• RGB3x3@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      As a man (I know starting a sentence that way can also be a red flag), I’m always nervous when kids interact with me.

      It feels like I’m being judged harshly for just wanting to be friendly and that I could so quickly be accused of being a pervert or worse.

      So I just don’t interact with them.

      My policy as a recently new father will also probably be that I won’t have my daughter’s friends over when I’m the only adult present.

      • gamermanh@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        9 months ago

        I HAVE been accused of being a pervert, once, and it was fucking weird

        Was at the store and some kid walked up to me thinking I was my dad (works at a local school and we look a lot alike, have the same name even)

        Told the kid nah, that he had mistaken me for my dad, and then suddenly his mom appears and grabs the kid while telling me to “stay away from her kid you long haired freak”

        Again, I look like my dad (he also has long hair) to the point of this kid mistaking me for him, yet I was still some random creep to this lady

        People stop seeing normal human dudes in public once a kid is around and it can really suck sometimes

      • ellabee@sh.itjust.works
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        9 months ago

        I’m sorry for this. I adore seeing men being fathers, being positive adults in the lives of children. my own dad was more absent than not, but my grandfathers taught me a lot about how to be a decent human being, how to have relationships with others.

        please don’t be absent for your daughter just because too many people have forgotten men are also capable of being nurturing adults for children.

        • intensely_human@lemm.ee
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          9 months ago

          Yup. On the one hand he’s got the avoidance of conflict with people who distrust him. And on the other hand he has his daughter’s wellbeing. I hope he chooses to accept the conflict in order to be present for his daughter.

    • space_of_eights@lemmy.ml
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      9 months ago

      What kind of society or culture considered being friendly towards children a red flag? Spoken as both a father of two and former child: you can be friendly to children without being a creep.

      • intensely_human@lemm.ee
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        9 months ago

        Spoken as a non-father it’s not so easy.

        I accept the risk because I refuse to participate in a system that cuts off kids from the adults around them, but I know that when I talk to a child I’m almost certainly going to be seen as a pedophile for it.