Woman Insists Her Friends' Kids Count As '0.5 Persons' In The Divvying Up Of Their Shared Airbnb Costs
"They take up more space than a single adult."
DavideAngelini | Shutterstock A child-free woman on Reddit sparked some drama in her friend group after making a controversial demand of her friends who have kids.
The woman insisted her friends' kids should be counted when divvying up the cost of their shared Airbnb.
In her post, the woman wrote that she and her friend group have been tight for nearly 20 years since meeting in college. Each year they all gather for a reunion of sorts, equally splitting an Airbnb between all of the adults.
Pretty standard stuff, and even when some couples started having babies, they kept things an equal split but gave the parents the bigger bedrooms. Now; however, those babies have grown into toddlers, and she's feeling a bit put out by the equal divvying of the costs.
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"The babies are becoming toddlers, one family is a single parent with a toddler, some couples may never have children, etc.," she wrote, "so there are a few different types of family structures, and splitting the bill is more debatable."
She proposed that kids over 2 count as '0.5 person' and their parents pay accordingly.
Her proposal came after she and her husband, who don't have kids, got the worst bedroom in the Airbnb several times in a row. "I suggested that since some families are consistently getting the best room that they pay for it," she wrote.
So she came up with a pricing scheme — each adult counts as 1.0 person, kids over 2 count as 0.5, and kids under 2 are free. Once kids reach their teens, they too count as 1.0.
One couple with a 3-year-old agreed immediately, but not everyone was on board, especially a single mom in the group. "But after I explained that she and her 2.5-year-old take up more space than a single adult who might just take the couch or share with another single adult, she agreed."
However, one couple was adamant that this was a major overreach. "They disagreed that children should count at all, and did not offer to compromise until the conversation became heated and after an emotional phone call," she wrote. It's resulted in quite a bit of tension among the group.
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Many online felt it was time for this friend group to start getting hotels instead.
"I think it is overdue that you all just do your own thing," one Reddit commenter wrote, and that seemed to set the tone for most responses.
It's wonderful to all be together in Airbnb, of course, but that doesn't mean it's practical once there are kids in the picture. There comes a time when everyone, the child-free included, has to decide what's a higher priority for them — togetherness or budget fairness.
Everyone's probably going to have a different perspective on that. This woman is certainly more stringent about divvying up costs than a lot of people would be. But she was also pretty adamant about not wanting to break up the group by all going to a hotel where they could all do their own thing.
That, of course, requires compromise — on everyone's part. One Redditor suggested that costs be based on the rooms themselves, not who's in them. "Premium for the nice rooms. Same as a hotel or cruise," they wrote. "It’s not perfect, but it's the most fair for friends."
That certainly seems reasonable, and is a lot less likely to make the people with kids feel nickel and dimed — and feels better than turning kids into a "0.5" line item on a budget, even if these free-loading toddlers should be paying their fair share!
John Sundholm is a writer, editor, and video personality with 20 years of experience in media and entertainment. He covers culture, mental health, and human interest topics.