Parents, Could This Be a Child Molester?
The red flags of child predators aren’t always red from the start.
--
What would you think of this man who…
Brags how much he loves children.
Salutes and happily talks to all the kids who pass on the street.
Takes pride in asking them tricky questions, to test them and see “how smart they are”.
Asks them to do groceries for him and lets them buy a little treat for themselves from his money.
Invites them to play in his yard and with his dogs.
Keeps saying how much he enjoys interacting with the kids and how his yard was full of little ones during the pandemic…
He’s in his sixties and he spends hours each day sitting on a bench in front of his house, with a couple of neighbors.
He’s the one who greets from a distance whatever child pops up on the street.
He’s the funny one, who shows interest in them but also in their parents.
He’s the chatty one.
The one whose house door is always open for anyone.
He has two grown-up children and a granddaughter. I’ve met his son and granddaughter and saw pictures of his daughter because he has stopped me more than once to talk to me and show me pictures on his phone.
Sure enough, he hasn’t done anything “wrong” from what I know. But isn’t that what all child molesters do until they are caught?
A few days ago, he stopped my son for a chat, again. My son would chat with anyone under the sun and loves animals, so this talkative grandpa and his two small dogs are like a magnet to him.
One of the men sitting there had his car pulled near the sidewalk with the door open. Matthew was trying to take a peek inside and I was asking him to come back.
My neighbor encouraged Matthew to proceed and take a closer look at the car, despite the car not being his and me verbally asking my son to stop.
I thought that was odd… To encourage a child to do something his parent explicitly said no to…
