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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Neighbourhood Children outside

93 replies

Tryingtostayyoung · 22/07/2016 19:50

Ok so totally not sure if IABU or not. Since it has been light out in the evenings there seems to be a group of kids playing out front, I live down a little close which is off of another close which I suppose is where these children live. They are not in their gardens but running up and down our roads SCREAMING. Don't get me wrong I'm never ever normally a person that dislikes listening to child noise but is it unreasonable that at nearly 8 this is still going on and so loud that my DD can't actually sleep (I don't blame her, I wouldn't be able to either) they seem to be within the ages of about 7-10 and a few of them.

OP posts:

Hopelass · 25/07/2016 16:59

I'm completely with you op. I had my own thread about a very similar issue recently. It's so controversial but I don't see why hordes of children have the right to scream their heads off outside, disturbing people's evenings yet I don't have the right to be able to settle my toddler in my own house.
I played outside as a child with my friends. If we screamed and generally made a disturbance we were told to come in. It's about respect for other people and unfortunately it doesn't seem to be deemed important anymore.

CruCru · 25/07/2016 17:39

bumsexatthebingo Yeah, sorry about that.

RichardBucket · 25/07/2016 17:52

Wow YA-absolutely-NBU. Shame on the parents who think it's okay for their kids to be shrieking in the street

Lurkedforever1 · 25/07/2016 19:40

Continual high pitched shrieking isn't ok, but otherwise normal play noises are just that. It's entirely natural. What isn't natural is expecting everyone to work around your dc's bed time.

chilipepper20 · 26/07/2016 14:26

People seem to moan in every way about what little summer we have.

I understand screaming is bad. If I were the parents, I'd tell them to have fun without screaming. But every summer I hear people complain about children playing outside "late".

Open the windows. Enjoy summer.

Scotmumof2girls · 26/07/2016 14:31

YANBU the children in my street are the type that are never told no and simply run up and down not playing as I would call it but screaming and screeching at the top of their lungs. Parents need to tell them how to play properly and hat way they can play anywhere at any time.

I have a boy directly across he road and he's set up a basketball in the road just outside his house (we're in a cul de sac and his house is front garden and road between us) and just stands and bounces a basketball over and over and over all day and night shooting the occasional hoop. They know it vibrates the whole road into living rooms and is annoying and when my daughter told him it was annoying my dad his answer was that his mom told him to fuck off (my hubby) - one of those sits where it annoys plenty but no one wants to appear mean by saying So to them.

I feel your pain :(

SistersOfPercy · 26/07/2016 14:41

My kids are grown up now and our street has been middle aged/elderly for some time. We had new neighbours across the road and next door but one a few years ago who now have young kids.
if I'm honest, they make me smile. I lay in the bath listening to the 2 little ones arguing over the trampoline the other night, coupled with the "I"M TELLING MUM!!!" line. Something I've not heard for years.

One asked our Ocado man his name, age and favourite colour the other week

ExtraHotLatteToGo · 26/07/2016 14:42

I love seeing kids playing out. I don't mind then running around, playing with balls against the house, clashing their bikes down, chasing and shouting. What I do mind is the screaming that seems to be 'a thing'. It's constant and blood curdling. That and the absolutely vile way these kids are talking about other kids sexually and in great detail. The language/conversation is disgusting. I'm not talking about the repeated use of shit, wanker and fuck either

Kids mostly about 12-15.

Last summer it was pretty much everyday and every evening.

In the end we had to get the local police station involved and if we call them they'll come around and move them on - to the massive park 200 meters away!! But it's so constant I really can't be calling them all the time, even though they say I should

When I said about the language and discussions the police first said that its common these days for kids to swear, so I told him a little of the things they say and he was appalled. Truly shocked.

We live in a nice area, good schools yadda yadda.

