Noisy kids/noisy neighbors

The family in the house next to the one where I live has two girls, 11 and 7 years old. Doesn't sound too bad, but I never met kids before in my life that can make so much noise!! Especially the summer time is bad when I have to keep the windows tilted (we don't have a/c here). They scream, they yell, they squeal, and they're scolding their poor little dog all the time, and yell at him. The younger one has an extreme high-pitched voice that makes your blood freeze, and the older one always talks in a very commanding tone. Unfortunately, they're playing in their garden all day.

For me, stressed as I usually am, it's hard to find any peace here at home. This Sunday afternoon for instance I eventually gave up reading my book because it was simply impossible to pay any attention to the story. It's so frustrating!! I know that they're kids and that some kids are like that; I also know that you don't have the right to complain about loud kids - and I won't. But what about me? I'm working 40 hours a week or more, I'm suffering from several chronical illnesses and need the spare time I have for myself to relax and recover! Don't I have the right to find some peace in my very home? I cannot deny that sometimes I'm getting utterly upset with this!

Kirsten

That's a touchy subject for sure.

Do you know or speak with the parents at all? Perhaps you could bring it to their attention - perhaps they don't know it's an annoyance to you since you don't have any kids of your own. Explain your situation and the need for some peace and quiet. Not saying they should keep the kids inside, but maybe they could tone it down a bit??? Hopefully the parents would be sympathetic to your issue about the noise.

Yes - kids will be noisy, but they should be taught to respect others too. The world doesn't revolve around just them!

Or maybe you could put headphones on, and listen to music..... or play your music so loudly that they can hear it! (Not a good idea!) Gosh. I know what you mean. There is a fine line between tolerating noise and being extremely irritated by it, to the point of distraction!

Sending them to the movies sounds like the best bet!

Maybe you will have to resort to going to a private park.

Ugh!

you need a yappy dog to level the playing field ;)

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There is a fine line between tolerating noise and being extremely irritated by it, to the point of distraction!

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Exactly! Education these days often tolerates reckless behavior, you can see that everywhere. I'm not sure if it would help to talk to the parents. They're not very talkative when I see them in the street, are more of the phlegmatic kind. However, they're not like that when it comes to their dog! That poor creature is not allowed to walk a single step without being told off, that's another thing that's bugging me a lot.

I find some comfort in the thought that winter's approaching, they should be more indoors then. At least it has been like that during the past years. They're living there for maybe 5 years now, and every summer, it's been the same. Today's one of the days where it has gotten me to the point of feeling somewhat aggressive because I badly wanted some peace and quiet to read my book. Before they moved in, there was another family with kids. Of course you could also hear them playing when they were in the garden, but it's never been this bad!

Oh, and btw, there's a young man living in a small flat in their house, and I'm sometimes talking his mother. From her I know that he is also upset with their noise. But he's moving out now 'cause he found a job in another town.

Kirsten

Kristen, I can empathise. Where I used to live I was surrounded by noise of a similar kind. I used to dread the summer holidays. Luckily where I live now although there are a couple of families with children living close by and they can be loud and noisy at times it is of different kind, not that screechy yelling over the top stuff. In fact I often find myself smiling hearing them laughting and playing.

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In fact I often find myself smiling hearing them laughting and playing.

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There's nothing wrong with "normal" kids play and laughing... it can even be heartwarming. However, the sounds my neighbor kids make just hurt my ears! :mad:

Kirsten

Kirsten, you have my sympathy. I was dealing with an upstairs family with a three year old boy - when he wasn't running back and forth, he was driving his little car with plasic wheels on. The corridor is 10 meters long, so you can imagine the noise. I had spoken to the family about it three times and I was about to send a letter to complain when they suddenly moved out.

A few months of peace and quiet. Ahh! :)

I now have six people in their 20ties living there. They're atcually nice, but they do walk very heavy on the floor and have no carpet on. Such is life when you can't afford to buy your own house. :(

Kirsten, what we need is a holiday on a quiet Island in Carribean! :p

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Originally Posted by Kirsten

There's nothing wrong with "normal" kids play and laughing... it can even be heartwarming. However, the sounds my neighbor kids make just hurt my ears! :mad:

Kirsten

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Exactly, that's why I appreciate the change so much after years and years and years of having to put up with the same noises you have to now. It was only wintertime that brought some semblance of peace. Although the dark evenings brought an uneasiness when the teenagers would congregate in the space at the front of the house... it could be downright scary at times.

