yes, the title is correct and not bait 👍

i (22x) have a friend/acquaintance (25m) who is friends with a 13f irl, but people are calling him a weirdo.

he has no romantic relations with this girl and knows her through her dad (40s, m) but people are still calling him a creep and idk how to help besides saying he isn’t. it’s not like he went out of his way to go “hi im looking for 13 year old girls, wanna be friends?”

i feel really bad for the girl and i hope he doesn’t have any bad feelings or intentions, but i’ve heard from him he’s done nothing but mentor her and tutor her.

(i wasn’t there idk if i can truly believe it, but still)

  • sabreW4K3@lazysoci.alEnglish
    143·
    4 days ago

    Even Drake got allegations for being friends with Millie Bobby Brown. The truth is, there’s no reason an adult needs to be friends with a minor.

    • defunct_punk@lemmy.worldEnglish
      10·
      4 days ago

      25m/13f is pretty questionable but I (M) can remember making good friends with adults as a teen through work and just people in the neighborhood. It’s just about keeping things appropriate.

      Hell, for that matter I was hanging out with my brother’s nephew (dunno the word for it) a few weekends ago and the age gap was about like the OP’s example but moved up a few years. Cool guy, we played BlOps Zombies. Not gonna chat everyday on Snapchat but we’re friends IMO and chat about school/life whenever we see each other

    • Droechai@lemm.eeEnglish
      4·
      3 days ago

      I run a pathfinder group with neurodivergent kids ages 12 to 16, I’m 37. I see the kids as kids that I might help avoid the pitfalls and solitude I felt growing up as neurodivergent. They see me as a friend, and I see them as “kid friends”. I wouldn’t “hang out” with any of them, but we play pen and paper and sometimes other games via the local library and sometimes at the local boardgame club.

      One of the parents are very suspicious of me, and I have debated how to handle it. Since the kid is still in the group, I’ve decided to just let it be since any talk about it with the parent might be interpreted as “pre-defence” or something like that.