Can a grown male go to an elementary school playground alone and be near children?

[Prettygurl12]

So this was a situation that happened today. My friend and I met at an elementary school with her two elementary-school-aged daughters. The girls were playing and we were walking. There's a very small loop around the play structure and we were never more than like 30 yards from them.

Well after a while we saw a man ride up on a bike, park it near the playground and then walk toward the girls. We stopped walking and instead walked closer to the girls.

This guy was easily over 25. Probably somewhere between 25 and 35. It was just weird. He started standing under some monkey bars and put his hands on them like he was going to do the monkey bars but his head was taller than them so...

Also the playground had like 5 separate play structures and it was completely empty besides us and he opted to go to the structure that had an 8 and 6 year old?

The whole thing was hinky. I'm not saying a grown man CAN'T come alone to a children's playground... but he was acting very strange.

Odds are nothing was going to happen. The majority of men aren't baby-snatchers, and you have to be a special kind of stupid to try to grab a kid with two grown women present and a bike is not a good getaway vehicle lol but this guy was acting super strange.

My husband is in the Poll option C camp on this one. What do y'all think?

Yes, not weird

Yes, but it's not a great look

No, absolutely not

[Texaskid1]

I avoid small children like the plague.

Most people assume that all men are sexual predators and get suspicious even if the man is not interacting with anyone. There is a park close to where I live. When the weather is nice I will sometimes go jogging around the park track that they have. Right by the track there is a kid's playground. As I am jogging past the playground I will sometimes get suspicious looks from the females.

I have friends who have school aged children. When I go visit my friends at their house or if I am invited to some gathering I make it a point to interact with the kids as little as possible out of fear that something I say or do could be misconstrued. With this I avoid them as much as I can while I am there. Any accusation of somekind sexual activity with kids - even if it later proves to be false - can fuck you up for life. Have you ever heard of these cases where some guy gets kicked out of school or gets fired from his job based on an allegation? What most people don't realize is that the word allegation is just fancy talk for "somebody said so"

But as worldscolide said - people have it built into to them that all men are pedophiles and any man walking around by himself must be some kind weird pedophile. Most people believe the main stream media narrative that it will be some stranger in a van that is going to snatch up your kids and rape them.

But I don't blame them for this because , as a general rule , most people are idiots and people - especially women - are easily manipulated via fear and doubt. Ever wonder why most people that patronize tarot card readers , sooth Sayers , magical potion makers, magical crystals and all that nonsense are mostly women?

But if you bother to do the research you will find that most children who are sexually molested are done so by someone they already know ; family member , teacher, church leader ( think of the Catholic Church scandal). , family friend etc. The modus operandi of the average pedophile is to gain their victim's trust. This is nothing new and has been documented for decades by various law enforcement bodies for nearly a century.

[TDDMS]

My comment isn't directed at the asker, but mostly at the hysterical women in the comment section. This notion that random males are child molesters doesn't hold water. Two years ago, I was looking for topics to blog about and I researched my state's sex offenders list. It was horrific to say the least. They list not only the name and photo of the offender, but what they were convicted for and after reviewing the list, patterns began to emerge. Firstly, most of the straight males who were on the sex offenders list were convicted of having consensual sex with teenage girls who were a few days to a week shy of their 16th b-day. And most of the time the girl never mentioned her age or outright lied about her age and the males were usually 5-10 years her senior.

On the other hand, many of the women who are on the list were 1) ugly AF and 2) they engaged in many heinous crimes. When it came to the worse sexual offenders it was usually gay men or women as a whole doing the worse of the worse. The gay men would sodomize little boys. Women, unlike straight or gay men, would either slice off labia, burn testicles, force children between the ages of 3-10 to perform oral sex on them, force other children to watch them get eating out by other children, burn clits, etc. Female sexual predators, don't have a preference whether they molest a boy or girl, they aren't selective like gay men.