I'm sorry to hear this but I can also relate.:( I live in a condo on the second floor and each building is 3 floors so I'm in between floors. I've had to deal with very noisy adults for many years. The couple who live above me walk very heavy and even though they don't have children they do have a lot of relatives that come over and they let the children run wild and scream etc. This also usually happens during the summer.

I know that some times my cats will make some noise but it's nothing compared to screaming kids or very loud adults. I wish that I at least lived in a townhouse so I wouldn't have any one above me or below me. I hope that you'll be able to have some peace and quiet soon. Good luck.:)

It's worth writing a note to the parents, as gently as possible. Don't say "the noise bothers ME, illnesses, etc," say the noise is bothersome to several of the residents. Explain you don't mind kids making noise, but keeping it to a dull roar would be much appreciated. I once explained to a neighbor child that she should save her loudest screams for real emergencies, because we were getting so used to hearing it that if something ever WAS wrong, we'd just figure it was nothing. That made her think, anyway - and now she's a new teenager, so is trying to be "cooler" than that anyway!

Times have changed, and not for the better, I'm afraid.

Back in the '60's noise of that kind would not have been tolerated by us neighborhood kids.

I grew up on a block of terraces, and if we made any noise during the old lady next door's 2-4pm nap, we were toast.

Back then, we all got beaten (spanked) and it wasn't just by our own parents, neighbors could hit you too.

Point is, kids CAN control themselves. The parents just have to make it unacceptable behavior.

Now, I live in a stand-alone home, but the house next door is a short term vacation rental. Some loud groups come in for the week or two. (German visitors are some of the loudest :p) And some of the time the house is vacant.
I say I'll take this arrangement over full-time bad neighbors any day.

People these days seem to think as long as the kids are out of the house and out of their hair, everything is FINE! We had one family here that she put them out in the morning and never checked on them all day, then between 4 to 5 pm, she walked the neighborhood yelling as loud as she could for them. In the time between the time she put them out, then went to find them, they did anything they wanted which included stitting or standing on neighbors cars. Going on the proches of people that were not at home. Playing "throw the ball over the power lines", throwing their puppy up in the air until we threated to call the law about that, dragging that puppy around the neighborhood on a leash.. We were SO glad when they moved!

If you have a stereo, find either the most obnoxious or the most classical album you have and blast it for a good .5 hour

Try it when the kids get loud....If the parents are paying attention, the noise will stop.

There was a group that rented next door to the house and they played RAP and Oldies all the time. A few Saturdays of Classic Rock got that problem solved.;)

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Currently that house, which sits on the corner and has an "L" shape to it has a woman who plays music and screams loudly WHOOOOOOOOO, every 10-15 minutes. She lives on the far leg of the house=it's a duplex, but I can hear her loud and clear.

I thought she was getting raped or something until I figured it out.:rolleyes:


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I lived in an apartment building in the ground floor and for the last 5-6 months I lived there a newly wed couple had the unit above.

I could not look at the gal when I saw her in the garage because I would start to laugh.

Was it her workout with aerobics? Nope.
Was it her early morning prep to go to work? Nope.
Was it her walking about the apartment during the day?

NOPE!


It was the screaming banshee she became during the "special moments" with her husband. There was another apartment building next door and that building made noise echo back and forth.;)

It was interesting and I thought it was nice that she was a religious person during that time.


She was always calling out to "god". I never knew prayer could be so intense?:confused::eek::o

We moved out to an acreage outside of Calgary to get away from all the city crap.

Now, we can have all the windows open, or be outside and the silence is almost scary. Being outside, pulling weeds and there is NOT ANOTHER SOUND AT ALL. Just the wind, birds, etc.

If you need a break from it all you're welcome to come enjoy!

I can relate because my arrangement is similar to KAK's.

Do you have a property manager, a landlord, or someone else who could talk to them, instead of you being the one to talk to them?

Thanks for the advice everyone - and for your support and sympathy! Well, I guess for the time being, I won't say anything because it will soon be winter, which means I can close the windows when they are too annoying.

Talking to the landlords won't be easy, because the landlords of the neighbor house are the children of my own landlords. And they are befriended with the sister of the mother of these girls. And she - their aunt - is a former co-worker of mine, and she's living in the same house where I live, one floor down. So, as you can see, entire neighborhood is something like a huge clique, and I have to be careful to not step on any toes... That's why I haven't said something so far. It's difficult.

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It was the screaming banshee she became during the "special moments" with her husband.

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LOL, the same happened here a couple of weeks ago. It was a hot summer night and obviously a couple some houses down the street forgot to close the window. I thought someone was slaughtered, and it sounded like a dog was involved, too. The next day, I asked my neighbor if he had also heard these strange sounds, and said that it was just a couple having "fun". LOL Still wondering about the dog though...

