Parents: What would you do if you caught your child making (or just in possession of) a fake ID?

But what kind of parent knowingly turns a blind eye to their child’s illegal activities?
A bad one

To be honest, I wouldn’t think it a big deal…we did it when we were teenagers…and I’d ask my kids where they’d be using them…what clubs they’re planning to go to…tell ‘em not to use it to buy alcohol or cigarettes as that, yes, can get ‘em arrested…and I’d probably confiscate the IDs

Nothing….I hope they would get caught and learn their lesson…

Making and possessing fake IDs, I believe, are two different levels of trouble. If you are caught just possessing one, the legal troubles are certainly fewer and farther between than they are for the production of them. Mostly, if you just have one, the police just want to know who made them. Making them gets you in a whole mess of trouble, and I would be horrified by that possibility, as a parent or under aged person. I would be less concerned with the possession and more frightened by the making of them, because whoever has them once they get out can always give authorities information that can lead them back to the person that made them.

A parents job is to prevent kids from doing stupid shit. A kids job is to continuously try and do stupid shit. To let your kids do stupid shit will totally ruin everything!
No seriously, if I caught my kid with one, I’d take it away. Even though I did the same thing when I was young, it’s not right to allow kids to break the law.
I would like to add that if your kid gets caught drinking in a bar, the bartender can face huge fines and jail time, even though the doorman let the kid in. The laws are getting very strict now.

I would be less worried about my kids having a fake ID than if they were the one making the fake ID, or being over 21 and purchasing alcohol for minors.

Your brother sounds a bit clueless. The sooner he learns that he’s not the exception to the rule, the better off he will be. Sounds like he’s prepping for the license plate line. He needs a job. One that makes him work hard.

@elijahsuicide
To let your kids do stupid shit will totally ruin everything!
This should be the MADD and PTA motto. :)

In Trinidad and Tobago, forgery is a very serious crime. I would have to confiscate the fake and try to get him/her to understand why it is a jailable offence.

My parents had a very firm rule about fake IDs they were made in our house, they are mine. I’ve adopted the same rule, if I find them at my house, they are mine. If you are dumb enough to carry one, believe me – eventually, this or something related to it, will catch up with you. maybe not directly, but look around at your circle of friends…somewhere, it will touch your life.

As a parent of a teen (and a future teen), we may not like some of the things we need to do, but we need to do them. We need to confiscate things that are illegal – we won’t overlook a bottle Jack Daniels and hope for them to get caught, we would take it away. Same goes for fake identifications. Isn’t that our job to help guide them in the right direction?

Parents aren’t around to take all the fun out of live, we’re around to see you get to your adult life, in one safe piece – if possible! :)

if it was my kid, i’d beat them ‘till my arm grew tired…

but seriously, in your situation i would be pissed, in my situation i’d probably help my kid make it and be proud if it worked, i remember breaking into the school system and changing the grade on my last test for computer science, i mean, cmon, if i could do that, i deserved a higher grade, right ?

Kind of impressed as she’s only nine.

tear it up in his/her face and say, “as long as you live in this house, you have nothing to come home to but the address on the front. want to be grown up? you need your own place.

One of my friends forged a visa for her mother to visit some African country (they’re all the same, right?), while she was in middle school. It worked. On the other hand, those same parents, who are uberchristian, would probably flip out if she did the same for herself.

I am not a parent but if you caught your kid making a fake ID you need to take that really seriously, just because if he gets the idea in his head that making fake IDs is a nice way to make some extra cash he could be facing like 6 months in jail to a year. Its taken pretty seriously.
also I dunno if 20 really qualifies as being a “kid”.

@LKidKyle1985 If you ever met my step-brother, you’d know why I refer to him as a “kid”. He’s not the brightest star in the sky…

Um, isn’t this a good time to have a talk with your kid? I mean, why are they doing this? If they need it to drink, then why do they need to drink? If they need it to get into a club with a lot of adults, then why do they need to be there instead of a kid’s club (teen club, whatever).

To me, it’s kind of a sign of a breakdown in communication. The parents have not been keeping tabs on their kids’ lives. I know that can be hard, but it’s our job to do the work. I figure that if we don’t, then this is the kind of thing our kids will do.

I think my parents knew about mine, I’m not positive though. If they saw it, they probably saw how shitty it was, so didn’t take it away..lol
I’d be bothered that they felt the need to start an illegal business in my house, and I’d make it end immediately. If they just had one, I don’t know what I’d do.

Thanks for your input, everyone. I knew my mom and I couldn’t be crazy for having a problem with this!

I would, I had one when I was under 21, if he gets caught, they can pay their own fines, but to be honest, American drinking ages are freaking absurd….

I’m with @tits . There’s a big difference between using a fake i.d. card, and manufacturing them.

The former I could deal with. The latter, well, it would really depend on how the child would respond. Is he sorry, or just sorry he got caught? Does he understand the seriousness, or will he just go back to doing it again?

I’m not a mother, as I’m only 17, but, I gave my SO an ultimatum regarding his drinking habits. I know some will view this as overly rash, but I told him he could choose the bottle or me, but I wasn’t sticking around if he continued drinking.

He chose me, so along with dropping his pot smoking and drinking habits, he also gave me his fake IDs. Yeah, he had multiple… Now he sober drives for his fraternity.

This is how I feel about fake IDs.

@Sloane2024
ultimatums like that don’t work with kids sometimes as I wouldn’t disown them for any reason and the oh so invincible teenagers would choose whatever over parents sometimes in rebellion

@Simone_De_Beauvoir

The picture is a lot bigger than the snippet of information I provided above. I don’t want to go into detail as that would be too much of a breach of his privacy, but, take my word for it, he is different, this is different. It was the absolute best decision for our particular situation.

@Sloane2024: I don’t think that @Simone_De_Beauvoir meant to discount the actions you took; I think she meant to say that, while it worked in your situation, trying that as a parent speaking to a kid, it wouldn’t have the same effect or leverage.

i have a very open relationship with both my parents. they know i have/had (got taken away) a fake I.D.
Making fakes would be a totally different story but they realize im going to drink in high school and trust me enough to be somewhat sensible about that. so i guess my parents just understand its a reality in high schoolers lives, they trust my judgement, and they enjoy the openness.

@mlar08: Do you mean you drink in school??? Or just that you drink while you are an age to be in high school?

@TitsMcGhee: Oh, okay. I suppose I read it receiving the wrong connotation. Thank you for clarifying. :)