This, in my local paper, is the sort of thing that makes my heart skip a beat:
The two boys told police that they noticed a man watching them as they played at an apartment building playground in the 1000 block of Duluth Street. Shortly before 6:40 p.m., the man grabbed the younger boy by the arm and started to walk off to a wooded area, police said. The older boy, 9, yelled and threw rocks until the man let go.
Last summer I had a suspicious impulse towards a man who approached my four-year-old son at a playground, and stared him down until he walked away. (Short version: Lone man walking dog, ten o’clock on a weekday morning, starts conversation with small boys playing in an isolated corner of the playground.)
I know this sort of thing is very rare, but not rare enough for me to let a boy this age play unsupervised in a public place.
UPDATE: OK, so it’s even rarer than that. The boys have admitted to lying.
bearing blog 