Thought I would just share with you all some information on children's passports.
If your child is nearly 18 and you only want a 5 years passport (If you are not sure that they will travel after parents stop paying for their trips ;-)) I will share what I did.
We will be travelling in December and our children's passports run out in August but my son turned 18 on the 24th June, I went and renewed his passport on the 19th June the man at the post office said they won't renew it as a child's passport I said well that's not the way I interpreted the rules so I will give it a try (nothing ventured nothing gained is my motto) Well his passport arrived today and I was right, his passport was issued on 12th July for 5 years. (I was a little shocked the issue date was after he turned 18 and not the date I applied but anyways just shows the post office people know nothing.