Do you feel creeped out or suspicious when you see men alone at the playground?

[Anonymous]

I don’t experience this much in VA suburbs. We live in McLean and go to playgrounds around VA.

When we lived in NYC, tons of homeless and/or creepy people. I remember there was this one guy who would feed squirrels and birds. He would always be at the playground. I wasn’t sure if he was homeless. He was always very friendly to my toddler.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a guy, and yeah, sometimes I am. One time I even called the police on a guy who I thought was a creep. A lot depends on appearance and demeanor.

This. You get it checked out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The worst ones are the man using the playground equipment like ours his personal gym, doing crunches and burpees in the middle of kids playing, grunting the whole damn time. I take photos and video and give the kick rocks stare until they move on.

Gross.

Where do you people live?? I never see this. No men without kids at the playground, no weird gym dudes.

Glen Echo

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are some places where it's actually illegal for adults to go to the playground unless they are accompanied by a child age 12 or younger. I think this is a good law.

It should be against the law to give women the creeps? OK then.

There should also be a law against black men making white women feel uneasy, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are some places where it's actually illegal for adults to go to the playground unless they are accompanied by a child age 12 or younger. I think this is a good law.

It should be against the law to give women the creeps? OK then.

There should also be a law against black men making white women feel uneasy, right?

Why bring up race? So strange how some people ALWAYS bring in race.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are some places where it's actually illegal for adults to go to the playground unless they are accompanied by a child age 12 or younger. I think this is a good law.

It should be against the law to give women the creeps? OK then.

There should also be a law against black men making white women feel uneasy, right?

What are you babbling about? The law is to protect children (male and female) against people (male and female) who have an unhealthy interest in children. It allows parents (male and female) to ask that person to leave or call the cops. It’s not anti-male. You must have turned yourself into a pretzel to make this an anti-male and anti-black post.

[Anonymous]

This is Op. Not that it is relevant at all, but for the record none of the men hanging out at the playgrounds were black.

[Anonymous]

NP. I don’t think it is weird or creepy but it is based on behavior, clothes, demeanor, etc. I will go to parks solo to journal or whatever or hang with friends for an impromtu picnic. None of our playgrounds have kid requirements. The parents in the area recognize us now and smile and wave.

I am female fwiw but I have guy friends that go together also. There aren’t parks that aren’t also playgrounds where I am and pretty limited public spaces.

I have also called people in before but not just otherwise normal-seeming people enjoying a nice day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In San Francisco there were signs that said adults without kids were not allowed on the playground. Yes, I would be creeped.

NYC has same “must have a child with you” posting in all play areas.

[Anonymous]

Being able to be alone in a park is one of the few perks of being a woman. Iliza Schlesinger does a great comedy bit on this. Guys, you get literally EVERYTHING else in the world. Let us have this one thing, or you could pay us equally and we will let it go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The worst ones are the man using the playground equipment like ours his personal gym, doing crunches and burpees in the middle of kids playing, grunting the whole damn time. I take photos and video and give the kick rocks stare until they move on.

I agree those are the worst. And second worst are the stupid dog people who think it is cute their two or three unleashed dogs are running and slobbering all over the play equipment and knocking over little kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP. I don’t think it is weird or creepy but it is based on behavior, clothes, demeanor, etc. I will go to parks solo to journal or whatever or hang with friends for an impromtu picnic. None of our playgrounds have kid requirements. The parents in the area recognize us now and smile and wave.

I am female fwiw but I have guy friends that go together also. There aren’t parks that aren’t also playgrounds where I am and pretty limited public spaces.

I have also called people in before but not just otherwise normal-seeming people enjoying a nice day.

Journaling and having a picnic with friends are not what we are talking about here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In San Francisco there were signs that said adults without kids were not allowed on the playground. Yes, I would be creeped.

NYC has same “must have a child with you” posting in all play areas.

Yes, I am in NYC, this is the rule. It is a good rule. Most playgrounds are in parks with lots of other benches. If you want to sit, there are other areas, there is no reason to come to the playground area.

That said, it's not always easy to determine who is with a kid. I was watching an older man who was just wandering around the playground last weekend, it was a little suspicious. I eventually saw he was with a mom and toddler -- just a grandpa bored out of his skull at the playground!

[Anonymous]

At playground, I only pay attention to my child on the playground because I am afraid that he may injure himself. I never pay attention to other adults around.

Now I have a newborn, next year, I don't even know how to keep an eye on 2 kids at the same time. I will definitely look for a gated playground or a small playground, in case the older one get lost.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The worst ones are the man using the playground equipment like ours his personal gym, doing crunches and burpees in the middle of kids playing, grunting the whole damn time. I take photos and video and give the kick rocks stare until they move on.

I agree those are the worst. And second worst are the stupid dog people who think it is cute their two or three unleashed dogs are running and slobbering all over the play equipment and knocking over little kids.

These idiots put their dog inside of a bucket swing at the playground. Right next to the no dogs allowed sign.