AIBU to question praying and sleeping in the library kids area?

Or if he was a secret agent and he was actually decoding a top secret message from a Russian double agent written underneath the children’s play mat.

As PPs have pointed out, lone adults are generally discouraged or have a close eye kept on them.

Do you think that random men should be allowed to hang out in the children’s section of a library? What do you think the potential risks of that are?

Yes but if he was a member of staff he might not have been able to do that 🤷

Yes but if he was a member of staff he might not have been able to do that 🤷

Oh please

Are lone males not allowed to access children's books in libraries?
For their own children or themselves?

We do know the average man can quite easily cover 1.5km in 10 minutes at a moderate pace.

Maybe, maybe not.
I don't know the layout of that particular library.
If he was a staff member there might be a requirement to have a certain amount of staff on the floor so he couldn't go to the staffroom but said to his colleagues "it's quiet so I'll nip in there and do my prayer but if there's an emergency just come grab me".
Who knows?
The OP didn't bother to find out.

It is definitely worth some detailed conversation as some PPs clearly have no idea that it is a safeguarding risk to allow random blokes to hang out in children’s areas.

The idea of safeguarding policies is prevention of harm, not just a sigh of relief that no harm has occurred after the event.

Maybe, maybe not.
I don't know the layout of that particular library.
If he was a staff member there might be a requirement to have a certain amount of staff on the floor so he couldn't go to the staffroom but said to his colleagues "it's quiet so I'll nip in there and do my prayer but if there's an emergency just come grab me".
Who knows?
The OP didn't bother to find out.

He would have been using it for less than ten minutes.

I think it’s more likely at this point what the proverbial we need to do, is calm down and get over it.

It was days ago, OP hasn’t even been back in days. She mentioned a sleeping woman that she was also bothered by who isn’t getting anywhere near the same level of attention.

He prayed, nobody was harmed, he left.

Should he have been there? No.

Is it worth any huge detailed interrogation? Also no.

It would have taken less than ten minutes for him to go somewhere else.

He would have been using it for less than ten minutes.

I think it’s more likely at this point what the proverbial we need to do, is calm down and get over it.

It was days ago, OP hasn’t even been back in days. She mentioned a sleeping woman that she was also bothered by who isn’t getting anywhere near the same level of attention.

He prayed, nobody was harmed, he left.

Should he have been there? No.

Is it worth any huge detailed interrogation? Also no.

The man could have not used the space intended for children to conduct a religious ritual, no big deal.

Are you aware that he prayed and left, and didn’t in fact attack anyone?

We don’t need to turn things into things they’re not.

Sometimes, it’s just “man made stupid/shit choice” and not “man had an ulterior suspicious motive.”

We don’t have to conduct such leaps all of the time.

ETA - OP “left the library, and told the staff politely, she didn’t find it kid friendly.” She hasn’t complained. There’s no investigation.

Are you not going to condemn the police hosting a grown up event in an area intended for children?

It’s not appropriate, that space is for children specifically. It’s suspicious when adults go in there without children.

Unless of course the specific problem is that it was a man, or rather a Muslim man, and not just that the space is intended for children.

We absolutely do need to question his motivation re using the kids area. Why there specifically? It’s not normal
on British society to walk into the kids area of a library and start conducting religious rituals.

When a man takes it upon himself to co-opt an area specifically allocated to children for his own purpose without the explicit consent of those around him, it absolutely needs questioning why he chose to act against established social norms.

Is your reading okay?

I have said, multiple times now - it’s not the appropriate place for prayer. A private room, mosque or home would be much more appropriate.

That however is where that ends.

We don’t need the hyperbolic chat about whether he’s actually a sex offender, when what he did was pray and then leave.

We don’t need to question his motives - he prayed and left, his motive was prayer.

We don’t need to “man taking over child’s space because of misogyny,” because really we don’t know that he was sticking the proverbial middle finger up at woman he children - we do know that he was praying.

You’re half right, it’s more that the mental gymnastics some people will go through to make “man praying” into “man may be sex pest,” would qualify for the Olympics.

Is your reading okay?

I have said, multiple times now - it’s not the appropriate place for prayer. A private room, mosque or home would be much more appropriate.

That however is where that ends.

We don’t need the hyperbolic chat about whether he’s actually a sex offender, when what he did was pray and then leave.

We don’t need to question his motives - he prayed and left, his motive was prayer.

We don’t need to “man taking over child’s space because of misogyny,” because really we don’t know that he was sticking the proverbial middle finger up at woman he children - we do know that he was praying.

You’re half right, it’s more that the mental gymnastics some people will go through to make “man praying” into “man may be sex pest,” would qualify for the Olympics.

Are you aware that he prayed and left, and didn’t in fact attack anyone?

We don’t need to turn things into things they’re not.

Sometimes, it’s just “man made stupid/shit choice” and not “man had an ulterior suspicious motive.”

We don’t have to conduct such leaps all of the time.

ETA - OP “left the library, and told the staff politely, she didn’t find it kid friendly.” She hasn’t complained. There’s no investigation.

Is your reading okay?

I have said, multiple times now - it’s not the appropriate place for prayer. A private room, mosque or home would be much more appropriate.

That however is where that ends.

We don’t need the hyperbolic chat about whether he’s actually a sex offender, when what he did was pray and then leave.

We don’t need to question his motives - he prayed and left, his motive was prayer.

We don’t need to “man taking over child’s space because of misogyny,” because really we don’t know that he was sticking the proverbial middle finger up at woman he children - we do know that he was praying.

You’re half right, it’s more that the mental gymnastics some people will go through to make “man praying” into “man may be sex pest,” would qualify for the Olympics.

If you can’t tell the difference between a pre-organised group event and some random bloke rocking up and co opting a space he shouldn’t, that is rather a concern.

Unless of course the specific problem is that it was a man, or rather a Muslim man, and not just that the space is intended for children.

Why should we not have a specific problem with him being a lone man in a child’s space?

Are you aware that 97/98% of all sexual assaults are carried out by men?