ExtraHotLatteToGo · 26/07/2016 14:46

sop
We have that out the back from several gardens with pools, trampolines & half the county playing there!. It rarely bothers me at all. Very occasionally I'd like to knock their heads together, but maybe twice all summer

This other stuff out the front is a whole different league.

chilipepper20 · 26/07/2016 14:46

you mean, he's playing basketball? An actual game would probably be much louder.

I don't understand this complaint (genuinely). What would you like the child to do? he likes to play basketball, is outside not sitting in front of his game boy (or whatever the thing is kids play nowadays. I have just shown my age), and is engaged in a sporting activity. he is neither screeching nor yelling. The noise is a natural consequence of his choice of a rather normal sport.

Gottagetmoving · 26/07/2016 14:47

You can't blame OP. It is so rare to hear children playing out these days it probably comes as a shock.
It used to be all the time but I think people have got used to it always being quiet and the kids are so overwhelmed at being out they scream a lot

bungleknows · 26/07/2016 15:02

How old is your dd? Will you ever let her make noise or will you shut her in the house on summer evenings? Could it be that she can't sleep because it is light~it's very unusual for children to be bothered enough by noise that they can't sleep, though for parents it's easy to blame outside noise.

YANBU to be annoyed but you would be unreasonable to react or judge these children or parents.
Screaming is awful and one thing I hate though. Sure it will settle down when the kids get bored. At least you don't have drug dealers and dirt bikes

Scotmumof2girls · 26/07/2016 16:34

Maybe my complaint wasn't clear :) it's not the playing of basketball that's a pain, it's that it's the repetitive bouncing of a basketball - if he were actually playing it would be a mix of sounds - it's not it's just bounce bounce bounce, repetitive noises can be annoying and the vibration across the monobloc street is horrendous. When his dad comes out and plays with him and it's an actual game then it is absolutely fine. There are kids who shout and holler and bounce balls and are on trampolines (I've had two young ones and many nieces and nephews - I don't mind kids playing). It's he screeching and constant screaming and the repetitive bouncing (he has his own back garden but funnily enough parent don't want him doing it there...

TheUnsullied · 26/07/2016 17:32

I don't agree that the screaming is simply something we notice nowadays because fewer children play out. When I was a kid loads of us played out but if someone started screaming their parents were out quickly to stop them or bring them in. With so many of us out and a park at the end of the road, parents needed to react to screaming because a few times a year it was because one of us was genuinely hurt.

chilipepper20 · 26/07/2016 20:13

it's not the playing of basketball that's a pain, it's that it's the repetitive bouncing of a basketball - if he were actually playing it would be a mix of sounds

sorry, that just sounds like you are being overly sensitive to me because you are essentially saying you don't like how he plays basketball. I mean just imagine explaining that to another parent. No, it's fine if he plays a proper game, or bounces irregularly or shoots more often, but just not if he is bouncing at the pace he is bouncing at. Presumably, his parents are hearing/feeling the vibrations louder than anyone.

you didn't mention the screeching, which I would object to as well.

Scotmumof2girls · 26/07/2016 21:33

Sorry you think that I am being over sensitive and it was clear the screeching was other kids I was referring to. Repetitive bouncing in a street is very annoying and I'm pleased you've never had to experience wheat I have With the this. But I don't actually appreciate the tone of your message. But again I'm over sensitive. My point has sort of been missed in that I sympathise with op.

Gottagetmoving · 27/07/2016 08:10

I know what you mean scotmum and I agree. Repetitive bouncing/thudding can be bloody annoying. It's ok for a short while but if it goes on it sets your nerves on edge.
It's like when an alarm goes off for bloody ages!
My ds used to kick the ball against the side of the house and after 5 minutes I had to stop him and tell him to take the ball away somewhere where he couldn't annoy anyone.

sooperdooper · 27/07/2016 08:22

The kids in our street have a screamer, it's bloody annoying, but not quite as annoying as the adults who now also sit out in the street cackling and shouting at gone 10 every night when I want to get to sleep.

I actually want to move, it's so bloody irritating

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