Screaming child in tent next door

[Sittininafield]

AIBU to think the parents are selfish knob heads. Fourth night in a row. Toddler screams from 10.30 till 11.30 ish every night and then periodically every couple of hours. Not sad baby crying but toddler tantrum screaming and shouting. I am beginning to think it is the spawn of satan. Why would you go camping if your child doesn’t sleep, and why wouldn’t you go home out of consideration for others after a couple of nights? They are quite now but I’m awake since the last screams at 3.30. Should I go and shake their tent in sleep deprived, demented re-wenge?

Last time I went camping was a holiday to Cornwall about 10 years ago. Our kids were about 6 and 4 so a bit bigger and we tried to be understanding but there was an extended family and 3 little girls in the next tent who were up at 4 am every day screaming and running around. We were trying to be really quiet at night, creeping about as these wee girls were in bed. Until one day we came back earlier in the day and the parents had the wee girls in PJs and were putting them to bed at 4.30 pm? Wtf?! We were a lot less quiet at night after that.

added to which the grandparents who were lovely and chatty to us to be fair clearly hated each other and when we’d be sitting out at night all we’d hear was them hissing venom at each other

omg never again

Me too! There’s not enough of them though. There’s a real market out there to tap in to.

FFS, there’s always one😀

The child was clearly distressed (behaviour is communication, after all), and if the parents were being responsive to the apparent needs of their child, they would take their child home to alleviate them of that distress in the morning. Chalk it up to experience, and try again when the child is a bit older and can rationalise the change of scenery and the sensory changes of camping.

If they already know they have a non-sleeping variety of toddler, then taking them camping is unreasonable and unfair on the child and everyone else on the site in the first place.

It's not a bad thing to draw a line under an experience that's clearly not positive for the children involved, especially when it impacts more than your family unit.

Nah sorry, camping is a communal affair and on a big site you will hear other people.

I've been camping with kids of all ages, loud SEN kids, younger shoutier kids... because that is what we can afford (and we enjoy it) of course we try to manage noise levels but sometimes -with the best will in the world- kids will be loud.

Aside from earplugs... There are so many choices of campsite... why not try and find one which is less family oriented and smaller/quieter next time.

Oh good grief. You're camping. You are essentially sleeping in a communal bed with whichever randomers have booked at the same time as you. You have zero right to be annoyed, noise comes with the territory.

Personally I wouldn’t say anything you don’t know them or there situation you come across as quite entitled complaining on a thread about a CHILD is madness and it says more about you than it does them, get a grip

Yeah, there is a reason we don't camp. Bad enough when you are dealing with a sweary meltdown at 11pm in residential area. That was just one night out of 14.

Never been to a campsite yet where I've not been worked in the middle of the night, although usually by other adults. It comes with the territory, I'm afraid.

Oh shit, we're between two other caravans tonight and DH snores at up to 60db. I have earplugs and I'm used to it, not sure about our neighbours with all their windows open.

Never been to a campsite yet where I've not been worked in the middle of the night

I’m intrigued.Tell us more.

@etulosba oops, meant "woken" 🤭.

Me too. Not a helpful response beyond I suppose if you go camping, you might expect this.

We're on a camping holiday at the moment, our first. We've been traveling around a variety of sites. I've discovered we all much prefer small family-run places, where people generally seem to keep to the silence between 10pm/11pm and 7am rule, we'll definitely stick to them in the future. We're currently in a touristy chain place which has 'entertainment' every night until 11pm and no enforcement of the silence. The tent opposite us appears to be a group of 7 solo teenagers (it's possible they have parents on site somewhere, on a different pitch but we haven't seen them), they stay outside their tent having loud conversations and card games late into the night. They annoy me much more than the families with young kids.

Also, all the campsites here have a curfew for driving on site, the barriers are locked overnight and you're stuck onsite/offsite, so no possibility to pack the car up and leave after 10pm.

You need to suck it up, it’s camping, you’re in a tent and by it’s nature it’s noisy. I think it’s really unreasonable to expect people to pack up and go home just because of a noisy toddler. Grow up.

Thank goodness for some sensibility

I have been camping many times and never once worn ear plugs.

As a veteran of Folk Festivals under canvas, no, you are not being unreasonable. The parents of the child should recognise that people need sleep and, whilst camping does allow more ambient noise, people do not appreciate screaming children as stupid o'clock in the morning.

Totally disagree with Ross. There are levels of noise. Yes if camping you expect to hear other people but screaming periodically through the night night after night is unacceptable whatever the reason. Camping is not working out for that family and if they were decent people they would leave.

Decent people would accept that sometimes babies cry no matter what you do and that parents still deserve a break away and that as grown ass adults they should have the problem solving ability to put earplugs/headphones in...

I remember camping at.Corfe Castle. A mother in the next tent sat outside every morning singing to her toddler from 5am!!!

I remember camping at.Corfe Castle. A mother in the next tent sat outside every morning singing to her toddler from 5am!!!

I remember camping at.Corfe Castle. A mother in the next tent sat outside every morning singing to her toddler from 5am!!!

that as grown donkey adults they should have the problem solving ability to put earplugs/headphones in...

Assuming they have headphones or earplugs with them.