Going to a playground without children?

@Ddakji they can wait five minutes on a playground for people to finish their conversation. It didn’t kill them. If it was the middle of the day and was peak playtime it would be different.

The thing is, there is nothing to say than an adult who is accompanied by a child can’t be a paedophile. A lot of paedophiles get away with it because they are parents and everyone assumes they can be trusted.

All that noise? It's not like they're sat in the middle of a soft play surrounded by hundreds of screaming children.

They might live alone and spend most of their day in silence.

Maybe they enjoy hearing others having fun.

Perhaps the sounds of children playing is preferable to the sound of dogs barking.

Or maybe they just wanted to sit down, and that was the closest bench.

The gated playpark in our local park is the only place you can guarantee not to be approached by a dog. I sometimes sit there for half an hour on my lunch break for that reason. I'm hugely allergic to dogs.

Why would anyone without kids want to go into that noise?? That’s what I think is weird.

Poor man. Presumably people locally know him and won’t confront him?
It’s tragic that a minority of perverts have made an innocent pleasure for others be viewed with suspicion. My DD is grown up, I enjoy seeing kids playing when I’m passing by them.

I’ve entered a park and sat on a bench - I was waiting for my DH & kids! Seems bizarre entitlement - lots of reasons an adult would sit in a bench in a kids playground. What’s wrong with people

I’d probably have thought it odd until I started playing Pokemon Go with my daughter! Now I’d assume they’re trying to do a raid on a gym (they station them at playgrounds and buildings) and want to sit down to do it lol

Lots of adults sit in the park round here. It’s opposite the school and there is a chunky wooden thing that’s supposed to be a climbing thing but tends to have adults on it. After drop off/ before pick up is most popular but it’s a nice spot for a picnic. I’ve sat there myself for a couple of hours working after I’ve done the dog walk.

Lots of adults sit in the park round here. It’s opposite the school and there is a chunky wooden thing that’s supposed to be a climbing thing but tends to have adults on it. After drop off/ before pick up is most popular but it’s a nice spot for a picnic. I’ve sat there myself for a couple of hours working after I’ve done the dog walk.

There’s a man that does this where i live. It’s odd.

Bit stupid of the confrontational woman to demand to know why the other woman was there. Even if she had the wrong motives, she was hardly going to admit it.

i used to sit in the park at lunch, sometimes i would be right looking at the cordoned off playground, it was in the sun, it did wrongly feel awkward.

Our local playground has signs up saying adults basically have to be with a child to enter. No unaccompanied adults.
There's a park around it for everyone. The playground is for 12 and under and their minders.

Thats probably more about deterring teens from hanging around in the evenings etc. Sadly plenty of paedophiles have children of their own.

The fact still remains that most children who are abused, are so by a relative or someone they know well :(

That said, i probably would assume someone was early to meet a friend, or something.

Well, if you want to bang on about stats, children are far more likely to be abused by people they know rather than strangers. Of course it happens but some woman sitting on a bench in a park surrounded buy dozens of parents and witnesses is very unlikely to be a threat.

You teach your children to wait behind adults in a playground? The one place where they should take precedence? Damn right adults should get off the equipment if a child wants to use it.

That is a rule or bylaw or whatever and it gives people some authority to challenge an adult or teenager without a child, but it doesn't answer the question of whether there is a massive overreaction to people either sitting where they can or horror of horrors actually enjoying being hearing or seeing children playing.

There are certainly some sick bastards in society, but society is in danger of eating itself.

One of my neighbours does this in our local park quite often. His daughter was killed in an accident when she was 5. He just likes to sit on her memorial bench and see the children playing and imagine she’s one of them, it helps with his grief.

My DH's uncle was harrassed at a playground ten years ago because he sat on a bench watching the children...he did this once a week... waiting for me to show up and hand him my youngest DS to watch while I brought my older DS to his weekly meeting with speech therapist (I had to sit in because he wouldn't let me leave).

So even though someone looks "creepy" I'm sure uncle looked like a paedophile sitting there by himself smiling at the children, one should never judge. He's quite the opposite of a paedophile since all his partners have been significantly older than him:)

It depends…at my local playground, there are often groups of youths 16ish taking up a lot of space, occupying the swings for ages and talking loudly. It’s intimidating for the children. I’d also be wary about a single adult sitting and watching regularly, but not so much if someone sits down on a bench and eats their lunch.

Women can be pedophiles as well. Yes, statistics, but it’s a fact that women are known to be as well

I think it’s weird because it’s a gated playground. If it was a man doing this then the replies would be different

seems wicked to video and confront someone

My Nan used to go down to the local park and sit by the play area. She had dementia. It was just something she always enjoyed to do. There may have been a back story as to why this lady was in the park. It is a public space after all and she can do whatever she likes. The woman approaching her was out of order. Is she next going to approach someone on their own in any public space where her children are playing? What if this was the swimming baths? Anyone can use it, alone or with children, you can’t go round approaching every individual throwing accusations around. The police would tell her the same. If it’s a public space, anyone can be there. If she wasn’t happy, then she needed to remove HERSELF and her children from the situation.

I would always be more suspicious of a man - there have been a lot of creeps reported around playparks in our local area. In one instance it was a lone woman caught filming on her phone, when confronted she left and was seen to meet up with two men who were lingering nearby. Terrible state of affairs to even have to think about. I wouldn’t confront anyone myself but I can see why people are on edge.