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The original was posted on /r/nostupidquestions by /u/Todders8787 on 2023-09-15 02:48:07.
A situation just happened and isn't sitting right with me and I'm hoping for some more perspective. I'm going to give as many details as I can remember so this might get quite long. Thanks in advance for responding.
I was with my 3yo daughter at a small playground in the neighborhood next to ours. Both are exclusively townhouses, and the playground is only about 100 yards from my house. Both of my in laws were with us as well.
Near to the time we were leaving, a teenage boy (maybe 13 or 14) came into the playground and just stood there and watched my daughter. She would move to a new spot and he would casually walk over and watch her and us as well. We left within a few minutes, and had already planned to leave. My in laws helped her onto the stroller to leave and at the same time the boy walked up and stood about a foot away from them and just stared at them putting her in the stroller.
That was all weird and creepy enough but then as they started down the sidewalk he came up to me and asked my name, and the suffering conversation went as best I can remember:
Boy: you guys are leaving? Me: yeah she has to go to bed early Boy: is she your only kid? Me: I have a newborn son at home and we need to get back to help my wife. Boy: oh that sucks. Why does she go to bed so early? Me: she has preschool early in the morning and needs a lot of sleep so we need to get her home. Boy: oh that sucks
The whole thing confused the hell out of me. Why is this kid staring at my daughter? Why did he get within arms reach of her when it was time to leave? Why is he striking up a conversation with a 36 year old guy? If it was another person my age with their kid at the park it would be normal.
My initial thought was he is maybe on the spectrum, but I didn't really get those vibes when taking to him. The whole conversation felt really creepy. My other thoughts were maybe he's into very little children in a bad way, or that he's a young gang member looking for easy targets to traffic.
My neighborhood is pretty much exactly middle class for the area we live in. The adjacent one with the playground is slightly lower middle class.
Again, just looking for some more perspective on this situation. I don't want to go back to that playground after this which sucks because it's so close to our house and my daughter loves going there. My in laws were also super creeped out by the whole thing.
Thanks