Does anyone else feel uneasy when adults use playgrounds without children?

[AAAaaaaaaaaaaBbb]

Am I the only one that hates when adults go to the playground without children? I know it’s a free world and they can go where they like but it makes me feel so uncomfortable. Like yesterday was sat in the local playground was only me and my kids and a group of 5 adults arrived with no kids, just makes me feel so uncomfortable. I realise im probably being unreasonable but I can’t be the only one that hates it

Yes there is signs

No one is talking about teens so don’t bring them up again please, this thread isn’t about “teens at the playground” that’s very normal here. And teens are still children last time I checked. We are talking about fully grown adults and yes they were clearly adults, I was with my own teen and as someone said it will be obvious to a lot of people a teen has additional needs if they are with an adult at the playground!

My DCs are early to mid 20s and I can absolutely see them and their mates stopping for a quick swing and a slide if they walked past something like you are describing, but only if no one else were there.
I am sure they wouldn't do it if it meant stopping children from playing.

Yes we are talking people in their mid 20s- early 30s nothing to do with teens no one bats an eyelid at teens in the park, it’s a short walk from a secondary school so quite often there are loads of teens after school

Our local village green has a zip wire and after the pub a couple of times DH and I have had a zip on it. We're in our sixties.

There was nobody about so I hope we didn't make people feel queasy.

At the park near my parents they stopped fixing the zip wire after it was broken every month by drunk adults dicking around on it.

Oh no, that's a shame! We didn't break it, just had a couple of zips and went home.
My DH is in the mens' shed group so he'd be the poor bugger fixing it if it broke.

I think that’s very weird! I wouldn’t like it. I’m sure most playgrounds state an age limit of 12 for using the equipment. I’ve not encountered that particular scenario myself. But once I was in the park with my kids, huge place, lots of grass and bench space available and a man (late 20’s) just came and sat on a swing looking around. Made me uneasy and we left.

I feel strongly that adults without children have no place in a children's playpark, certainly not when actual children are using it. Even teenagers can be annoying e.g. forcing themselves into the baby swings for a laugh when my actual toddler wants to use them.

When children not using it - other than risk of damaging equipment and the fact it seems a bit lame for a (neurotypical) adult to even want to do that, I guess there's no issue.

Wtf were they doing there? I know a few teens have around together at play parks but that might be because they have nowhere else to meet up.

I’m with you @AAAaaaaaaaaaaBbb. This is weird and would be intimidating for little ones. Instead of running freely between the equipment I know my little one would be put off. It’s supposed to be a safe space for kids, not to be overrun with adults.

Exactly my kids didnt want to play because of the large group of adults especially when they started running around that was the final straw and we left, it looked like they had agreed to meet at the playground as some kind of meeting spot as there was 5 of them then another 5 joined them how can people say that wouldn't be awkward…

Is there anyone at your local council you could complain to? Or maybe just telling them it’s not for them but for under 12s or whatever? I’d be useless at that as I hate confrontation but my husband is brilliant at that kind of thing.

I've seen adults using equipment to work out but not playing on the stuff.

Sounds absolutely mental. It would make me really uncomfortable! Sorry to ask but is it a rough area - is there nowhere else for adult to go/exist? Their presence would definitely intimate my younger kids at a playground.

Im tempted to do this actually

Possibly this plays a part, I wouldn’t call it rough as such but it’s not a particularly nice area either. But there must be other things to do it would never occur to me to go to a kids playground without kids. Glad others thinks it’s weird too.

This happens everywhere. There is a park in a posh Thames town's park were teenagers hang around the playground. If older adults reprimand them, they get sworn out.

Thats teenagers though and not what we are talking about. Teens in a park is completely fine why are people referring to teens as adults now?

Teens vaping in a kid's park, Ok?

Leave them alone, then. I expect they’re pig sick of their very existence being treated as a public nuisance.

I've only encountered this a couple of times, but did think it was weird, a group of young (early 20s?) adults in what's clearly the fenced off playground part of the park, dicking about when there were young kids trying to play. I told them it was a kids playground and they needed to leave, and to be fair to them, they did. I don't really mind teens in the playground after hours, and I think in our area they do film TikTok's etc there, but mostly they avoid the times that little kids will be using it. But adults with no kids, during the day, just reflects badly on them.

Parents will be vaping too - possibly even smoking 😱

It’s the fact that they are teenagers that upsets people. They aren’t welcome anywhere - and if they stay in their rooms at home, that’s a social problem too. It’s downright weird the way we turn on children as soon as they hit puberty in this country.

whilst it's unusual, as long as they aren't preventing others from playing... i couldn't get worked up about it

But if it were my child it would prevent them from freely using the equipment.