I need to know, because I tend towards anxious feelings about losing my kids, also I am single mom living in a new community where we are just making friends.
Yesterday, DS (11 soon 12) and I went to a local large swimming pool.
Being a chilly Sunday afternoon, it was fairly crowded. The pool has waterslides, which whoosh out into a kind of water lane.
So DS was up on the water slide, and I was kinda waiting by the lane when he got down, to tell him I was going to be in the steam room or something. As I was waiting, I noticed and made brief eye contact with some random large bloke whom I didn't know. Not a lifeguard(not wearing the standard red swimwear). I wasn't quite sure how long DS would be coming down, as there tended to be a bit of line up, and I went to get a drink from the fountain a little way away from the water slide. As I made my way back, I noticed DS sitting in the water lane, and the bloke bent over him, talking to him and pointing over at me. DS got out and kinda nodded and walked over to me and then ran over to the main pool. The end.
Later, I remembered and asked DS what the guy had told him. He said something like "He asked if I was having fun, and if I'm looking for my mom, she's over there".
Further note: DS hadn't asked him if he'd seen his mom. Neither of us knew this guy or had seen him before that.
I mildly freaked out because, a/ Why would he know I was his mom? b/ Hasn't he received the memo about strange men not talking to kids they have no business talking to? c/ Just why?
Later I mentioned this to my sister, who is my closest family member these days, and she, who also knows about my anxieties re the kids, said, half-jokingly, "he was probably casing the joint- testing to see DS was alone or not, to see if his mom really was around."
Not helpful, sister.
Anyway, it's not a big deal, but it's things like this which sometimes makes me feel I cannot take my eyes off them. Also watching SVU doesn't help.