This idea from bitches that, "Oh a man walked past a child or took his own kids to the playground by himself w/o a woman present, he must be a pedo" is such horseshit and then American women can't understand why no one in their right minds take these bitches seriously. But the people that are dangerous to children are mothers and female elementary school teachers. When you look into the data, mothers and female elementary school teachers took the baton and are leading the way in child abuse of all forms.

[Cherry234]

I don't think it's necessarily wrong for a man to go to a children's playground or to go near one, depending on what he's doing there. If he's just minding his own business taking a walk or jogging then I don't think that's wrong. If he has children there or he's related to those children in some other way like he's their uncle or their cousin then that's fine. But the way that man was acting is really strange and suspicious...

[Flower7]

A normal public playground, yes. A playground that is part of a school, no.

I’m surprised he was even able to get in because most school playgrounds have pretty high security and can only be entered by going through the school first, where random people entering the building are heavily questioned. The outside part of school playgrounds usually has a gate wrapped around it with no entrances.

[BeenThereLovedIt]

Long story, I'm married, we all live together, but my wife is completely checked out of parenting. It's always been this way. Anyways.. that being said, I have lived the life of a single dad. I've taken my daughter to the playground, pushed her on the swing, etc.. since she was 2. As she got older, she spent more time playing alone or with other kids, so I just sat on the bench and kept an eye on her.

Needless to say, it finally dawned on me after several years of slowly noticing and wondering why so many women were outright prickly and suspicious towards me. To any of them who weren't already there when I arrived, they just see a guy by himself focused on kids.

Then I realized, if I actually were single and my daughter wanted to have a sleep-over when she was 12, how many parents would actually let their kids sleep in the house with only an adult man present? LOL. Zero.

Imagine the fun I had taking her to the doctor's office for checkups and sick visits. Doctors both male and female would choke on their words trying to ask me personal questions about her. Many would ask where her mother is, as if to suggest that a man has no place in parenting a girl (without a woman present).

Just consider the other side of the fence I guess.

[worldscolide]

the fact that this is even a question shows how incredibly sexist society is when it comes to men. Man = automatically bad and a child predator.. Don't feel bad, you're programmed to think like that.

This happens to men everywhere. My One of my closest friends is a single father. He has a daughter and a boy. Both are in their teens now.. But about 10 years ago, we were at the local mall, we were just coming out of a movie and headed to the arcade to kill some time. Three times.. Not once, Not Twice, But THREE TIMES, women came up to that friend of mine asking the kids if they were in danger. THREE TIMES.. The third one called the police on him, and he was forced to prove that he was their father. Such bullshit. There are some airlines (united is one of them) where if a man has children with him, he is not permitted to sit next to them, unless he is with a woman. If he is not with a woman, he is forced to sit elsewhere on the plane.

Another time my friend and i were at the local playground, Both of his kids were playing in the sand and on the equipment. Several of the moms there literally came up to us and suggested that we need to leave.. Yet again police called, had to prove that he is the father of his kids, and the moms were politely told to leave us alone.

This is what men have to deal with when it comes to public places and kids. The vast majority of men are not predators, They are not evil, They are not going to do anything nasty to the kids. Only a small few are that mentally fucked up.. And those few deserve nothing but prison..

So i get why you feel like that but understand it is programmed in, its not your fault, its how you were taught.

As to the rest of it, The guy appears to have been behaving in a creepy way, But i guarantee you if the person was a female not male, you would think nothing of it..

[Diodoro]

Assuming it's a public school and after hours. Yes he can. If it's during school hours anyone has the right to ask him to leave.

A neighborhood I used to live in had a court with a sidewalk onto elementary school property for the outdoor basketball court. A bunch of us who didn't go to the school played there for years, even some adults.

One time my friend and I played on the court alone because our school let out early for the semester and didn't realize the school was still in session so we were asked to leave till after school so we did that.

But we had every right to be there. If it was a private school we wouldn't have a right to be there unless the state owned that outdoor property.

Is it weird to want to be there? Honestly I don't think it is. I just think as a society we've seen so much that we changed and now normal behavior we frown upon.

