Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire PSA: Old People That Talk to Children They Don't Know

Kids should be kept at home until they are 24.

Sure it is, otherwise we would let our kids run the neighborhood like we used to..times have changed, I get that. But teaching your kids to be smart, when it is OK and not OK to talk to a stranger is adequate. Being with mom and dad should be a time when it is OK, riding your bike alone, NOT

That would be a great way to protect them! By the time they are 24 they should be able to handle an old person saying hello without suffering lifelong traumatizing consequences.

We've had a small community of Mennonites around my are for several years. Out in public places their children are the most consistently quiet, well behaved kids I've ever seen. One of my favorite things when I see them out in stores is to make goofy faces and do silly things trying to get them to start acting up like other little hellions do. It's a real blast when I can get them to start running around, giggling, laughing and talking loudly. I always straighten up and act like just another uninterested shopper minding my own business when their mothers turn around and quietly admonish them.

What kind of man are you?

Most times the tots got more sense than their friggin millennial parents!!

This thread is hilarious.

1) Whataburger in Corpus Christi, has an elevator and stairs to the upstairs dining. Group of moms with several kids piles in the elevator, a little kid, maybe five, has the doors close in his face, leaving him there alone. OMG did that kid wail, I stand not to far away and reassured him, call over teenage staff girl in uniform, she walks him by the hand and leads him up the stairs to find his mommy.

2) I’m at the playground with my young granddaughter (often a difficult situation because if you two are playing tag, other little kids want to join in). This girl, maybe ten, no parents around is frozen in a fearful panic on the climbing bars, doesnt know how to get down. Since my granddaughter is playing nearby I walk over to talk to my granddaughter but really to explain to the stuck kid how to get down and to reassure her I’ll catch her if she falls, at no time did I come close to touching the kid. She climbs down, incident over.

3) Worst one of all In a McDonald’s in the evening with my then-five yo granddaughter waiting for her daddy to get off work. No kids in the McDonald’s playground so the kid cajoles me to come climb on it with her. Ya I know “12 and under” but the whole place is mostly empty and I’ve never been in one of those things.

15 minutes later we’re having a good time playing hide and seek , I’m “it” as usual, when three or four Mexican moms with a herd of kids walk in. They all get quiet and look up, there’s this old guy crawling through a tube on the ceiling, no kid visible.

I probably encourage my kids to speak to strangers. Not weird old people randomly, but if I happen to chat with someone I’ll include them and have them contribute.

I’d bet 9 times out of 10 a pedophile knows his victim by name and spends time with him/her. Family member, daycare worker, coach, etc...

But yes, random old people walking up to talk to kids is kinda weird.

Nobody has the right to talk to my kids. To be fair, not many did, I was pretty unambiguous about other folks around mine. I wouldn't even let grandparents take my kids out of my sight when they were little.

Buncha creepy fuggs out there. Clarke is more militant than I though. I smile at little kids and babies, maybe make a face and try to get a reaction if I'm bored. I hate other peoples kids, always have. Maybe not hate, but strongly dislike.

How old until folks can talk to the kids?

Me?

Girls = late teens
Boys = mid teens.

I'm talking random stranger convo here. My son at 16 is big enough to tell someone to fugg off if they are odd.

That's something, I enjoy kids like I do my own grand-kids. I'm sure age has a lot to do with it.

I can still remember long time ago, my father commenting on one his friends who had a daughter later in life. I remember him commenting on how it wasn't normal for a man to want to spend that much time with a little daughter...then came pop's grand daughter. Should have seen him, inseparable, took her everywhere. Felt like reminding him and telling him he needed to apologize to his friend for thinking the worst.

Whoever.

Mine are still quite young but my oldest just started team sports. More adults around now besides just me and his mom. Different dynamic this year.

Society is fugged up, this thread proves it

You run your house, I'll run mine. I do not subscribe to the idea that grandparents have any "rights" when it comes to kids. At least when we are talking normal (what used to be anyway) homes with a self supporting mom and dad at home situation. I wasn't well liked by my in-laws for a long long time. I lost no sleep over it. My kids = my responsibility. Period.

If however, the situation dictates the kid and grandkids are dependent on the grandparents for support, whether it be housing, or money, or whatever then I'd say the grandparent has more of a say.

I required my kids (and now grandkids) to talk to store clerks and other business people and make transactions themselves with me present. I wasn't about to let them grow up shy. What I didn't go for was unsolicited strangers engaging them or family members with unusual interest in them. Absolutely I wouldn't let adults take them off ATV riding or swimming. Those 2 activities are trouble. My lady doctor suggested that her 12 year old son would like to come out and hunt with me to kill a deer. I told her I would be glad to take him but she or his dad would have to come also.

A coach or a parent of another player isn't the same thing as a random stranger.

Idunno, most create their own realities, I want to think things are no where near as bad as some like to think.