Very disturbed by this interaction. Am I overreacting?

Just Venting 😮‍💨

I was taking out the trash and ran into 3 neighbors: a woman and her 6yr old autistic son and another male neighbor in his 60s. I know the woman and child well as her kids play with mine. I've had good interactions with the male neighbor but I do find him to be a bit strange, but he has always been friendly.

The 6yr old boy was petting the male neighbors dog and then showed me his hands and yelled 'look at my hands there is dog fur all over them'. His hands were cakes with dog fur. I respond 'yuck' in a joking manner. The male neighbor tells the boy you should rub your hands off on her. The boy runs towards me and rubs dog fur on me mind you it is raining. As this is happening the mom is yelling no!!! The little boy is closer to me so he rubs it on me before could his mom could stophim.

Now, like I said the boy is usually very sweet but he is autistic and in therapy. I know him well and he has never done anything like that. I'm soooooo disturbed at the man for even suggesting to rub dog furr on me in the pouring rain. I just feel icky.l for two reasons:, what even makes a person THINK to do something like that and second, let alone tell a young child to do it?

The guy apologized in a joking way but I told him to not do that again and it's not right. The mom was apologizing profusely and the boy did as well (again not upset at the boy, he did something naughty but it was at an adults direction).

Am I overreacting thinking that there is something truly disturbing about this man? I decided I don't want my kids interacting with him or do I want my kids to talk to him.

Thoughts?

Posted Jan 30, 2026, 5:04 AM UTC

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