Like as a guy you can't just be in a good mood. Go for a walk. See a playground and remember what it's like to be a kid and just play for an hour. People who don't know him even tho he's completely innocent, they'll say he is creepy. That's not creepy. You just don't know or trust the stranger

There are entire businesses that build giant indoor trampoline bounce houses for adults to enjoy. Adults want to play like kids too. That's normal. It's just a matter of time and place

[VanillaSalt]

I don’t see the issue. Society says it’s wrong but I play with the kids all the time. Adults are fucking stupid and make me with humanity would disappear whereas children renew my hope in it…


Fact is parents are glad I’m around during the parties cause I’m the one keeping their kids out of trouble and off their asses the whole time. That toddler on the hay ride last month appreciated baby shark on my phone while we rode to his mother with his dad. My sister in law is glad I caught her kid when they fell off the couch the other day cause I was so close. Them parents that lose their kids in Walmart are lucky a man like me stopped to help their kids find their parents necessary or not.


Know what really funny. If I tried to converse with a lone child on the playground Ide be in as much trouble or more than if I allowed a man to run away with said child and did nothing. So I’m trustworthy enough to save your brat but not enough to talk with them? If you were worried you wouldn’t have so much space between you and them and they would know stranger danger like any good parent would teach em.

[hahahmm]

There's tons of women who have abused kids and yet, if a lone woman walked up you wouldn't think anything of it, I guess. I would cut the guy some slack. Maybe he had a daughter who died & the girls reminded him of her. Or maybe he has a daughter he doesn't get to see often and they reminded him of her.

I would keep an eye on him and ANYBODY else acting like him, regardless of gender. But I wouldn't accuse them or act weird towards them. Now if they started talking to the girls without involving the adults that would raise a lot of red flags. Or if they started showing up every day... hmmm. As a guy I have a part of me that is paranoid about everything all the time, you know. But I keep it on a leash and only let it out when needed.

[hahahmm]

The other thing is a lot of times a guy is interested in the mom/adult women and just pretends to be interested in a kid to get close to the adult. Just saying. Doesn't sound like this guy is in that category tho.

[WhiteSteve]

At an actual school playground? I’d say that’s pretty suspect, or at least creepy. There’s a little less you can probably do about a municipal playground, but hanging out on a school’s property, that feels extra creepy. I want to say B, just because I’m a firm believer in doing whatever the hell you feel like and not concerning yourself with the opinions of society, aka complete strangers who you have no reason to care about and who never consulted you and never got your input or your sign-off on “the rules” to expect your tacit compliance…. but man, it’s setting off my creep chills, so I’m gonna go ahead and make a ruling on this one…C.

[BeMuse]

You sound like an unhinged unstable psycho... Everyone has a right to be in public parks when they are open... Men often do calisthenics on monkey bars, train cross-fit, do ninja warrior shit, and even parkour… He could be a beginner at any of those things and not do anything too impressive. He also might be waiting for the kids to clear out before he does anything that could potentially hurt them. He might just stretch out while waiting for the kids to leave to be considerate and let them have their play time... Most people aren't trying to rape you or steal your children you wacko...

[BeMuse]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zt7xP3_K7uQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhwDyqkClqg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9MBVHebBuI

[BeMuse]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XD83ertvU2w

[BeMuse]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rbb50vY_GCs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIWbdWz42mE

[TheBMG]

Unfortunately, that's then way it is for men. I once had a friend who was an educator that work at a daycare. He was great b with kids and I never suspected anything weird about him. However, one incident of taking a little boy thstv just wet his pants to the bathroom, and scandal hit. He truly just tried to help the kids out. It's not fair, but unfortunately that's the standard. Women can take care of children and be around children, but if a male is near a child it's automatically thought of as being inappropriate. So my advice is if you're a man, by yourself, stay away from any playgrounds.

