WWYD if your neighbour said this?

[breakingupslowly]

New neighbour - man in his 50s/60s, lives alone. I’ve seen him a few times but he’s never acknowledged my presence despite me smiling and saying hello. Fair enough, I don’t mind him keeping himself to himself.

BUT he eventually found his voice and the first thing he asked was “how old is your daughter?”

I was instantly like 😐 I asked him why he asked? Then he said he’d got teenage daughters and asked if I’d like some of their old bags for her to use for playing dressing up. I politely declined but he handed them over the fence anyway. Really ugly, old fashioned clutch bags that you’d expect to see in the 90s.

Aibu to feel really creeped out by this? I’m a single parent so it’s just me and dd at home. I feel really uneasy.

Sounds like he wanted to declutter and also wanted to have something to start a conversation about, sounds lonely not a flipping predator

How sad that you immediately jumped to the conclusion that hes 'creepy', maybe he was just trying to be friendly, most little girls like bits and pieces like bags and he thought yours would be no different.

Trust your instincts on this one that’s what their for specially when it’s your children .
Just don’t let her interact with him and keep your eye out try not to panic thou xx

@Hairobsessed123 give over, he’s hardly invited the kid into his transit van to see some puppies

@MargaretThursday

I was given an old handbag from an elderly man who lived round the corner and had only seen me going past with dm when I was about 5 or 6. I think it had been his wife's. I loved that little handbag and took it everywhere (and he'd put some sweets and a little purse in with a few coins-to me at that point a fortune, I think it was about 50p!) for years. He never spoke to me again, but I always waved when I went past his house for years, and he'd wave back if he saw. I'm glad that dm didn't see it as a nasty thing, as I think it gave him a lot of pleasure seeing me using it, and I had a lot of pleasure from it.

That's really sweet!! 😊

@MiloAndEddie
They don’t straight away thou do they . It all starts off innocent with questions and chatting and befriending x

If that's all he does, I wouldn't worry, but would just do what you'd always do to keep her safe from people you don't know well.

If he followed this with more uninvited attention toward your daughter, that's when I'd take more notice and consider him a possible danger.

Part of me feels really bad for him because you've described a neighbour doing a nice thing and cast aspersions.

But, that said, there may be something in his manner that creeps you out and he might not be the sweet man your post suggests he is. You can't know for sure he is bad, but don't ignore your instincts.

I recently asked my neighbour (who I rarely speak to) how old her grandson is as I have some toys to give away.

Do you think I should be worried?

People who don't have children at home often find it very difficult to judge how old children are, or what they might be into. It sounds like the question might have come from that perspective rather than anything more nefarious. By all means trust your instincts in terms of any unsupervised contact your kids might have with a neighbour, but what you've described sounds just like he wanted to do something nice and wanted the items to go to some use instead of throwing them away.

Would it have been OK if the handbags were fashionable 2021 styles?

@GintyMcGinty

I recently asked my neighbour (who I rarely speak to) how old her grandson is as I have some toys to give away.

Do you think I should be worried?

Well I hope they are sufficiently up to date toys Ginty

@peachescariad

Have you seen evidence of his teenage daughters? have they visited? He sounds pretty rude to me. Sorry it would creep me out too.

Evidence??

I wouldnt see it as creepy ,hes from a different era, also the 90s is not that old 😁

Some of these responses make me understand how vigilante mobs get started.....

Be vigilant. A single parent is a target and they will wait at least two years before they do anything. Any one who thinks otherwise is naive

@lydia2021

Be vigilant. A single parent is a target and they will wait at least two years before they do anything. Any one who thinks otherwise is naive

Eh? Where did you get that from? ‘The book of creeps mn edition.’

Our old man neighbour popped a teething glove round for DC, should I be paranoid he’s grooming him? ‘Getting them whilst he’s young?’

👀 get your pitch form our Lydia, we’ve been here just over 2 years.. dun dun dun

@FTEngineerM

👀 get your pitch form our Lydia, we’ve been here just over 2 years.. dun dun dun

Of course the handbags could have been taken from the corpses he's buried in the back garden.

What do you reckon @lydia2021

Do "they" do that, is it on the course?

@lydia2021

Be vigilant. A single parent is a target and they will wait at least two years before they do anything. Any one who thinks otherwise is naive

This has really tickled me for some reason.

How to be a baddie

Step one
Give old bags to neighbour

Step two
Wait at least two years

Step three
Do something

I'm sure Lydia2021 was taking the piss with that one??

The alternative is rather disturbing.

Ooh, I'll take them, my youngest DD loves vintage stuff.