To the man who gave my child a candy through the fence at Coleman pool today

[Betty T]

When I was child, 70+ years ago, kids walked every where not such a concern. I got up and changed seats in a theater because a man would put his arm around me or on my knee,at kids matinee.Rarely parents there with their child. This was never talked about at school like it is now. I didn’t know to report it. The creeps have always been out there but now out in the open, more agressive.

What about those snatched right out of their own beds or yards. A child can’t even be 100% safe in their own home!! That’s not a mother’s neglect.

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[oddreality]

Betty so true!It has always been like this.Not sure they are even more in the open than they were, just talked about now so we hear more about it.

In the 60’s we had to wait for the bus to go to school and men,young and old, would drive around and around the block going past us slowly,leering all the while, to determine, I guess, if we were an easy mark.Sometimes they would just stop and stare. The hand on the knee/leg on the bus from strangers..men and the occasional woman as I recall.While we were walking home men would pull their cars over to stop us and ask for directions or something. Once my friend went over to a car and the man had no clothes on his bottom half ..surprise surprise.So many other things and we never even mentioned them to anyone.

There have always been creeps out there and kids do need to be cautious, but not terrified.

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[SarahScoot]

I’m not going to address the main issue here; suffice to say I agree that it’s not fair to assume all adults are “creepy” just because they talk to kids, yet talking to a kid when parents aren’t around isn’t the smartest thing to do, generally.

What I’m bothered by are the ignorant comments about peanut allergies. I’m closing in on 30 and am allergic to peanuts. Not as severely as I was as a child (when just being around them could trigger an asthma attack), but I’m definitely still allergic. I actually ended up in the ER just last summer after unknowingly ingesting peanut butter (in a salad dressing that was not flagged on the menu as containing peanut ingredients). I experienced severe chest pains and constricted airways; luckily, I was out for a business lunch and was thus very close to Swedish’s ER, where they brought me right in for treatment.

Peanut allergies are not new, and parents don’t just make them up. They are more common than they used to be, but they’re real and not just some trend. The real mystery is why peanut allergies are so much more prevalent than even 25 years ago.

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[wsmama3]

Halyn – you are 100% spot on. Kids should always tell any adult that offers them something “I have to ask my Mom (Dad, babysitter, grandma)”.

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[JoB]

Hayln..

the majority of abuse in the “good old days” happened in the child’s own home…

just like they do now.

i am old enough to remember those days well.

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[blessedmama]

after reading all of these posts, it got me thinking…who knows what the kids were doing right there at the fence? They could’ve been talking to the 8yr old boy that this man had with him. Maybe the man was giving his 8yr old boy some candy and thought it’d be rude not to offer to his friends at the fence, not really thinking about possible allergies or how some parents may see this as creepy. We really need to teach our kids how to protect themselves, how to know when something is not right and what to do in certain situations.

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[Cindertang]

I grew up here in West Seattle, Back in the sixties I didn’t have one friend that hadn’t experienced some form of a creepy adult trying or doing something to them and not one kid ever told an adult about any of it. Maybe because it was done by adults. I am more concerned why if this guy was a parent he would give any strangers kids peanut type candy. Unless maybe he was a weekend dad and had no real experience with any ones children other then his own.

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[Bostonman]

Teach your kids, there are a lot of judgemental people in West Seattle and all over. There are also good and bad people. Teach your kids right from wrong, have situational awareness. During the west seattle festival a week ago my wife and I let our 8 and 7 year olds go off and ride the rides while we walked around. We told them if they needed us we would meet them at a certain spot in an hour. They could call our cell phones if they needed us sooner. One of our friends couldn’t believe we did this but our kids are smart and they know how to walk to the house from the junction so even if they needed to they could have just walked home.

I agree with only one thing, don’t offer food to another kid. Besides allergies it does cross into the creepy category.

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