[ColoradoKid]

I don't go to play grounds unless I am with someone who has kids. I know that when I have been at the park with my brother and his kids we got a lot of looks. He has 3 daughters and I was watching them and everyone around just like he was. We seen a lone guy that walked to the swings and kept walking. If it weren't for twisted pedophiles no one would think twice about a guy being around playgrounds. Neither he nor I look like the dad type. But don't let that fool you. We would go hands on with any idiot trying some dumb shit around a playground.

[MJtheCoach]

I live in south Asia even though it’s acceptable for me to pick up the kids and hug them as they don’t see anything wrong with it here plus I stand out very well if I do something they’ll pick me up in two seconds but that’s not even the point one summer rule is if you don’t know the kids don’t touch them I always put my hand behind my waist and I lean forward and I talk to the kids front of the parents or I give them chocolate or candies but I’ve never try to touch someone else’s kid that’s uncalled for I remember when I was teaching English in China and the school the kids will run to me and hug me but that’s as far as I would go.

[Aiko_E_Lara]

There's a park with a playground and a mall near by and many kids plays there (except with adult supervision of course). I go there just to lay down on a grass just at the sides and chill with the ambiance of kids playing on my free time or break. it's like an anti stress and it's nostalgic reminding me of how i use to talk. Being there just by itself is not the problem but when he walks towards the kids or staring at them, that could be a problem. It's an elementary school which is suppose to be a really private property with no other adults in there so to prevent any abductions, there shouldn't be allowed just to keep it safer. Any park, sure but not at a school.

[notwoke]

yes, 99.9% of grown men adore children in an appropriate and healthy way. Can a grown woman do it? this is ridiculous. Be careful about kicking men out of society, you might miss them. If a male teacher has sex with a 16 yr old, life in prison, if it's a female teacher she's the victim.

[NathanDavis]

I am confused... are these school playgrounds?

if yes, why is that any person can just walk into the school premises without any sort of ID or justification...

or, are these playgrounds just out there in the open, with any sort of barriers or walls... I mean it's very young children right? aged 6 to 10?

[andreasderjuengere]

He COULD be an engineer, seeking ideas to improve kid's playing devices :)
He COULD have played there as a kid before, and now recalled some fond memories :)
Also related: I had once -closely- admired a motorbike... but had no intentions to steal it.
With you and your friend being present, the children were reasonably safe, I'd say.
To be wary isn't wrong - but to 'shoot before asking questions' is not the way to go.

[AviatorTom]

I'm with your husband. A grown male should not be in a playground unescorted. The only exception I can think of is if he's picking up his daughter there. That this guy rode up on a bike means he's not picking anyone up. This is creepy... the guy should be asked to leave.

[Shamalien]

I hate this. When I was a kid my uncle came to pick me up from school and the other moms called the cops on him. Fucking hell. Talk about sexism. You wanna know who you should protect your kids from? Teachers, babysitters, boyfriends (if ur a single mom) and anyone in a position of authority over your child. Some fucking stranger at a park isn’t the danger

[Pete671]

I voted C but agree with you 100%

[jshm2]

Depends. Was it public property? If it was, then he was allowed to be there. Or it may be he's got a kid near there

Either way, if you were not bullshitting, you would have went into the office and asked them, instead of strangers on the internet.

[libsaretards]

Whether he CAN be present or not is up to the school. However, there is no real reason why he should want to be there. Even if he has a kid at the school, school hours (including recess) are not the times for a parent to be at the park playing with the kids. However, the man could have a mental disability as well and simply not be mentally developed enough to be aware of what is going on or how awkward it is. That too is cause for alarm.

[AndrewMG]

I remember when I was at school me and my friend seeing a guy hanging around our school on his own, we spoke to our teachers who contacted the police, turns out he was the husband of the dinner lady who he was picking up at the end of her shift, not everyone is a villain.

[Agape93]

Sure they can. But anyone showing up to a playground without their own child there is cause for suspicion

[worldscolide]

I hope you would say the same for women who show up without a child..

[Lost_in_the_Woods]

I would.

[Agape93]

That's why I said ANYONE showing up without their own kids. That includes women because it's creepy as shit regardless.