Adults Don't Need Kids to Hang Out on Playgrounds

on June 9, 2011 at 10:22 AM

playground So, picture this. You're at the park with your kids. It's summer break. It's hot. And a random adult walks into the general area, plops down on one of the nice benches where you are enjoying the shadiness while you watch your kids frolic, and proceeds to eat her lunch.

Do you run, shrieking for your kids? Do you call a cop? Or do you say hi, maybe strike up a conversation? OR do you maybe just glance at the kids and return to page 257 of your Kindle?

If you fall in categories one and two, stop reading. You probably won't feel bad for two child-free people who made the mistake of eating donuts in a park without bringing some kids along as their entrance fee. They were ticketed, by the way.

The story goes that among the park's many regulations is one that adults must be accompanied by a child in order to be hanging out. The reasons aren't stipulated, but I'm going to go out on a limb and wager this is another one of those "OMG, there are pedophiles everywhere, don'tcha know" fear mongering tactics that have cropped up in recent years.

And I confess I don't get it. Perhaps it's because I live in a small town? Because I have common sense? The thing is, and read this carefully, I'm about to get logical, if I walk into a park without my kid, I'm the same exact person that I am when I walk into that park WITH her. I may be child-free at the moment, but that doesn't make me any different.

So, as a parent, if not having a kid with me doesn't make me any less "safe," it would follow that a child-free person suddenly having one isn't suddenly any safer, right? It's a false sense of security.

Stranger danger is stranger danger, folks. Whether that person has kids or not, I'm not more inclined to trust them around my kid. I do make snap judgments, it's true, but they're based more on general demeanor. A mom spanking her 6-year-old isn't going to get any closer to my kid than the crazy guy who's muttering to himself about the end of the world Harold Camping-style.

Do you feel nervous when you see adults alone in a park without kids? Do you think there should be rules that keep them out?

Image via taberandrew/Flickr

About the author Jeanne Sager

writes articles for The Stir by day, slays closet monsters and bounds through bedtime stories with her elementary schooler by night. Diet Pepsi courses through her veins. The Phineas and Ferb soundtrack reverberates through her brain.

Filed Under: safety, summer break

Comments (15)

MemphisSuzi

on Jun 9, 2011 at 10:30 AM

How ridculous! Though I get the "reasoning" behind it, the majority of adults are not pedophiles, they are simply adults who need a place to sit outside and enjoy their lunch. Most of our parks here also have playgrounds and just last week the hubby and I met for lunch at one of them. We didnt have our kids with us but sat at a table near the playground as it was available, in the shade, and the least dirty. Should we have been ticketed? Hell, no. Ridiculous.

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Nonmember comment from clg1213

on Jun 9, 2011 at 10:33 AM

that makes me sad. i like parks. i don't have little people, but there's so much joy in the giggles of little folks at a playground and i enjoy watching them...in a non-evil way, i promise. i do get the desire to protect. i could see it being a regulation they use to justify kicking out someone acting creepy...otherwise that might be hard to do. but they clearly use it more broadly than that. it makes me sad.

LittleManMama

on Jun 9, 2011 at 10:34 AM

So before I had kids I would often bring my lunch to a park and enjoy the sunshine while I ate. In fact I have been to many parks without children... It never occurred to me that was weird. Maybe because they weren't just playgrounds? I guess it would depend on the type of park.

NotLikeaCat

on Jun 9, 2011 at 10:36 AM

We had an old guy hanging out on our playground, purportedly b/c he missed his grandkids. He played with the kids...too much. He got too familiar with them, showed up at one family's house when the nanny was there to "play with the kids," violated an eventual restraining order to keep him out of the park...In short, he'd seemed like a nice guy at first but then turned out to be creepy (well, I ALWAYS thought he was creepy). Lots of parents liked him at first.

But still, I think people should be able to go to the park w/o kids. It does seem odd when the park is just a small playground, but sometimes that's the only public outdoor space in the area.

Facebook comment from Jessie Baade

on Jun 9, 2011 at 10:37 AM

I think it is different in larger areas. We used to take our daughter to the play grounds in Prospect Park in Brooklyn that is enclosed and full of screaming running kids. Any adult who wanted to be in there alone had to have a reason because no one would be unless they had to or they were nuts. A lot of NYC playgrounds are like that. Designed specifically for kids, not parks to have a sandwich during lunch.

jpfsmom

on Jun 9, 2011 at 10:38 AM

OMG when I lived in Boston, and didn't have kids, I'd often take my lunch to the playground area in the commons because they had picnic tables, granted I was with other office workers and we were probably percieved as non threatening but still....this is ridiculous...society needs to take a serious chill pill...

meatball77

on Jun 9, 2011 at 10:50 AM

It's false security. If you get the strangers out you think your kid is safe and ignore the people in your life that are most likely to hurt your kids.

Facebook comment from Shannon Dee Bailey

on Jun 9, 2011 at 10:59 AM

No I do not feel nervous when I see adults alone in a park without kids. I just assume they are enjoying a sunny afternoon in the park. No I do not think there should be rules that keep them out. That's just silly.

JessLogansMommy

on Jun 9, 2011 at 11:59 AM

I think its fine when children's museums or indoor kids play places have a rule like that, but parks should be open to everyone. I've always been a sucker for the swings, and pre kids I was known to go to the park or the beach and swing on the swings.

Nonmember comment from ele4phant

on Jun 9, 2011 at 12:52 PM

If a got ticketed for eating lunch at the nearest park to my office (which is essentially just a playground), I would be livid. Parks are public spaces. If my taxes go to it, gosh darnit, nobody gets to tell that I don't get to eat my lunch there on a nice day. Certainly if someone is behaving creepily around kids, there would be cause for alarm, but the mere fact I am an adult with no kiddos around doesn't mean I shouldn't get to use the park too.