Neighbour's child keeps screaming and crying

[Mango77]

In the small block of 6 flats next to our house, several days a week, for about a year. Some families are noisy, kids cry, some make a fuss about nothing, I know that and don't want to be an interfering busybody. But it's going on and on. We've lived here a year and it only stopped in the winter, not sure if we just couldn't hear cos windows were shut or poss her DH was away for a while.

I rarely see her and I'm not sure which flat she's in. At the moment we are on friendly but distant 'hello in passing' terms. If she was my age and middle-class and I was confident and drank alcohol I could go round there with a bottle of wine and say, "Are you OK? Let me babysit when it all gets too much." but she's about 30 years younger than me, I'm quite shy and don't drink, she's working-class and rather aggressive in her manner and her DP is a scary bodybuilder type. My accent makes me come across as patronising (probably I am) and she would almost certainly tell me to f**k off.

I know what you're going to say. "Phone social services."

But they would know it was us because no one else lives near enough to hear. SS would do nothing and we would be in danger from her DH. Also we want to get planning permission soon for changes to our house and they could easily stir up all the other neighbours to object. We want to live here for the rest of our lives. If I report her, we WILL have to move, probably after years of hell from her.

AIBU to do nothing? WWYD?

How quickly some people get horrible on here. OP, could you ask Childline or similar for advice, describing exactly what you hear? They are probably capable of escalating it to SS if deemed necessary.

It could be argued that the replies called out the OP for a horrible classist post.

I would argue that the replies are more classist if anything, than the OP. The OP does not allude to the fact that she sees net neighbour as beneath her - more that she sees them as different to one another. Some of the replies, however, are clearly demonstrating that people believe that working class are inferior to middle class. Hence people getting worked up about it.

Humans have a natural propensity to categorise and we do this in all sorts of ways. Sometimes by species (not offensive) and sometimes the categories can cause more offence - for example sexuality or race. What is weird though, is that people seem more comfortable with discussing ethnicity or sexual orientation than they do social class. The act of categorising people is in itself not harmful. Allocating prejudice to that category is though. I don’t think the OP did that.

The OP does not allude to the fact that she sees net neighbour as beneath her - more that she sees them as different to one another.

I think you and many others have very different interpretations.