I like kids and see them often in situations where I am the old man stranger and mostly with a nice looking friendly dog. It is kinda sad that you have to be very careful chatting with kids that you don't know, but still meet when out walking the dog. Kids are kinda learning that all us adults are bad when we are really not.
In the past, I had this experience when I was walking my kids to school. We came upon a small boy (say 3rd grader) next to his bike with a jammed chain. He was talking to his mom via a walkie-talkie, "OK, Mom, I'll wait here until you come get me." So I said, "Let's fix your bike and get you going." Whereupon he said, "It's OK Mom, a nice man is going to help me fix my bike."
Whereupon you could hear a panicky Mom through the walkie-talkie, "Don't do anything! I'll be right there! You don't need any help!"
So I said, "Tell her it's Mary's dad and we already fixed your bike." Anyways that day was a sad day for me because it pretty much said that folks thought I was evil before any other impression they got of me. This is after coaching lots and lots of youth sports teams, doing the cub scout thing, the YMCA thing, etc. I have been background checked so many times it's ridiculous. Also I would never ever ever give a kid a ride home with only me in the car. Once I had to ask my wife to come get me so that we could take a kid home together in the car.
Nowadays I live near 6 schools and I walk my dog in the morning when lots of kids are at bus stops or walking to school. I see many parents and kids. At this point, I know many of them and we stop and chat, but it is still pretty clear that if the parent doesn't know me or my kids, then I am evil. The friendly dog only makes me more evil as he appears to be a device to attract kids. My life is diminished because of this.