Thank god nothing happened. There are way to many nuts out there.

Well let me wake up up a little more even...getting online in a place with this much traffic with your city and state in your profile and describing your daughter as VERY CURVEY in bold print doesn't help to protect her any either. Her physical description actually wasn't really even necessary at all in the telling of that story. Not too smart either. Sorry.

OK...devils advocate...
If the guy was 40 and splashed first by your son...and a splash fight ensued it may have been nothing more. Maybe the guy is divorced and doesn't have his kids with him and saw it as a harmless means of thinking about his own kids. You said it was a crowed beach. He may have just been a nice guy having fun and nothing more.
Yes it could have been something else but usually that is not the place where a pervert is going to try something. Just a thought... I wasn't there so it's hard to decipher.

I'm w/ Mike on this. Unless he said something inappropriate, or layed even a finger on one of them, I would put money down that it was totally innocent.

Don't get me wrong. You're completely right to protect your kids. But in this case, I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Perhaps not Mike, but I've seen weirdo guys alone at the beach trying to hang out with little kids (my son is 7 and daughter 12). And when you get a "vibe", there is no mistaking "creepiness"! I watch them like a hawk now.

I have a male friend that goes to the beach by himself. He would never even think of doing anything to a child. In fact, he has watched mine several times, while I was out of town, in the hospital, etc. This was probably nothing at the beach. But I do understand how you could be concerned. Just keep your eye on them. Besides, from your post, it was crowded.

It's kind of funny that the men see things one way and the ladies see it another. Interesting.

It is an interesting rite of passage in parenthood when your precious baby, girl or boy, is old enough to be noticed by the opposite sex. I have had grown women joke around with me about 'borrowing' my (at the time) 17 yr-old son. He is goodlooking and very kind and well-mannered.

There is no way to know what this man's intentions were. The most important thing as a parent is to EDUCATE our children and train them to be ASSERTIVE. So many times, especially with our girls, we train them to be polite at the expense of their personal safety. Its ok to be rude even if you're not sure of the guy's intentions. If you're uneasy, you don't have to ignore it and be polite. Don't be alone with someone you don't know.

Bottom line - you can't control what some guy on the beach or on the bus or at the mall thinks or does. You can teach your children to stand up for themselves and recognize and respect and reinforce their boundaries and safety.

Maybe it was harmless, maybe it was not. Best to be cautious and keep her close to you. I am sure you have made her aware of the nuts that can be lurking around.
God Bless.

Actually, I'm kind of with Mike on this one. I know if some kids had accidentally splashed me, and the older one was an attractive 16 year old who was apologizing for their younger sibling, I might splash back just to let them know that it was OK and that I wasn't mad.

I have a single male friend who LOVES kids, he just hasn't found the right woman yet. He used to "rent" my son just so he'd have someone to take to the arcade and do stuff with. Nothing ominous about it, he was just such a big kid and desperately wants to be a dad someday. He is also smart enough to know that just because he wants to be a dad doesn't mean he should just grab whatever woman comes along and marry her. He wants it to be the "right" one.

So, it may be more innocent than you think.

Of course he could have been just harmless playing, that DID run across my mind. However, I don't need to tell you in this day and age that you cant be too cautious with your kids! It just kinda was weird that when I made eye contact with him, (I was smiling and NOT looking angry or mean) that he quickly left the scene! THAT is what made me very leary! I have just been hearing too many aweful things on the news lately!

Sorry, guys, if I made it sound like I had something againt this guy. It just really gave me a wierd vibe!

What might help is if you talk with your DAUGHTER about her thoughts on the matter...I WAS a tall, curvey teen and I'm here to tell you (even back in the 70's!) there were PLENTY of men AND boys who were willing to check that out and beyond, depending on how receptive I seemed to be. Girls (and women!) are given messages daily from a million places other than their parents that they're "not enough" or ONLY enough if they're sexy, daring and "cool". Some guys will even play the "you're so mature, smart, level-headed, etc. for your age" and if their intent is essentially predatory there are many times you don't see that until YEARS later (unless you get some counseling, that is!)....KNOW the people your daughter is bringing into her life, on whatever level....she may find it aggravating and grumble and even fight it (if so, red flag!) but ultimately, caring about helping your child make solid, safe choices in their companions, whether romantic or otherwise, is one of the greatest gifts you can give them. I know, I know....we're hardly in the place to be able to say "Hey, look at me...I made great choices!"...but start where you are and get some counseling for yourself, if that's what it takes...or talk with other parents, in the community or online....but man oh man, please listen to me, as someone who was a precocious teen with a severely damaged self-worth from WAY back....a child's mind in an adult's body is a prescription for trouble under the best of circumstances. In THIS culture, in today's day and age....I would go so far as to say your daughter's good mental health is in your hands at this point; act as a guide and protector and teach her to navigate the societal "woods" on her own by not leaving her out there ON her own until YOU can see that she's ready (making good decisions about situations she can tell you about with complete honesty).

I sound like a Chicken Little, I guess, so please forgive me...I just think that girls in this world (in general) get an extra role of sexual prey (not to discount the boys who get that role!) and it's a role that is dressed up and promoted and glorified. It's a money maker for too many people for it to stop from Madison Avenue's side, so you just have to do what you can from THIS side...the supporter of the girls being who they are, for themselves and no one else.

It's funny how many guys I meet who are as collegiate in their attitudes towards women and girls (yes, I'm including the 18-early 20's crew here) as they are but who choke when they realize that their own girls are going into that "sea of curves" pool themselves! I imagine it's a struggle, between the primal urges of attraction/reproduction and ownership/protection (the Father Incarnate!), so I'm not judging the internal drives. I am saying that if your daughters know that behavior (on their part and those who pursue them) isn't always indicative of intention or that behavior isn't always interpreted by another as it is by oneself, and that daughter can act in accord with her own preservation of HER value as a human being...then she'll probably do pretty well. Not a "no mistakes" of course, but then, who among us can claim THAT honor?!!! Just keep helping her to know and respect herself. If you do that, she will eventually not need someone else to keep her from harm's way because SHE will be the adult in her own life.

Holy crap, I really can pontificate, can't I?!!! (Thanks for not throwing tomatoes!) :->

MIKE::::Tossing tomatos....

No that was an excellently written post. I have 2 daughters and I will ALWAYS keep one eye on each of them. I will not be paranoid but I will be cautious.

Ow! (Tomato hitting target!)

Just always remind them that they're smart and good in and of themselves, whether they're "beautiful" according to Vogue or not! It's such an amazing thing to hear someone you love say "I'm PROUD of you!" for something NOT beauty-related. Girls really, really need to know that they're intelligent, capable people and that their own self-respect is more valuable than gold in the course of their lives.

EOP (end of pont.)!