• Transporter Room 3@startrek.website
    59·
    3 months ago

    I’m going out with a girl after work and we’re gonna play in the park.

    (It’s my wife and I’ll be riding my bike while she tries to get used to inline skates again. We’re in our 30s.)

    But for real I miss being able to just… Enjoy a playground. Go throw rocks at the creek with friends. Have sword battles with sticks we found while walking by the trees.

    But if I do that, people call the cops because some old guy is clearly confused and wandering around…

      • BarbecueCowboy@lemmy.worldEnglish
        18·
        3 months ago

        An adult man wandering around a playground with no kids of his own, they can find some reasons to do something at a certain point.

        I still get weird looks sporadically taking my daughter to the park.

        • Transporter Room 3@startrek.website
          151·
          3 months ago

          I’ve had the cops called on me for taking my niece and nephew to the park a few blocks away from their house.

          Nobody came to ask why I was there or which ones were mine.

          Just two cops sneaking up behind me, grabbing my shoulders, hands on their guns demanding to know if I’m there with kids or I just like to fuck them.

          My niece ended up calling her mother on their emergency phone and she sprinted down.

          Never got an apology from anyone except my sister, who had nothing to apologize for.

          I’ve had more amicable, but still very much confrontational encounters with people assuming I’m there for nefarious purposes.

          I tend to avoid parks unless I’m with someone because of that.