"Still not over the American woman who was super surprised to see so many men walking around with strollers and generally looking after their children alone during her travels through the Nordic countries."

Bolognese sauce: https://satwcomic.com/the-implication-of-that

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 26 points 4 months ago* (2 children)

This is a BS justification imo

Being alone with your own child is not considered suspicious. Hanging out alone with out a child at a playground sure. Having your own kid in your cart at the grocery store? Absolutely not

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • [–] 31 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 child)

    Hanging out alone with out a child at a playground sure

    Here in Poland playgrounds are often extended with a public outdoor gym or something similar. That solves all problems, making them social centers for both child-free and parents.

    E.g.

    With fenced playground:

    And no fence anywhere

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 9 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    Same thing in Australia. I love getting a quick workout whilst the kids play. The kids love the gym equipment as well.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 4 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    Wait, I haven't seen these outdoor gyms around in Sydney. Granted, I'm not paying close attention to playgrounds, in which cities have you seen them?

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] -1 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    But that’s the problem. People here see grown man + child, come to a conclusion, and only accept evidence that reinforces it. It doesn’t matter if it’s your kid, there’s enough idiots that refuse to believe that that your child and you are now in danger.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 14 points 4 months ago* (2 children)

    Don't buy too much into all the ragebait on the internet. I take my kid to the park all the time and no one has ever so much as looked at me sideways. And no other fathers solo-parenting their kids at the park have ever been accosted during the many, many hours I've spent there.

    Yes, some idiots foolishly assume man+kid=danger, but this is not a typical reaction at all. People who react negatively and make a scene are an extreme minority.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • [–] 5 points 4 months ago

    From an Australian perspective: I agree. I was a foster care case manager for a fair while and whenever I was looking after kids in public I was hyperaware of being accused of something, but I never was. Not even weird looks or glances or anything like that. On the contrary, random women would often compliment me on being a good guardian for the kids because I’d love to muck around and play with them rather than just watch while they played.I slowly deconstructed that fear over time and am in a much better place with it now.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 3 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    Are you an American? Because that’s pretty common here.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago* (1 child)

    Yes, I'm an American. Are you speaking from personal experience, or going off of what you see online? Because the horror stories you see online are not representative of the whole of society. The scary and outlandish stories make headlines and get shared around by people. Nobody shares links to videos or writes articles about "Father goes to park with kids, everybody is chill and nobody panics".

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments