Too many times we point the finger of blame in some paranoid way at someone. We've lost our sense of awareness in this country about when it is and is not time to blow a whistle on someone. If a guy seems suspicious then keep an eye on him, and maybe even tell those in charge to make sure they have someone keep on eye on them.

If they have an actual right to be there (such as if he has a child in that daycare) then just watch him, but don't automatically jump to a conclusion about what he is up to.

For example, he may very well have been taking pictures of other people's kids, but it might not have been for nefarious purposes. Photographers will often see a potential subject and run with it. Even if that subject happens to be a group of kids that he doesn't actually know.

It's OK to be safe, but we don't need to jump to conclusions in society that could get someone's reputation damaged for nothing. That has happened far too often to the good people.

The best thing we can do is teach our children the basic fundamentals of not giving information to strangers, being safe around them, staying close to their parents or teachers, etc. Teach them when it's time to come and tell the teacher or the parent about something a stranger is doing, and when it's time to just go about their business playing.

"The ex, from another community and out of the loop, has been complaining to the court for years and she's not taken seriously." What does this mean? It is such a vague sentence. It is metaphorically related to the topic as well. Rumors ["Rumor has it that the elementary school thinks he's there too much as well."] lead to actions that are unsubstantiated.

Are people willing to stick their necks out? I think that when it comes to children, they are. However, there are people who are so unduly obsessed with the idea of their children being taken through the fear propaganda in the news and media, that they overreact and overprotect their kids to a fault.

Let's look at this sentence" "A friend of mine knows of a man who got kicked out of his son's daycare because the teacher there thought he was taking pics of other people's kids." It begins with a friend of mine knows a guy, who knows a friend who knows a guy, etc. This already is a story based on a rumor. Then it states that the teacher of the daycare thought that the man was taking pictures of other people's kids -- not that she saw, has evidence of, or was told by one of the kids, because a teacher of a daycare is so busy keeping an eye on all of the kids that she wouldn't be a reliable witness that a lawyer would put on the stand in a courtroom.

I am a very intimidating looking man and if I witnessed something that I thought was inappropriate between an adult and a child I would stick my neck out, butt my nose in, and make my presence known.

Even if it was a parent spanking their child. Which leads me to my next forum thread. Check it out. Spanking in Public, in the parenting section.

RicoDad

I do my best not to say anything that will reveal the identity of those I'm describing. Further, I generally use "wiggle room" in my writing. Please assume that there is more to this than gossip or speculation.

I tend to agree that even with wiggle room, there doesn't seem to be enough here to jump to a conclusion about this man and his motives. Whenever I see the word "ex" in some accusation of sexual abuse, I come at it with a fair degree of skepticism. And if the ex is "out of the community" that tells me she may have an axe to grind as well. Who has custody? If he does, a judge must have made a decision that he is a responsible father. She may be jockying for a modification of custody or support and looking to plant doubts about him to be used in court. Happens hundreds of times a day.

Regarding how much he's at his child's school, since when is parental involvement in a child's elementary school a bad thing? No one would ever make that accusation of a single mother...only of a single dad.

Oh, and Rico...I find nothing about you intimidating, my friend...