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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU about this man in children's park

230 replies

Totality22 · 17/05/2015 18:07

To set the scene:

Park is quite big, has some open grassy areas (which is for general use - dog walking, people sitting down on grass etc..) a football pitch and a children's park which is fully fenced off and gated. Kids park has several slides, 10 swings, water fountains in summer, picnic tables - so is quite a size in itself.

It's not an overly busy park and on some days (colder weather, term time) it has been just me and DS. It's also quite isolated if no-one is in the football pitch. There is a warden but he takes care of the whole park so often isn't in the hut which is located inside the children's park.

Popped in today {as we do most days} and all was fine. It was actually quiet considering it was nice weather and a Sunday.

I let toddler have a run around and was feeding baby on bench when toddler shoots off and as I turn round to call after toddler I see some bloke has settled himself behind me and is unclothed bar a pair of shorts but even they are rolled up... They are rolled up the way people roll up clothes to catch the sun, so we're talking short shorts.

He was all happily settled on a blanket, earphones in and I am not suggesting for a second he was peeking at me feeding baby, he probably couldn't even tell that I was.

But AIBU to think it's just to the most appropriate place to sunbathe?

I toyed with reporting him but we left soon after. Should I have found the warden and let him know?

It was before Midday, not even that hot and he had the rest of the park to sunbathe in

Or an I being hysterical?

OP posts:
chocolatelife · 17/05/2015 18:30

reminds me of the time i spied a man on a deck chair, behind a bush, in the toddler's area of the park, huge park, and through the bushes I guess you could spy on the toddlers in the play pool.
They have since shut down the play pool,
now i have no doubt he was definitely a paedophile
but op story, he is sunbathing in children's park?

WorraLiberty · 17/05/2015 18:31
Grin
Cupoftchaiagain · 17/05/2015 18:31

op I think that does sound suss and u were right to feel wary, I would have.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 17/05/2015 18:31

He was doing nothing wrong, as far as I can see. And leaving the park because he was there is a total overreaction. He hadn't spoken to you or your children, or looked at you, or done anything inappropriate.

KneeQuestion · 17/05/2015 18:31

Unless he was using his dick as a sundial, I still don't see a problem?

Grin
CocoaBeans · 17/05/2015 18:32

Worra Grin
OP YABU, or at least a little paranoid.

chocolatelife · 17/05/2015 18:33

i dont think lone men/women should be sunbathing in small children's fenced in play park
normal peope wouldnt
would you? assuming all posters are normal.

Flywheel · 17/05/2015 18:33

I think it's really really odd for an adult to go into a children's playground to sunbathe on a not very warm day. While agree there wasn't much to report I still find it very odd and would have been uncomfortable too.

WorraLiberty · 17/05/2015 18:36

Well if the OP hadn't scarpered, she might have seen him meeting his kids or siblings.

We'll never know, but that's no reason to assume he was dodgy.

msgrinch · 17/05/2015 18:36

and here's the winner of the ml St ridiculous thread today!

ilovesooty · 17/05/2015 18:36

I don't see what hewas doing that was particularly strange or worthy of being reported.

msgrinch · 17/05/2015 18:36

most*

chocolatelife · 17/05/2015 18:37

seriously?
you think it is ok to sunbathe in a children's play park?

ilovesooty · 17/05/2015 18:38

normal peope wouldnt

Oh for heaven's sake.

TwinkieTwinkle · 17/05/2015 18:38

'I'd like to report a crime!'

'Yes ma'am, just let me take some details.'

'There was a man sunbathing in a public park!'

'Uh huh... Did something happen to this man?'

'No, you don't understand, he was wearing headphones!'

Original poster
Totality22 · 17/05/2015 18:38

I am not saying there was anything untoward going on, and I'd have felt the same had it been a woman sunbathing.

I just didn't get why you would plonk yourself on a teeny bit of grass (between a slide and swing) when you had the rest of the park to choose from?

I asked DP and he said he wouldn't dream of sunbathing in a kiddies park, lest not this one (he knows the set up and knows that you walk through the entire park to get to kiddies bit)

I thought it was a kind of unspoken rule about lone adults going into children's parks? I guess not (although I know MN world is sometimes a bit of a parallel universe so maybe I should canvas some RL opinions for balance!!)

OP posts:
WorraLiberty · 17/05/2015 18:39

In fact my eldest DS has a 5yr old step daughter.

If his girlfriend went off to find a loo with her, I imagine he would have said "I'll meet you in the play park then".

He wouldn't commit such a crime against shorts though.

I've raised him better than that.

DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen · 17/05/2015 18:39

I got sun burned yesterday , it was 13 degrees according to my car. Just saying...Grin

NerrSnerr · 17/05/2015 18:39

What is wrong with sunbathing? Is there a link between sunbathing and paedophilia? Is it ok for a man to sunbath in his speedos if he's at the beach or swimming pool near children or are all men who do that paedophiles too?

CheeseandGherkins · 17/05/2015 18:39

You said the kids' park was "quite a size in itself" and that it also has picnic benches (but you then said the outside area also has benches too), and from your description sounds huge. I really don't see an issue.

Imagine the headlines, "Man sunbathes, with shorts rolled up, in park". Doesn't quite do it does it?

FromSeaToShining · 17/05/2015 18:40

Of course YABU. Do you really think it is up to you to decide where people sunbathe? Or what they wear? Goodness.

chocolatelife · 17/05/2015 18:40

ask RL OP, you never know who is posting here

ilovesooty · 17/05/2015 18:40

If I knew that area was dog / dog shit free I might choose to use it.

WorraLiberty · 17/05/2015 18:41

I asked DP and he said he wouldn't dream of sunbathing in a kiddies park, lest not this one (he knows the set up and knows that you walk through the entire park to get to kiddies bit)

Not even if you went off with the kids to get an ice cream, and said you'd meet him there?

What would he be scared of?

Oh actually, the answer is probably he'd be scared of a random nutter starting an internet thread after they fled the park in horror Grin

Original poster
Totality22 · 17/05/2015 18:42

Honestly I think MN is a complete wind up sometimes and people like to be contrary not to mention fucking rude for the fun of it.

I was not going to report him to the Police, just mention it to the warden.

I've seen the warden ask teenagers to leave park before (they were doing no harm but they were told it's a children's park) so I just assume the same could be expected of lone adults who decide to remove their clothes in a kiddies park.

OP posts: