Father-of-three branded a 'pervert' - for photographing his own children in public pa

liltigress

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Family man Gary Crutchley only wanted to take a picture of his children enjoying a day out.

But his innocent snaps of his sons on a slide ended with him being branded on the spot as a 'pervert'.

The woman running the inflatable slide attempted to stop Mr Crutchley from taking pictures of his two youngest children Cory, aged seven, and Miles, five.

And when he pleaded his innocence, other families waiting in the queue also demanded he stop taking pictures.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...vert--photographing-children-public-park.html
 
He said: ‘The children wanted to go on an inflatable slide and I started taking photos of them having a good time. Moments later the woman running the slide told me to stop.

‘When I asked why, she told me I could not take pictures of other people’s children. I explained I was only interested in taking photos of my own children and pointed out that this was taking place in a public park.

‘I showed her the photos I had taken to prove my point. Then another woman joined in and said her child was also on the slide and did not want me taking pictures of the youngster.

‘I repeated that the only people being being photographed were my own children. She said I could be taking pictures of just any child to put on the internet and called me a pervert. We immediately left the show.’

~snip~

The slide was run by Tracey Dukes, 35, whose father Malcolm Gwinnett has an inflatables hire company.

Mr Gwinnett, 58, a LibDem councillor in Wolverhampton, said: ‘Our policy is to ask people taking photos whether they have children on the slide. If they do, then that is fine.
‘But on this occasion another customer took exception to what the man was doing and an argument developed between those two people that continued without any further involvement from staff on the slide.’

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...vert--photographing-children-public-park.html (Bolded by me)

The woman running the slide did not follow policy obviously. It doesn't sound to me like she asked if he had children on the slide during the time the photos were being taken and just told him to stop. He proved to her that no other children were in the photos.

Parental Paranoia, as it is coined in this article, went too far, imo. While the other parent has a right not to have her child photographed, he still has a right to photograph his own. They should have asked the other parent to leave since the man was proven by LE to be exercising good judgement and being cooperative.
 
I think the other people were just being rude and wanted to throw their weight around because they could. Once the guy explained the situation, his kids, the establishment and the other people should of sat down and shut up! The other woman with children could have taken her kids to another part of the park for a short time if she was so intent on her kids not being in the picture.

I know one time a few years ago, we needed to take pictures at a park for one of my daughter's school projects. Before we began taking pictures, we asked the people around us with children if it was ok. We explained what we needed and showed them the school information etc.

People were very cooperative with us, no problem at all. Oh, and some of them let us take pictures of their little ones to add to the project. Cute set of twins!! :D

JMHO
fran
 
Parental Paranoia, as it is coined in this article, went too far, imo. While the other parent has a right not to have her child photographed, he still has a right to photograph his own. They should have asked the other parent to leave since the man was proven by LE to be exercising good judgement and being cooperative.

I applaud "Parental Paranoia" because it stops the pervs.

Now, in this instance, I agree that it was overboard but we have all seen the freak on the playground or amusement park taking pictures when you KNOW none of the children are his.

I do not allow others to photograph my kids. If a parent wants to snap a picture of their child, I will ask them to wait until I get my kids out of the way but I do it politely. I do not make it into a confrontation or accuse the other of being a perv.

(I forgot to say that this man was doing NOTHING wrong just being a good dad)
 
I applaud "Parental Paranoia" because it stops the pervs.

Now, in this instance, I agree that it was overboard but we have all seen the freak on the playground or amusement park taking pictures when you KNOW none of the children are his.

I do not allow others to photograph my kids. If a parent wants to snap a picture of their child, I will ask them to wait until I get my kids out of the way but I do it politely. I do not make it into a confrontation or accuse the other of being a perv.

(I forgot to say that this man was doing NOTHING wrong just being a good dad)
First off I must say the pictures the father took of his sons on the slides is great. Very nice picture. Must be a great photographer and have a really nice camera.

I took pictures last year at our county fair of many things. My favorites are the ones of the Sheep lead. The kids dress up their lambs in costumes they made and often wear the same type of costume as a theme. No parent gave anyone snapping photos that day any problem. I guess because this is a small area and many photos appeared in the paper with names attached. I have all sorts of cute pictures of kids doing the fair "thing". I still have the photos on my computer, but never printed any out or posted them on the net. I'll take my cameras again this year. Last night, I went outside and the most beautiful storm cloud formations were out. I snapped them.

In most cases, we're just a bit paranoid these days. I agree there are dangerous people out there, but innocent pics where your child wanders in to the field of vision, doesn't warrant a threatening response.
 
Will there be any end to our paranoia?

Should we lock up our children, lest they happen to be caught in someone's camera at a park or beach?

What about parents taking pictures at schools or camps or Little League?

What if they're at a ball game & the TV camera pans & captures them?

What about all the creepy video camera on almost every corner & in every store?

What about Google Earth?


Maybe all children should wear paper bags over their heads... just in case.... the world is a dangerous place full of cameras.
 
I can say at least awareness is alive.

A perv doesn't look like he used to. One instance is from a particular bust where the predator was supposed to meet what he thought was a young teen girl he spoke to on the internet for a sexual encounter. The meet was set up for a playground where the perp took his 2 toddler nephews to play as he waited for the girl. Instead, he was met by LE and some shiny new bracelets.

These guys won't be wearing the standard trench coat, standing in the shadows, flashing kids as they walk by.

I don't believe I would have handled this situation the same as these other parents did. I would have just taken them to another part of the playground. But you can bet I would have been watching his every move.
 
I used to write a blog that was mostly about children and pedophiles. I loved writing. I loved the blog. Then I started thinking.

In our history we have several instances of paranoia.
Salem witch trials
Day care abuse epidemic that turned out for the most part, to be false.
The McCarthy era
Satanic ritualistic abuse

It seems like each generation we have another "paranoia".

Then a friend brought to my attention the "problems" in an article I wrote called, "Pedophile Paranoia". In the article I was stating we couldn't be TOO aware of pedofreaks and their ways. That no matter what we did, outing pedophile, plastering their faces everywhere, digging to find out the 'real' identity of online, outspoken pedofreak, we couldn't do enough. Basically, there was no such thing as pedophile paranoia.

This story proves the points my friend was making. A father was called a pervert for trying to preserve happy moments of his children's youth. If it had been the child's mother, none of this would never have happened. Never.

I no longer write on the blog about pedophiles and their ilk, not as much anyway. I was feeding into the paranoia in doing so. Maybe once every two or three months I will write something I find important to share with other parent, but gone are the days where I will write every article on pedophiles. I know they are out there, I know I need to watch my child because of it. But I will not make my house a police state and not let my child grow up doing things a child needs to do growing up. Play outside, swim, ride his bike, play with his friends.

Yes, pedophiles are coming out of the wood work. They are more "out" then they have ever been in our recent history, but they will not destroy me or my son from enjoying his childhood.

This story is saddening and maddening and horrible. Shame on those women running their mouths. Shame on the operator for playing into it. It's a tragedy this happened, and it's an even more tragedy that things like this are only going to start happening more.
 
I used to write a blog that was mostly about children and pedophiles. I loved writing. I loved the blog. Then I started thinking.

In our history we have several instances of paranoia.
Salem witch trials
Day care abuse epidemic that turned out for the most part, to be false.
The McCarthy era
Satanic ritualistic abuse

It seems like each generation we have another "paranoia".

Then a friend brought to my attention the "problems" in an article I wrote called, "Pedophile Paranoia". In the article I was stating we couldn't be TOO aware of pedofreaks and their ways. That no matter what we did, outing pedophile, plastering their faces everywhere, digging to find out the 'real' identity of online, outspoken pedofreak, we couldn't do enough. Basically, there was no such thing as pedophile paranoia.

This story proves the points my friend was making. A father was called a pervert for trying to preserve happy moments of his children's youth. If it had been the child's mother, none of this would never have happened. Never.

I no longer write on the blog about pedophiles and their ilk, not as much anyway. I was feeding into the paranoia in doing so. Maybe once every two or three months I will write something I find important to share with other parent, but gone are the days where I will write every article on pedophiles. I know they are out there, I know I need to watch my child because of it. But I will not make my house a police state and not let my child grow up doing things a child needs to do growing up. Play outside, swim, ride his bike, play with his friends.

Yes, pedophiles are coming out of the wood work. They are more "out" then they have ever been in our recent history, but they will not destroy me or my son from enjoying his childhood.

This story is saddening and maddening and horrible. Shame on those women running their mouths. Shame on the operator for playing into it. It's a tragedy this happened, and it's an even more tragedy that things like this are only going to start happening more.

Well said, Roxye.

And I'll add... I wonder what kind of psychological effect this over the top parental paranoia will have on these children. :(

Also to consider, in too many instances, when a parent makes TOO MUCH of a deal about some 'danger' that they want their child to avoid... it very often pushes the child in the exact opposite direction.

Plenty of kids end up pregnant or on drugs even though their parents warned them about the dangers.
 
Well said, Roxye.

And I'll add... I wonder what kind of psychological effect this over the top parental paranoia will have on these children. :(

Also to consider, in too many instances, when a parent makes TOO MUCH of a deal about some 'danger' that they want their child to avoid... it very often pushes the child in the exact opposite direction.

Plenty of kids end up pregnant or on drugs even though their parents warned them about the dangers.

Thank you!

Oh heck yeah. I drove my nephew and daughter back and forth to school for 3 years. From the age of 13 till 16 I was constantly telling him "wear a condom" I even told him if he needed me to, I would get him the condoms.
He had two kids before he turned 18 and is now on his third at the age of 19. Talk is just that, talk. Kids just don't grasp the importance of what you are saying sometimes.

As far as the psychological effect. /shakes head I have already seen the effect in some of my friends children. One friend has a little girl who is 12 who will literally scream at the top of her lungs if anyone she doesn't know talks to her. I mean scream. It has caused some embarrassing situations in stores. Worse then that, can you imagine what is going through the little girls head?
 
I take a lot of pictures of my children in public areas and would gladly show my pics to any concerned parent. As a parent, I totally understand watching a stranger taking pictures around kids and if someone was really going at it I would be watching to see which children he/she was taking pictures of. If it appeared he/she was taking pics of other children, I would be concerned and might approach.
 
This is yet another story that confirms for me that we are a society that **intentionally** pushes fathers out of every aspect of their children's lives. We really are a society of hypocrites. We yell, "Kids need their fathers," etc but the very second one tries to do ANYTHING with their kids they're outted like monsters lurking in the dark.

I've stated before that my hubby has VERY little to do with our children because they are girls and he's afraid that someone will think he is a "perv". He won't take them out in public without me anymore because the last few times he did there was at least one snoopy-eye you-know-what peeking around every corner watching them. I actually DID confront one lady about it and her response was "I just don't trust men with children -- even if he is their dad he could molest them." I cussed her out loud enough that I was escorted out of the store by security.

I guess that the women of the world had just better learn that we are to keep our kids attached by leashes to our belts and to cover them from head to toe in opaque fabric .... and no I'm NOT being sarcastic one bit. I'm sorry if that's sexist and harsh but after what I've seen I have no doubt that it's the truth.

I have no problem with someone taking a picture of their own children just because my kid MIGHT be in the BACKGROUND (note I'm not saying some strange person just taking random pics or is definitely not with a child around). Geesh, there are days I wish I lived even FURTHER away from the rest of the human race. Paranoia almost always equals stupidity in my mind.
 
Thank you!

Oh heck yeah. I drove my nephew and daughter back and forth to school for 3 years. From the age of 13 till 16 I was constantly telling him "wear a condom" I even told him if he needed me to, I would get him the condoms.
He had two kids before he turned 18 and is now on his third at the age of 19. Talk is just that, talk. Kids just don't grasp the importance of what you are saying sometimes.

As far as the psychological effect. /shakes head I have already seen the effect in some of my friends children. One friend has a little girl who is 12 who will literally scream at the top of her lungs if anyone she doesn't know talks to her. I mean scream. It has caused some embarrassing situations in stores. Worse then that, can you imagine what is going through the little girls head?

Oh my gosh, how sad for that 12 year old.

Is this because of fears her parents instilled in her or are there other emotional issues here?

Some children & even adults internalize most of their fears & it can overwhelm them to the point they can't cope with normal situations in life.... that's why it's NOT good to over-dramatize potential dangers.

Calm, cool & collected is much better than a parent freaking out over what he imagines MIGHT happen.

And I was also an VERY careful mother like you were but that doesn't mean you have to alert your child every time YOUR radar goes off a little. I feel sorry for these children.
 
This is yet another story that confirms for me that we are a society that **intentionally** pushes fathers out of every aspect of their children's lives. We really are a society of hypocrites. We yell, "Kids need their fathers," etc but the very second one tries to do ANYTHING with their kids they're outted like monsters lurking in the dark.

I've stated before that my hubby has VERY little to do with our children because they are girls and he's afraid that someone will think he is a "perv". He won't take them out in public without me anymore because the last few times he did there was at least one snoopy-eye you-know-what peeking around every corner watching them. I actually DID confront one lady about it and her response was "I just don't trust men with children -- even if he is their dad he could molest them." I cussed her out loud enough that I was escorted out of the store by security.

I guess that the women of the world had just better learn that we are to keep our kids attached by leashes to our belts and to cover them from head to toe in opaque fabric .... and no I'm NOT being sarcastic one bit. I'm sorry if that's sexist and harsh but after what I've seen I have no doubt that it's the truth.

I have no problem with someone taking a picture of their own children just because my kid MIGHT be in the BACKGROUND (note I'm not saying some strange person just taking random pics or is definitely not with a child around). Geesh, there are days I wish I lived even FURTHER away from the rest of the human race. Paranoia almost always equals stupidity in my mind.

Awwww, how tragic that your husband is made afraid to enjoy his own children.

I swear, the human race seems to get more & more stupid with each passing year.

Fear is meant to keep us safe.... NOT to paralyze & make us afraid to get out of bed in the morning because we imagine the worst is just about to happen.
 
Oh my gosh, how sad for that 12 year old.

Is this because of fears her parents instilled in her or are there other emotional issues here?

Some children & even adults internalize most of their fears & it can overwhelm them to the point they can't cope with normal situations in life.... that's why it's NOT good to over-dramatize potential dangers.

Calm, cool & collected is much better than a parent freaking out over what he imagines MIGHT happen.

And I was also an VERY careful mother like you were but that doesn't mean you have to alert your child every time YOUR radar goes off a little. I feel sorry for these children.

It was because of fear he parents instilled in her. It is a terribly sad situation. I finally convinced the mom she needed to back off a bit and maybe get the child some counseling. I have my fingers crossed that the damage can be fixed.

Yupyup calm and collected is so much better on kids. They don't need to pick up on our radar going off everytime it does. Lord knows, my son would be paranoid as heck if he knew every time my hinky meter went off.
 
It was because of fear he parents instilled in her. It is a terribly sad situation. I finally convinced the mom she needed to back off a bit and maybe get the child some counseling. I have my fingers crossed that the damage can be fixed.

Yupyup calm and collected is so much better on kids. They don't need to pick up on our radar going off everytime it does. Lord knows, my son would be paranoid as heck if he knew every time my hinky meter went off.

I do hope the mom will get some counseling for her daughter.... a child who is THAT frightened might be at risk for self-medicating or worse in the not too distant future.

Maybe she can start off by asking the school's psychologist to speak to the child & make any recommendations after that.

Not for nothin' the mom probably needs some help also... dealing with her own fears.

Sad story. I wish them well.
 
Snippet

Family man Gary Crutchley only wanted to take a picture of his children enjoying a day out.

But his innocent snaps of his sons on a slide ended with him being branded on the spot as a 'pervert'.

The woman running the inflatable slide attempted to stop Mr Crutchley from taking pictures of his two youngest children Cory, aged seven, and Miles, five.

And when he pleaded his innocence, other families waiting in the queue also demanded he stop taking pictures.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...vert--photographing-children-public-park.html

Oh good grief. How sad for his children to be embarrassed and humiliated and him just trying to be a good father. We keep driving that separation wall up there between a parent and their children and these countries will continue to decline even more. We need more fathers like this ........not some overly dramatic woman inferring he is a pervert for doing a harmless thing.

Nowadays mothers or fathers cant even take their own children's photos when they go out for a special day. I guess the children will just have to retain each memory of happy times somewhere in their minds rather than having loving and fun photos to look at when they are older.

I think this was nothing more than a type of vigilante justice. The woman had him guilty of being a pervert before she even asked him to explain and this man was open and honest with her, which a d*mn pervert wouldn't have been and they would have scurried off when approached.

Our world is becoming way too hysterical. I think we have become a society that thinks all males are pedophile or killers which is absolutely blatantly untrue. Most fathers nor most mothers for that matter don't commit sexual abuse on their children or someone else's child.


imoo
 
I've stated before that my hubby has VERY little to do with our children because they are girls and he's afraid that someone will think he is a "perv". He won't take them out in public without me anymore because the last few times he did there was at least one snoopy-eye you-know-what peeking around every corner watching them. .


My husband was a soccer coach for our oldest child, and I was always amazed at the parents who just dropped off their kids and never so much as said "hello" to him before they left the field. He was always so afraid when the little kids would run up and hug him. He would try to hold them at arms length, and they would just try to get to him. It was funny in a way, but we were both so afraid that someone would claim abuse. He got into coaching because he enjoyed it and because we wanted at least one parent to be there all of the time. There were years of coaching where we didn't meet parents until the end of the year party.
 
This is yet another story that confirms for me that we are a society that **intentionally** pushes fathers out of every aspect of their children's lives. We really are a society of hypocrites. We yell, "Kids need their fathers," etc but the very second one tries to do ANYTHING with their kids they're outted like monsters lurking in the dark.

I've stated before that my hubby has VERY little to do with our children because they are girls and he's afraid that someone will think he is a "perv". He won't take them out in public without me anymore because the last few times he did there was at least one snoopy-eye you-know-what peeking around every corner watching them. I actually DID confront one lady about it and her response was "I just don't trust men with children -- even if he is their dad he could molest them." I cussed her out loud enough that I was escorted out of the store by security.

I guess that the women of the world had just better learn that we are to keep our kids attached by leashes to our belts and to cover them from head to toe in opaque fabric .... and no I'm NOT being sarcastic one bit. I'm sorry if that's sexist and harsh but after what I've seen I have no doubt that it's the truth.

I have no problem with someone taking a picture of their own children just because my kid MIGHT be in the BACKGROUND (note I'm not saying some strange person just taking random pics or is definitely not with a child around). Geesh, there are days I wish I lived even FURTHER away from the rest of the human race. Paranoia almost always equals stupidity in my mind.
Yes, yes YES!!
In a society that doesn't have baby changing stations in the mens bathrooms, etc, I agree!
 

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