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.

If they are just selling marijuana, which is often the case, I’m wary but not creeped out. I kinda recognize my neighborhood guys in my NW neighborhood.

Anonymous wrote:After my friend lost her 6 year old son, she would sometimes sit at his favorite playground. She said it helps her get lost in good memories. A person in a playground isn’t always a creep. As someone said, most child predators go after young girls in their life they can easily access. Pervs at playgrounds are what you see in lifetime movies.

Agreed. Not every man see at or near a playground is a creep. Someone may be looking for their child, waiting for a friend who has a child, meeting a friend who has their child, etc. As a brown man with three children, I'd hate for someone to pre-judge me being at or near a playground, if for whatever thing is going with me that day, I happen to be in my own world near the playground. Where I work in Alexandria, there is a daycare near a public playground, which is near a several benches, in a peaceful park. Many of the lunchtime crowd enjoy the sun while having lunch. It may be fun to watch children play, and think about your own, and how you can't wait to get home to give them a big hug - doesn't make you a creep.

After my friend lost her 6 year old son, she would sometimes sit at his favorite playground. She said it helps her get lost in good memories. A person in a playground isn’t always a creep. As someone said, most child predators go after young girls in their life they can easily access. Pervs at playgrounds are what you see in lifetime movies.

Most of the pervs are people who are already part of the children’s lives.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a childless woman who frequently took my grandmother to sit at a local park. She lived alone and loved watching the kids laugh and play. I have also sat at the park to get some sun while visiting her. To be honest, I couldn't care less if people at the park think I am a baby snatcher or a creep. It is a public park and I have just as much right to be there as anyone else.

The OP specifically asked about playgrounds, not public parks.

Sorry, it is a playground. I just call them parks. There are benches around the edge of the play structure.

Might have special needs and just like being there. I know many adults who no longer can play on the equipment that enjoy the venue.

Anonymous wrote:I am a childless woman who frequently took my grandmother to sit at a local park. She lived alone and loved watching the kids laugh and play. I have also sat at the park to get some sun while visiting her. To be honest, I couldn't care less if people at the park think I am a baby snatcher or a creep. It is a public park and I have just as much right to be there as anyone else.

The OP specifically asked about playgrounds, not public parks.

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

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 am a childless woman who frequently took my grandmother to sit at a local park. She lived alone and loved watching the kids laugh and play. I have also sat at the park to get some sun while visiting her. To be honest, I couldn't care less if people at the park think I am a baby snatcher or a creep. It is a public park and I have just as much right to be there as anyone else.

Cabin John park has creepers up the wazoo. I keep a close eye on my kids wherever we are and just assume there are potential creeps everywhere we go: some you see, most you don't.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While it's a rarer phenomenon than the garden-variety perv, there's also those crazy women who steal babies or small children to raise as their own. Seeing a woman with no kids hanging out at a tot playground for a prolonged time would make me wonder if she was one of those.

There’s a woman who hangs out right by the playground at Tuckahoe! I assumed she was crazy or homeless rather than a kidnapper, but I do wonder why the school there doesn’t report her.

I"m sure people perceived me as one of those crazy women before! We were putting together my portfolio for an adoption homestudy, and I needed to provide pictures of my neighborhood--so including parks where children could play would be important. I felt a little (okay, very) weird just taking pics of people playing in the playground with their kids, but it had to get done. I had the forms with me so I could share in case anyone confronted me.

Anonymous wrote:While it's a rarer phenomenon than the garden-variety perv, there's also those crazy women who steal babies or small children to raise as their own. Seeing a woman with no kids hanging out at a tot playground for a prolonged time would make me wonder if she was one of those.

There’s a woman who hangs out right by the playground at Tuckahoe! I assumed she was crazy or homeless rather than a kidnapper, but I do wonder why the school there doesn’t report her.

While it's a rarer phenomenon than the garden-variety perv, there's also those crazy women who steal babies or small children to raise as their own. Seeing a woman with no kids hanging out at a tot playground for a prolonged time would make me wonder if she was one of those.