Police called on man who took his grandaughter to the beach

[i-need-a-martini]

We've lost the plot.

A grandfather takes his  6 year old grandaughter down to the beach where she strips off all her clothes for a few hours of fun and some idiot calls the police.

And Hetty Johnston thinks everyone should do the same in this situation: ''That member of the public did what, we hope, everyone now does in such situations.

''They held concerns so in the best interests of that child, they called police. It was not a malicious or vindictive move. It turned out to be a false alarm and that's great.''

We should all be paranoid and obsessed with paedophilia?

I don't think so.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/police-investigate-frolicking-child-20130504-2izt3.html#ixzz2SMhEPwrB

[Anonymous]

~ it doesnt say if she kept her pants on. but I assume she didnt.

as much as it should be an innocent thing- 6 years old is too old to be swimming in public without clothes on. there are too many sickos around. if it hadn't been in such a public place, I wouldn't have a problem with it. still, I wouldn't have rang the police.

what struck me in the article was the grandfather saying going to the beach wasn't the plan, but he couldn't say no to the child. as if no wasn't an option.

[bella_again]

Yeah its a tough one on one front as Duff says it doesn't say if she had her pants on but you would hope so.  But really the person who called obviously didn't observe for long, the GF wasn't doing any thing overly inappropriate ie playing inappropriately he was simply supervising so its an over reaction really.

However I think that if members of the public are concerned about situations like this, having a conversation with someone can clear up misunderstandings and give meaning to what is actually happening.

Maybe the next time the GF goes to the beach with his GD he needs to consider what is appropriate for the 6 year old to be wearing even if its unplanned at the very least a t shirt and knickers should be on. Not just because there are sickos out there, but because it protects her from the sun etc.

[polksaladallie]

I agree with you Martini, we seem to be paranoid ATM, but to quote someone else, it is better that there are 100 false alarms than one real situation without anyone doing anything about it.

I agree with you, Duff, 6 years old is too old these days.

[i-need-a-martini]

It was on a beach. A beach!

I am sure she did what all kids do on a beach for an unplanned visit  - take off all their clothes and run into the water.

I took my niece and nephew (5 and 2) to the beach last weekend  (South Cronulla) and the first thing I did was take off all their clothes when I saw they were keen to go to the water. They then joined all the other kiddies who were naked or thereabouts.

It's ridiculous that the first thing people think of when they see a naked kid is evilness instead of joyfullness.

[i-need-a-martini]

I agree with you, Duff, 6 years old is too old these days.

Too old for what?

My 11 year old is still happy to strip down to her undies at the beach. I am sure this can't last too much longer but I am so pleased she has never had other peoples preconceived anxieties forced on her.

[bella_again]

But martini she has her undies on and that's the thing its not clear if this child did.  I do think its an over reaction and properly quite traumatic for both the GF and GD to go through.  The person who reported the incident was properly very well meaning and wanting to look out for the best interests of the child.

[bella_again]

  That should be probably*

[punch*drunk]

including her T-shirt, despite Leo's suggestion she keep it on

Sounds to me like she had her knickers on. They would have made point of mentioning it otherwise.

[i-need-a-martini]

I doubt if the 6 year old kept her undies on bella. My 5 niece didn't last weekend. My daughter kept hers on cause she is just starting to become self conscious of her body (at 11).

The other issue this raises is that we look at all old men as potential perverts. How sad is that?

I recall the paranoia raised a few years ago when I mentioned how much my daughter loves visiting our 87 year old neighbour next door and particularly when he has all his war buddies around. From the comment, you'd think I was offering her up as a sacrifice or something.

As I said then, I refuse to allow this kind of fear to rule my daughters life. There is more to life than this.