Your friend tells you they're a paedophile

[Thumpalumpacus]

I wouldn't let them be unsupervised around my kid, but then again, why would you trust anybody alone and unsupervised with your kid.

I've trusted few folks with supervising my son. I think this is an unrealistic standard. No slumber parties? No babysitters? I sent my son to school, and he was certainly alone with adults in those twelve years. I had him in day-care at times, one day a week, due to my work schedule.

No, those aren't foolproof; I'm a good example of that myself, having been molested by a babysitter when I was a toddler. But a combination of due diligence -- i.e. background checks, Megan's Law searches online, and simple sniff-tests -- does much to address this point.

The point has been made in the other thread that prophylaxis is not a perfect defense, and that's true; it's a sure argument against my point here. But there are indeed people I trusted with my son, unsupervised, and others who I didn't. After a while, you get a sense of smell for people; you interact with them enough, before delegating responsibility to them, so that you build trust.

There were a certain few to whom I entrusted my child's well-being for a little time. They were vetted, both digitally and emotionally.