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We moved out to an acreage outside of Calgary to get away from all the city crap.

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That sounds wonderful!! I would love to live somewhere where I have some peace!!



Kirsten

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Originally Posted by RICHARD

I lived in an apartment building in the ground floor and for the last 5-6 months I lived there a newly wed couple had the unit above.

I could not look at the gal when I saw her in the garage because I would start to laugh.

Was it her workout with aerobics? Nope.
Was it her early morning prep to go to work? Nope.
Was it her walking about the apartment during the day?

NOPE!


It was the screaming banshee she became during the "special moments" with her husband. There was another apartment building next door and that building made noise echo back and forth.;)

It was interesting and I thought it was nice that she was a religious person during that time.


She was always calling out to "god". I never knew prayer could be so intense?:confused::eek::o

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LOL when I first moved to Eugene I lived underneath a guy who was very good with the laides. Since our bedroom was directly under his we got a very good idea of exactly how good he was! :rolleyes: He never got offended when we told him to try to tone it down later in the evenings but his lady friends always seemed to be annoyed lol.

Oh, I'm sorry Kristen! I sometimes know how you feel!
When I was a kid, my parents would constantly remind me and my sister or any friends we had over that "We have neighbors!!"

I can't stand noisy anyone! Kids, adults, dogs, music, whatever. I have a general noise intolerance. I will never forget the live band practices in the house next door before and after J was born. M-W-F, from 4-7 or even 8 sometimes. I was so stressed by it all. I couldn't sit in my house with my windows opened. Horrible, horrible situation. I remember calling the police (after talking to the neighbors at length about it). I remember the 'boy' justifying his position of practicing there, rather than elsewhere, "my parents are the only ones that allow it". Ya think?

He has grown up (mildly) and out, lives in CA most of the time, with a wife and kids here, and I never hear practices anymore.

I completely understand and sympathize :( I've been getting really annoyed lately and have been meaning to post about the exact same thing. I think you are completely in your rights to say something if the girls are that old! I haven't complained but that's because the kids here are 5-7 and it just sometimes joyful screaming from the pool area. However, there are times when it's SCREAMING for 5-6 hours a day! One of the other tenants finally screamed out their window "SHUT THE F* UP!" which I thought was a bit harsh but justified! LOL!
I am fortunate that we have large fountains here that create "white noise" so it drowns out hearing other people. That water sound constantly is sometimes irritating as well. It's just part of living in an apartment. :rolleyes:
I do want to write some simple rules about apartment life. Like: Don't slam doors! Our apartments are ATTACHED and crap falls off my walls! Don't talk on your cell phone under my window after 9PM. You might as well be sitting on my bed! Don't smoke outside my screen door! (an apartment complex got sued over that one nearby..secondhand smoke hazards!)
I've heard these are very effective. Might be worth it if you have trouble every summer. http://www.bose.com/controller?url=/...ones/index.jsp

Claudia

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LOL when I first moved to Eugene I lived underneath a guy who was very good with the laides. Since our bedroom was directly under his we got a very good idea of exactly how good he was! He never got offended when we told him to try to tone it down later in the evenings but his lady friends always seemed to be annoyed lol.

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OMG!! LOL Well, your complaints made Mr. Bombastic probably more pround than ashamed! ;)

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When I was a kid, my parents would constantly remind me and my sister or any friends we had over that "We have neighbors!!"

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Well, unfortunately, things have changed a lot since we were young!

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I can't stand noisy anyone! Kids, adults, dogs, music, whatever. I have a general noise intolerance. I will never forget the live band practices in the house next door before and after J was born. M-W-F, from 4-7 or even 8 sometimes. I was so stressed by it all. I couldn't sit in my house with my windows opened. Horrible, horrible situation

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That sounds just awful!! That situation would have driven me mad!!!

Last night, I heard someone in the neighborhood playing the drums!! :mad: I have no idea where it came from, and who of my neighbors got a new toy, but if this continues, I will find out and call the police, if necessary!! It was already midnight when the noise stopped, and it wasn't even a weekend! How rude and reckless can some people be?! :mad: :mad: :mad:

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However, there are times when it's SCREAMING for 5-6 hours a day! One of the other tenants finally screamed out their window "SHUT THE F* UP!" which I thought was a bit harsh but justified! LOL!

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Same here, and believe me, there are times when I'm very close to yelling something out of the window. But there are rules in Germany that you have no right to complain about noisy children, no matter how loud they are, or how late it is.

