To not be forced into this performative nonsense?

[Onlyforcake]

I am at the admittedly busy park. Two women were very loudly doing hide and seek near the bench I am sat on. I put in my ear plugs and did my best to block it out. I'm not great with people. My own child is quietly digging in the sand, I was fixing our kite.

Anyway one of these grown women does a whole theatrical shush to me and lies under the bench I am sat on. Giggling too. This is hugely uncomfortable for me. People across the park are staring which makes me nervous, she's fidgeting lwhich shakes the bench I'm also very conscious of her head really close to my backside. A woman who had sat at the far end of the bench just got up and walked away, which i probably should have. AIBU to think this was totally unnecessary on her part? She's gone now, to the other side of the park. I really hope my son gets bored soon so I can leave altogether.

You should have farted in her face 🤣🤣🤣

Have you considered farting?

yanbu

Snap. 😂

Oh my god. I wish I had that level of zero fucks

Exactly what I was going to say 😁

What does I'm not great with people mean? Was the woman playing with children or just another adult? The former is OK the latter a bit bizarre. Bit silly to get so worked up about it.

You've all made me laugh it off at least, thank you!

The summer brings out weirdos. Which is why I prefer winter.

I mean I am an introvert and autistic. I see other people interact with strangers at the park. I felt I was suppose to put on some sort of panto 'I winder where she could be?' sort of thing. I did not. Neither did I find it nice when loads of adults were staring at the bench etc.

I would definitely be annoyed at this, and I would have certainly been tempted to let one rip 🤣🤣

There were two adults and a child. The child seemed a bit confused but did join in at least (that would have been definitely drawing stares).

I do lots of nonsense stuff with my kids but if I started hiding under benches at the park, they would never been seen in public with me again.

Your autism is irrelevant in this matter

EVERYONE would view this woman as weird and inappropriate, because she was

And rest assured the people staring at the bench were not staring at you thinking you're a bit odd or why isnt she joining in or anything like that.

They were thinking 'god look at that woman, what on earth is she doing, and disrupting that nice womans personal space'

I can be silly with my child but not so much in public! There's a park full of kids here to be silly together too

I'm a little tired of hearing people who engage enthusiastically with their children, being described as "performative". YABU for that. However, YANBU for not wanting to practically sit on a stranger. Could you not accidently kick her getting up?

It was she did the whole panto shushing and an exaggerated tip toe thing. To me.. and the other adults looking at her

So just 'over the top' hide and seek then? It was like a performance

She shushed loud enough to be a stage whisper after I put my ear plugs in. I shall stand by performative.

Her actions certainly sound like the very definition of performative to me. I'd have been annoyed by this too. Just the assumption that everyone should want to play along with her big, dramatic game. Feck right off.

Whatever gets her through otherwise endlessly mundane park trips. I don’t think having fun is performative and couldn’t get worked up about it, although I would be annoyed that she chose my personal space to come and hide by.

Fair enough. I definitely don't want strangers that close to my backside. It's a big park.

I think the exaggerated’ shhhhh’ to the OP was an indication that there was some expectation that she engage as well. By all means, knock yourself out, but don’t involve me, thanks!

Some people are utterly performative and attention seeking, across their whole lives including playing with their kids. Its not either or.

Definitely sounds performative.

I don’t see the big deal, honestly. You were at a busy play park, they were playing. The theatrical shush and giggling sounds a bit annoying but I find parents at parks often smile or catch each other’s eyes or make little comments as a kind of jokey solidarity thing. This was probably intended in a similar way.

However, given it made you uncomfortable, YWNBU to remove yourself from the situation as the other person did. You wouldn’t have to make a big fuss about it, the great thing about playgrounds is you always have an “out” for awkward interactions by being needed to push a swing, make a sandcastle, etc.

I don’t mind interacting with people but if not have engaged with this person.