Neighbour banging on window at 2yo playing in the garden!

[Ibytam]

This happened about 15 minutes ago. These neighbours aren’t very pleasant tbh, I have no idea if either of them work night shifts but it’s the only reason I can assume a person would bang on the window because of a child playing in their garden, I figure they must be sleeping.

Anyway, I wanted to know what others thought of this because my immediate reaction has been to get him inside, it made me feel super awkward and I’m the kind of person who’s overly polite. After speaking to my mum, who seemed furious, I now realise maybe that was the wrong thing to do. She says it’s midday and you can’t stop people from being in their garden during the daytime just because they work night shifts, something that is entirely their own choice.

I can understand if he was screaming overly loud or crying etc, or maybe even multiple children screaming. But he was just going around on his trike shouting ‘beep beep’ whilst giggling to himself. Our garden is also in an L shape and he was actually playing on the side that’s furthest away from their house too.

What does everybody else think about this?

I work shifts and a wee one playing beep beep would not bother me one bit. Bless! Kids, in general don't . Let him play. Your neighbours sound nuts ! I just put ear plugs in if I am on nights if they are shouting etc . It's good for children to be out playing out in the garden ! Fresh air, exercise etc

It does say "their garden" meaning the child's garden. This poster has read "their" as the neighbour's garden. The perils of plural pronouns!

A local village primary school nearby has a house in the school grounds. It was privately sold to a couple several years ago who were obviously well aware the house was inside the school grounds, and they are constantly making complaints about the noise from school children playing out at lunch and during PE etc.

Some people are just miserable. If you don’t like kids, move to a retirement village where they aren’t allowed. Your little boy wasn’t doing anything wrong, don’t bring him inside next time, they have no right to dictate how you use your property..as I found out when my neighbour continuously chain smoked out of his bedroom window which was right next door to my sons nursery. I could never open the windows as the whole room smelt of smoke. I was told I couldn’t do anything about it, so now I just get on with my life and if the neighbour has an issue I like to remind him of his smoking that he’s entitled to do. You should do the same OP.

@Saladleaves17 my neighbours on one side smoke weed and it comes through to our house sometimes , so I feel your pain. I have never said anything to them as they know everyone in the area and I suspect it wouldn't go very well. I just keep my windows shut when they do it.

They’re being ridiculous. I work nights occasionally and yes it’s a bit of a pain when you getting woken up during the day by people in gardens/post men etc but that’s my problem not theirs! I wouldn’t dream of asking people not to live their lives because of my work pattern.

Ignore them, miserable twats. I doubt any council in the country would take a noise complaint of toddler playing in the garden at midday seriously.

Next time smile and wave. He'll soon realise what an idiot he is.

As both the child and the neighbour are male, why do you think saying "his garden" would be clearer?

Time for pots, pans and a wooden spoon?

There’s not much they can complain about with noise being permitted during the daytime. They know this.

What a cheeky fucker. Banging so aggressively about a TODDLER PLAYING IN THEIR OWN GARDEN. In the daytime. On a hot day.

Next time, go straight over there and hold your head up high and confront him.

That’s absolutely bonkers

Love it when in rains when trying to day sleep 😂

It would more than "fall apart". It's just as well Dr's, nurses, surgeons, police, fire brigade HAVE to do ns or....................

Exactly. Like it or not, most people work during the day therefore that’s the norm and if your work patterns differ then the onus is on you to use earplugs, music etc to distract from the inevitability of daytime noise.

Asking neighbours not to use their garden and take their kids out to play is entitled imo.

If you live in a built up environment then a degree of give and take is the only way.

So the people having heart attacks, getting stabbed, house on fire or having a stroke at 3am shouldn't rely on emergency service workers because they can choose whether or not they work a ns. 😂

Didn’t say this at all tbh? My way of looking at it is like yeah, if you’re in a career where night shifts are part of your job then you need to understand that daytime noise will happen whilst you’re trying to sleep. It’s completely on you to either suck it up or invest in things that will help drown out the noise. It doesn’t mean you can try to dictate your neighbours use of their own garden, especially not when that neighbour is a literal 2 year old.

In response to a PP up thread, I do read the OP"s threads, not so much all the many posts that follow.
I did take it that you meant the child was playing in their ( the neighbour's ) garden, and that they weren't happy about it.

As I said, personally I would have no problem with neighbour kids playing in our garden, especially if our garden adjoined our neighbour's.

I was playing the devil's advocate which is, I think, a risky thing to do on MN!
As in, you're either with us, or against us.

If your neighbours are miserable people, and you took exception to them banging on their window to scare your child off, then I guess that's what you can expect unless you come to some sort of friendly agreement.

Yes I do think it's a shame, people can be so territorial and it must be hard for you @Ibytam

I read that the neighbour's dog destroyed your son's toy ball, could it be the neighbour's might be nervous of how their dog would react with your child, so young , in it's garden,?
Dogs are often territorial too.

Hope it all works out for you @Ibytam , it's a real pain in the arse when neighbours don't get along, but it does present an opportunity to teach your kids that not everyone thinks the same way and that we have to respect that.

I wouldn't make your child stay in the house either, absolutely not,

I would let him play out
A child needs to play out side but if I couldn't keep an eye on my young child when he wanders out of our garden and doesn't understand about boundaries, I would prefer to be with him.

I think I sound more like the kind of person who might ask my own two year old to stop making an inordinate amount of noise, if it seemed it wouldn't completely stunt their development. The OP has since clarified that their 2 year old wasn't making an inordinate amount of noise, but, you know, it can happen. I'd say to my child "Please stop setting off that foghorn quite so often." You wouldn't. Different strokes, eh. I'd probably be taking a foolish risk with my child's future.

No need.

Small children tend to sing "beautifully".

Get them to listen to the radio regularly and they will soon have a few favourite songs that they will happily sing aloud with an interesting choice of words. 😊

Your ridiculous neighbours think they live on a country estate ten miles from the nearest paved road.

Wave back next time they do this. Don't bring your child in. Your mum is right.

Actually you don't as the OP made it very clear her son wasn't being noisy.

Absolutely this.

The people trying to make excuses for the neighbours need to give their heads a wobble.

You can be considerate of others though and not just expect the needs of your child to trump everyone else, they are no more important than anybody else except in your eyes. If your child became ill one night, night shift workers would be responsible for his care and I'm sure you'd want them to be refreshed and not sleep-deprived in that circumstance. If you work for the NHS in most clinical roles you are required to work a combination of both nights and days and are only allowed to choose days only in extenuating circumstances. I think a calm conversation from both sides is needed with your neighbour. If he is belligerent or disagreeable to compromise, he is just an idiot and not merely sleep-deprived.

@Pleasantsort that’s disgusting. I have to say, I would much prefer cigarette smoke to weed any day but both are awful when you don’t smoke yourself and have to put up with it.

The thing that annoyed me the most when I complained to the council was they said ‘he has the right to enjoy his property’ and I said ‘well surely my baby has the right to enjoy his nursery and not be breathing in second hand smoke and I have the right to enjoy mine by opening the windows on a sunny day’. They couldn’t care less!

I have no issues with him smoking, but he has plenty of other spaces in his home he could do it that wouldn’t have directly impact my baby’s room at the time.