Studio Time

That is why I never watched little league baseball in the park near me, even though I LOVE baseball in all forms. The worst would be assumed by parents with access to baseball bats :-(

My first husband grew up and coached little leage from 4-24. When we moved to NJ there was a ball field 4 blocks from us but he never went for just the same reaseon.

Some of us like kids, and want to be there for them like others were or wernt for us and we cant because of a small percentage of bad people.

Yeah. While for me it's more a question of whether I'd teach (in theory, I'd enjoy it) than baseball, I avoid contact with children, having people look at me as a child molestor isn't worth the trouble.

For me, being an adult male, a male who is attracted to other males, a kinky male, and someone with long enough hair that people have expressed fear and anxiety at me using a urinal, well, it's just not worth the trouble of confronting all those stereotypes, so to hell with it.

Exactly so.

Sigh.

...this is an important part of understanding (and hopefully identifying) predator behavior. I wish more people were aware of it.

I read an article recently about not teaching children to be afraid of strangers but "tricky people". It gave clues of odd behavior for both adults and the child being approached/groomed.

Its something I feel the need to understand. I was a single adult that wanted to be a mentor in Girl Scouts(but didn't). As a mom I dont want to trust someone I shouldn't because of how I felt before I had my son.

Oh the website was saftelyeverafter.com

From an article on grooming, which is (in the whole) absolutely definite on how we should worry about grooming behavior:
"...the behaviours used to groom a child for sexual abuse are not dissimilar to innocent behaviour
intended to broaden a young person’s experiences. The only difference may be the motivation
underlying the behaviour."

They go on to advance this definition of grooming:
"A process by which a person prepares a child, significant adults and the environment for
the abuse of this child. Specific goals include gaining access to the child, gaining the
child’s compliance and maintaining the child’s secrecy to avoid disclosure."
(bold mine)

Craven, S., Brown, S., & Gilchrist, E. (2006). Sexual grooming of children: Review of literature and theoretical considerations. Journal Of Sexual Aggression, 12(3), 287-299. doi:10.1080/13552600601069414

It's eroding boundaries gradually, until they're sufficiently permeable.