Kirsten

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Originally Posted by Kirsten

But there are rules in Germany that you have no right to complain about noisy children,
no matter how loud they are, or how late it is.

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WHAT??
:eek:

Good Grief - that's kinda hard to swallow!
:rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by Cinder & Smoke

WHAT??
:eek:

Good Grief - that's kinda hard to swallow!
:rolleyes:

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It's true. Sometimes cases like that are brought to court, but the judges are always on the childrens' side. Noise caused by children has always to be tolerated by others, and you have no right to complain. Quite the contrary, you even have to careful to mention that the kids' noise is bothering you, 'cause you'll be quickly labelled as a child hater.

Kirsten

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Originally Posted by Kirsten

It's true. Sometimes cases like that are brought to court, but the judges are always on the childrens' side. Noise caused by children has always to be tolerated by others, and you have no right to complain. Quite the contrary, you even have to careful to mention that the kids' noise is bothering you, 'cause you'll be quickly labelled as a child hater.

Kirsten

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So are you allowed to complain about noisy adults? If you are, it seems that something is wrong with the picture as a whole. How are kids to learn that excessive noise won't be tolerated when they become adults, if they aren't taught that is how they should conduct themselves as children??? :confused::confused::confused::confused::confused:

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So are you allowed to complain about noisy adults?

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Yup, we can do that, at least after 10pm. For example if you call the police 'cause someone's playing loud music in the middle of the night, the cops would show up and tell them to turn down the volume.

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How are kids to learn that excessive noise won't be tolerated when they become adults, if they aren't taught that is how they should conduct themselves as children???

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Good point. Well, obviously a study has been made saying that children these days are selfish and narcistic, and I think this may be one of the causes. Another problem is that they don't know any limits or restrictions. My parents own a restaurant, and it was only yesterday that my mother told me about a child's birthday party that has been celebrated there. The kids would have burned french fries with the candles that were on the tables for decorations. She said the smell was really bad since they have covered the french fries with wax before. She told the kids not to do so, but the parents of the kids just laughed about their pranks. Makes you wonder... :rolleyes:

Kirsten

People just do not respect the rights of others any more. My neighbor blasts me out of my bedroom with his stereo. Our houses are only a few feet away. I have asked him hundreads of times to not play his stereo so loud. He always says, "sorry". He does turn it down then but is right back at it in a day or two.

Sometimes he waits until after midnight when I'm alseep. almost knocks me out of bed. So, I put my cd of Alvin and the chipmunks in my tvs dvd player in the bedroom and turn it up almost full blast. I put headphones on so I don't hear it very loud and go to sleep. He hates that cd for some reason. He's even left his house to get away from me! ;) If he's still at it after Alivn, I use UB40. Seems he's not a fan of them either. :D

He hasn't gotten the connection that if he's quiet, we all have a nice quiet night but when he's not, neighter am I.

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Originally Posted by Kirsten

Good point. Well, obviously a study has been made saying that children these days are selfish and narcistic, and I think this may be one of the causes. Another problem is that they don't know any limits or restrictions.

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I'm sure that all children aren't like that, but if this is an accepted way of life there, then I hate to think of what the generation of kids now growing up, will be like in the near future. Scary thought........:eek:

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Originally Posted by pomtzu

I'm sure that all children aren't like that, but if this is an accepted way of life there, then I hate to think of what the generation of kids now growing up, will be like in the near future. Scary thought........:eek:

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Indeed!

Kirsten

I also like Johanna have a low tolerance of noise,however there are times you just have to grin and bear it,I really have empathy for you though,here in NZ we have noise control and it has to be over a certain decibels before they will do anything, however i lived next door to a group of young people renting and going to university who had a party nearly every single night in the garage which is very close to our property, it was terrible and it took a real toll on my already bad health at the time,this went on for a year too,so if anyone understands Kirsten i sure do.

I love to hear children laughing and playing too, but from what you are describing it is beyond that, it is not the children's fault but their parents,who should be teaching them to be more considerate of others.

We have children across the road from us, they are pretty darn noisy too, they are fairly new neighbours, but honestly their parents are worse, they get up at around 6 every day, and make such a noise, i am an early riser so it is not such a big deal to me, but they slam their van doors, put on the radio loud and i just feel they are so inconsiderate of others trying to get a lie in at the weekends.

I have no answers Kirsten, such a ton of empathy. HUGS:love:

You know, I bet the parents of these children are unaware that their kids make so much noise. They have probably tuned it out, and don't even "hear" it. I would approach the parents nicely, and explain that you have some health issues that make you sensitive to noise.