This morning my daughter, her two little boys (6 & 3) and moi went to a local Sunday Market in our neck of the woods. We’d not been there ten minutes when the boys asked for a bag of hot donuts.
Whilst in line, apparently some strange bloke put his hand on the elder boy’s shoulder…m y daughter noticed immediately and the fellow ran off…but not before stuffing a $5 note into the hand of my grandson. WTF??
We kept him on the proverbial ‘short leash’ for the rest of the market visit, but it unnerved me to the max. Was it just some local freakazoid or a way to tempt kids into weird shit?
It sounds like the man wanted your son to be able to buy himself something that perhaps he assumed he was not able to afford but wanted. The hand on the shoulder would be a way of getting the child’s attention so the guy could give him the money, as I read it.
I’ve had stuff like that happen in childhood and adulthood, in the form I received it it is the goodness of humanity.
So I don’t think it was a abduction attempt from your description, it could have been - but there would be no reason to shove the fiver in the child’s hand before running off, I find it more likely it was a person who felt some need to help this child. From my experience a random act of kindness that your granddaughter’s reaction made him feel icky. A lot can be transferred with a simple glance, and those with a giving heart usually can feel that very strongly.
Yeah, from what I’ve read, this doesn’t fit the profile of a typical child abductor. A crowded market doesn’t sound like the ideal place to do such a thing.
I remember once as a child, I had to ride a Greyhound bus from my place to my Grandparents. It was about a six hour ride if I remember correctly. The whole way there, a nice man sat next to me and kept me company. I never got any creeper vibes of the guy or anything like that. Even now as I look back on it as an adult, the guy seemed like a perfectly nice guy. We mostly talked about ghosts, UFOs, and I remember being particularly fascinated when he introduced my to the idea of parallel worlds.
When we finally got to our destination, my Grandparents were right there waiting for me. I tried to turn back and introduce them to the guy I met on the bus. But as soon as I did, the guy turned really sheepish. He just stuck his head down and walked away as quickly as he could. He didn’t even acknowledge me. I remember that being a really WTF? moment for me.,
Maybe he just wanted to do something nice for your grandkids, and he did an instant legger because he didn’t want anyone thinking he was trying to start up a conversation for nefarious purposes.
Yeah, it is more or less a no-win situation for men. Do something nice for a kid and stick around–you must be a lech. Do something nice for a kid and take off–you must have been afraid of being caught being a lech.
It is not appropriate for a stranger to touch someone’s young child and slip money into their hand. If he wanted to do something nice, then he should have approached the parent and asked her.
Was the child standing in front of the mother or behind? Was this done in full view or when she wasn’t watching? If it was in in full view of the mother then I would say the guy was probably trying to do something nice but it was still a dumb thing to do. If it was done when she wasn’t watching well then his actions seem pretty darn suspicious to me.
Jesus. This is what we have come to - a nice guy who has an extra five dollars can’t give them to a kid without the mom getting all suspicious and practically going momma bear. Just keep your kids indoors at all times so no one can ever be nice to them.
Oh c’mon…really? I have no dramas with anyone being ‘nice’ to kids, but shoving a fiver into a kid’s hand without saying anything at all, then scampering off?
Now had he engaged the kid in a bit of banter, had eye contact with mum and THEN offered to pay for the donuts, that would have been totally different.
Deifnitely a bit odd, but I wouldn’t see it as skeevy - just as a guy being nice but being clumsy about it. I don’t see how you’d get from there to ‘abduction attempt’.
Yes, agreed. What you describe–the banter, eye contact–sounds normal, organic. But leading in by putting your hand on a strange kid…that’s weird. I’m an adult, and I’d be pretty skeeved if someone did that to me and ran off.
I was at Sees candy a few weeks back with my two grand kids. They were being very rambunctious and impatient with waiting our turn. There was a young man at the counter ahead of us and when he turned to leave, he threw some money on the counter and said “Here, for the kids, buy them something special.” I was so surprised. I thanked him and he left. He never even said hi to the kids or anything.
Guy gets out of bed in the morning and resolves to perform an act of random kindness today. Later finds himself overhearing a kid wishing for some donuts. Decides to be generous, but as he follows through with it, he gets this oh shit moment where he realises how his actions could be misinterpreted as sinister. It’s too late though - he has already pressed the money into the kid’s hand. The only thing he can do now is beat a hasty retreat.
She was using it as an example of how dangerous it is.
I countered that there is more to it than some random kid being snatched of the street. She though I was trying to say “It’s not dangerous” or that it was a fake abduction.
Turns out - the kidnappers had demanded a ransom - so it was a kidnapping for ransom. Which kinda goes to the whole point - it wasn’t a random act, the kid was deliberately chosen and targeted and not just “anyhow” selected when the kidnapper was walking past.
In the current case - I’d say that chances of the stranger being up to no good are vanishingly rare - much much more likely is some random act of kidness or weird way of doing something nice that momma and TS have misconstrued
