A complete stranger approached my 12yo and her friends at the local playground

“He was very persistent, and a few of the girls were upset,” the mother recounted.

A mother has been left shaken after her daughter’s friends were told off for enjoying a playground by a complete stranger. 

It was a quiet day in the playground, where 12-year-olds Vicki* and Lara* were playing with their friends. 

No other children were playing on the equipment, leaving the tweens enough space to enjoy themselves, but it didn’t stop a complete stranger from approaching the playground.

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The 12yo and her friends wee concerned by the stranger's remarks. Picture: iStock

“I thought it was a safe area to hang out”

The man, who the girls believe was aged around 65 and didn’t have any kids of his own, made his way to the tweens.

As he approached the girls, he “told them they were too old to be in the playground”. 

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According to the girls, who recounted the story later to another parent, explained the stranger insisted the girls leave the playground lest they damage something. 

“He demanded that they leave before they broke equipment 'with their weight',” the tweens said, per Mumsnet. 

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The girls noted that the man “didn’t have a child himself”, so they thought it “was odd” that he would talk to the tweens in such a way. 

Nevertheless, “he was very persistent, and a few of the girls were upset”. 

Some of the girls were shaken by the incident and decided to call their mums and get them to collect the girls; by the time the parents came to collect their children, the man was gone. 

“My friend says her daughter won't go there anymore,” one of the parents said online. According to the tweens, if “there had been more children in the playground, they would have moved to the side”. 

However, “the girls said nobody was waiting to go on the equipment”, which “is very sturdy”, but they were shaken enough by the interaction that they didn’t want to go there anymore. 

“I think this is a pity as it was a safe area (I thought!) for them to hang out,” one of the parents said. 

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“Twelve-year-olds are children!”

Online, people were baffled by the man’s attitude and assured the kids’ mother that 12 was not “too old” to play on the equipment.  

“Twelve-year-olds are children,” a parent said. “Far better for them to be having fun in a playground than hanging around shopping malls or at home in front of a screen.”

Others couldn’t fathom why a stranger would approach young children at all. 

“They’re not teenagers as some posts suggest, or anywhere near adulthood,” a person defended the tweens.

“Of course, a play park is entirely appropriate for them, and how odd that an old man finds it acceptable to go and harass some poor young girls who want to enjoy the equipment!”

“Old men have no business speaking to young girls in a playground,” another agreed. 

But not everyone was on the kids’ side, with many trying to find a reason why the stranger would approach these girls, to begin with. Some suggested the playground was intended for toddlers or very young children, not tweens. 

“Well, was it an under 12s playground clearly labelled as such?” someone asked. “If so, good for him. A small child’s playground is not somewhere for teens to hang about.”

“I don't like to see secondary-aged children on playgrounds aimed at younger children,” another chimed in. 

*Names have been changed

Originally published as A complete stranger approached my 12yo and her friends at the local playground