All the ones I’ve seen in recent years have fallen into total disrepair.
Could a pregnant woman swing in the toddler area, claiming her in-utero infant was receiving the benefit of the device?
Ah, you’re one of my pro-life friends in real life, aren’t you?
You know, I enjoy watching little children play. And my husband adores looking at little children. But I’ve been a parent, and parents of little children are somewhat suspicious of strange adults who are hanging out with their kids for no obvious reason.
I think a well-designed park would have benches just outside the enclosed toddler area where other adults could rest and enjoy watching the children, without spooking the parents or making it harder for the parents to keep an eye on where their child is.
But then, my children were small when we lived in NYC, and the NYC playgrounds all have prominent signs saying not to enter unless you are accompanied by a child. So anyone who entered despite that is a priori a little creepy.
Any man watching toddlers, behind a fence or not, will sooner or later get the cops called on him. It’s one of those things he just shouldn’t do, even if he gets innocent amusement from it. Stranger danger.
The list of things I don’t do because they might be creepy is pretty damn long.
As a college professor, I get invited to a lot of parties thrown by 20-somethings. I have yet to attend. Not sure how many co-eds want to get chatted up by a geezer with a red solo cup…
And, yeah, the local playground is basically my side yard… but I make sure to give it a wide berth during the day.
if you stare at them all day long, sure. If you sit on the bench and read the newspaper for an hour a day, and from time to time you look up and watch the toddlers and smile, I bet you’d be fine. My husband often fakes faces at toddlers in restaurants and other public place, and no one has called the cops on him yet. The worst that’s happened is that once, in an airport, he smiled at a toddler sitting next to her mom, and the woman grabbed the child tight and gave him a dirty look. So he stopped looking at her kid, of course. But in general, people seem not to mind that he is amusing their children.
Hmm, you could talk to the men, or to co-ed clumps, you know.
I’ve only run across one of these. It’s in Davis, CA, near a bunch of UCD student housing. It’s got a huge slide with the first step being too high for small children to reach easily. The swings are also set a bit high and the chains are long enough that it would be hard for a small child to get themselves going. There may have been something else, but I’m not remembering more. Oh, yeah, there’s the Frisbee golf setup.
It’s not worth the risk. Too many paranoid mothers out there:
A pregnant woman couldn’t fit into any toddler swings I’ve seen. They are not the flat swings that an adult could get on- they are bucket shaped contraptions that the average 8 year old couldn’t fit into and they are generally high enough off the ground that someone small enough to fit wouldn’t be able to get in without assistance.
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In one of his books. John Douglas of the FBI gives a list of activities he finds acceptable for pedophiles to do. One of them is talking to a child if there is an adult present, and the talk doesn’t get too creepy.
I often sit in my city’s play area, and sometimes play on the equipment including the swings. And I will talk to children, but if they show any hesitancy is talking back, I immediately end it.
As for dogs, keep them away from me. Whenever I have to cashier a customer with a dog, I watch that animal every second with a horrified look on my face, and then call the manager, who explains the no dogs sign does refer to their dog.
We could also use a modified set of rules for the Adult Park from the Night Vale Forbidden Dog Park…
[QUOTE=Night Vale Public Radio]
The City Council announces the opening of a new dog park at the corner of Earl and Sommerset, near the Ralph’s. They would like to remind everyone that dogs are not allowed in the dog park. People are not allowed in the dog park. It is possible that you will see hooded figures in the dog park. DO NOT APPROACH THEM. DO NOT APPROACH THE DOG PARK. The fence is electrified and highly dangerous. Try not to look at the dog park, and, especially, do not look for any period of time at the hooded figures. The dog park will not harm you.
[/quote]
actually since the city here does preschool/play group (its about $125 every 3 months) theres ab 2 parks that between 9 am and 1 pm no ones allowed to even be on the grounds when its in session
Sad thing is they used ot have a cool community center at the main one where interns would play board games and such with the kids and have parties every so often … Now the play group took it all over
I used to get alot of funny looks when I as a Dad took my kids to the park. Thing is my kid is not always next to me and often because I had 2 kids one would be at opposite ends of the playground so it sort of looked like I was there alone.
As for the teenager thing, I dont know about that but I do know that it is a problem if you have kids of different ages but only one playground so you have kids say 4, 6, and 10 well the 10 year old will be way to old for the playground but what is the parent supposed to do? Make them stay at home?
People just don’t get it with dogs. “But it’s part of my faaaaaaaamily!” That’s nice. It still says NO DOGS. I don’t understand how people don’t get that even if we like dogs, and I do, we can be frightened of strange dogs. No matter what you say I have no idea how your dog has been trained, if at all, and it’s always the folks that are wittering on about how their dog is “perfectly friendly, no worries,” who have dogs that are uncontrolled and jumping on people.
And these same people are often afraid of birds! I don’t remember the last time a pet bird ripped a toddler’s face off. :rolleyes:
I gotta agree with BigTitonafish here. As a good liberal I am appalled to think that there might be someone out there who would want to hold politicians accountable for how and what they spend our taxes on. As a good liberal I am proud to admit that politicians should be able to spend our tax dollars on whatever they want. Just because we voted for X amount of tax dollars to be spent on infrastructure or education or construction does not mean the politicians have to actually spend our taxes on that. IT IS NOT OUR MONEY!!! What is wrong with you people? It is the politicians money and they can spend it however they want and to think otherwise means you are just a wife-beating child-molesting Republican and I spit on you.
Yes, while quite a bit of the OP is fine, it’s best to remember that “Stranger danger” is bullshit. It’s your kids soccer coach or stepfather or* someone* else they know and trust.
Single adults watching kids play is not creepy. Get over it.
Now we did have a couple rude-ass people here, yes. But not creepy.
Because of course the cops have nothing better to do that come out for what is at best a minor code violation. :rolleyes:
Call them for people walking on the grass too, I’ll bet.
There is no fucking stranger danger, and calling the cop like that technically is illegal and is certainly is a waste of taxes and the cop valuable time.
It’s* not* the stranger. It’s the man you know and trust. Swim coach, Minister, tutor or Uncle Fred..
What if they are taking pictures and licking their lips?