fresher when you’re older but when you’re only on the cusp of legal adulthood in the first place being told you essentially look like a kid is like a slap in the face.

[Niamh.]

awww I just found a picture of that tiny Pub in Boston we would get served in

[Redway]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

awww I just found a picture of that tiny Pub in Boston we would get served in

Not a pub. serving then-underage people ironically being called ‘little’ […].

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by Redway

Not a pub. serving then-underage people ironically being called ‘little’ […].

[AnnieK]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

Yeah it's awful when you're a teen, surprising how fast it changes to hoping you look younger than your age though!

I remember a time when my best friend came with us clubbing - she was more of a home body at the time and preferred to stay home. I went to this particular club every week and knew the door staff. Anyway, my friend got asked for ID (luckily she was 18 as she was a year older than me) but had no idea. I just looked at the bouncer and said "it's ok - she's with me" and they let her in. I gloated for ages that she was such a baby face and she said then wait will we're older and you still look older than me.

She still reminds me now of that day (and yep, she looks younger than me still )

[Redway]

Originally Posted by AnnieK

I remember a time when my best friend came with us clubbing - she was more of a home body at the time and preferred to stay home. I went to this particular club every week and knew the door staff. Anyway, my friend got asked for ID (luckily she was 18 as she was a year older than me) but had no idea. I just looked at the bouncer and said "it's ok - she's with me" and they let her in. I gloated for ages that she was such a baby face and she said then wait will we're older and you still look older than me.

She still reminds me now of that day (and yep, she looks younger than me still )

Do you think you'd be okay with your son going clubbing when he's a little older (16/17)?

[AnnieK]

Originally Posted by Redway

Do you think you'd be okay with your son going clubbing when he's a little older (16/17)?

God no
Although I don't think he'd get away with as much as I did anyway...for one I would be checking for signs of drug use, for another I don't think my parents knew where I actually was and they wouldn't check up on where I said i was but with phones kids don't have the luxury of going off grid like we did.

Unless he takes me of course and then I'd be fine with it

[thesheriff443]

Originally Posted by AnnieK

I remember a time when my best friend came with us clubbing - she was more of a home body at the time and preferred to stay home. I went to this particular club every week and knew the door staff. Anyway, my friend got asked for ID (luckily she was 18 as she was a year older than me) but had no idea. I just looked at the bouncer and said "it's ok - she's with me" and they let her in. I gloated for ages that she was such a baby face and she said then wait will we're older and you still look older than me.

She still reminds me now of that day (and yep, she looks younger than me still )

I remember going to a club only to find one of the mums from daughters school on the desk and getting in for free

And another times friends were in a packed club with no one being let in my friends came down and told the staff I was her fiancée and I got it

[Redway]

Originally Posted by AnnieK

God no
Although I don't think he'd get away with as much as I did anyway...for one I would be checking for signs of drug use, for another I don't think my parents knew where I actually was and they wouldn't check up on where I said i was but with phones kids don't have the luxury of going off grid like we did.

Unless he takes me of course and then I'd be fine with it

I see what you mean. Teenagers (no-matter how good they are) are always going to be getting up to stuff behind your back that remains a secret (they might open up about it in their 20s or 30s) and I feel like it’s pointless (I’m talking generally) to pretend otherwise but it’s definitely harder for people now to stay under the radar completely, in this era of instant communication.