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?

Totally yes to this response!

Definitely Jean Paul Sartre.
Regardless of who said it and when or why they definitely had camping in mind

Wow.. okay so..yes you are being unreasonable.
Earplugs will help but if its really bad ask if you can move to another pitch. I don't think it's fair to expect the family with the screaming toddler to go home, as other's have said it may be their only holiday for the year.

If you haven't got children then there are loads of adults only sites around. You can also find sites that have well spaced pitches that reduce sound annoyance.

You could have been better prepared and there are other options available to you other than expecting them to go home.

Yeah fab, so what exactly do you expect parents to do when they have a young child who is struggling to sleep? Toddler sleep can be unpredictable so a good sleeper at home might be a terrible one at a campsite. The parents are probably doing their best to settle the child down but you wouldn't necessarily hear them if they are speaking quietly to the child and of course, the child is screaming loudly. It's utterly ludicrous that people think that a child has an 'on/off' switch when it comes to meltdowns. "Ooh please stop crying, there is a family in the tent next door who want to send us home because their sleep is being interrupted" and as if by magic, the crying stops! We all know that this isn't how it works (if only). OP, you are camping, you are going to hear other campers, if the noise was someone pumping tunes then I'd totally agree with you. You can turn speakers off and the behavior is intentional. OP, maybe be a bit less entitled and a bit more reasonable. You know for next time that camping isn't for you. Lesson learned, move on.

See if you can move your pitch.

I must’ve seen “it could be the parents’ only holiday all year” six thousand times on this thread. It could be EVERYONE’S only holiday this year. It shouldn’t be that everyone’s holiday gets ruined because a set of parents decided to inflict the misery they live with on everyone else.

Unfortunately when camping, at night, in a tent, on a site with a lot of other people, any noise you make is going to affect all the others around you. Sorry if you can't bring yourself to be considerate of others, and seem to think the world revolves around you.

@rainbowmilk you hit the nail on the head. It could be everyone's only holiday that year. It's not much to ask that people are considerate of others on a campsite.

I think if it’s an isolated crying incident then it’s something you have to suck up, kids are kids. If it’s clear the child is going to be routinely waking loads of strangers up all through the night every night, the parents need to start adulting a bit and leave the campsite out of respect to the other families tbh. They’ve picked a completely unsuitable holiday for the type of child they have, and need to deal with the problem.

@Dontcareforthehaters if you have a child whose sleep is so disturbed by camping then that is not a happy child. In which case, camping is not for you, and you should move on.

I’d be screaming if someone forced me to go camping too… can’t imagine anything more bloody horrible

@BoffinMum that sounds completely reasonable to me. If only for the child's happiness.

Don't be such a horrid stuck up human and learn to accept the surroundings in the world kids scream, kids are loud, kids sometimes play up, kids sometimes are unsettled, some kids have autism which brings about sleep problems and that's just a fraction of the difficulties they face daily! some kids have other disabilities some kids have high sensory issues some kids have night terrors some kids are maybe having a hard time for any reason...for example because maybe there parents have recently separated or maybe one of there parents recently passed away or really it could be absolutely anything you never know so maybe not judge and expect people to keep there children locked up at home seeing none of the world because people like yourself can't be bothered to listen to a little bit of kids been kids noise and well because quite frankly it doesn't fit in with your world like seriously kids are part of the world so suck it up and deal with it!! I can assure you that the parent or parents of that child will most likely be doing all they can to help settle and calm there child and probably already feeling just as tired as you are yet still trying to deal with it to the best they can so maybe for a second take a step back and think of others and not be so critical and judgemental.... Here is an idea you don't like it then go camp in an isolated place where you will most definitely hear the sound of your own nagging negative voice

Wow how fantastic to have a car like yours

I think it sounds like we’ve been lucky but have been camping numerous times as a group of families or just us and never been woken or disturbed by a screaming child. Taken our youngest as a 6mth old camping but fortunately she has only started screaming at spiders now she is 7. Most campsites I have been on everyone settles down about 11 as generally most of us have been trying to knacker the kids with outdoor activities or do that fine judgment about drinking enough alcohol or beverage of choice to sleep without having to get up and trek across to the toilet in the middle of the night.

One of the earliest memories I have is camping as a toddler and making too much noise so my parents took us all home.

The problem is camping in tents is that you are going to hear every single noise being made on the campsite at one time and although I think camping is a bad idea if you are taking children who you know are gong to make noise or if you are planning on coming back to your tent drunk, you need to realise you will hear these sounds and if you are sensitive to noise then camping in a tent is probably not for you.

I take scouts camping and have become used to hearing every noise but you couldn't pay me to camp as part a holiday.

Agree with boffinmum too. Fine if it's an isolated incident everyone should suck it up. Several nights in a row the parents need to take the child home.

We were subjected last night to the people in a hired campervan leaving their engine running from 8.30pm until 00.30. Made me so angry. It was so annoying. Had just about plucked up the courage to tell them to switch it off when they did. So rude and anti social.

could not agree more

THIS IS WHY I DONT DO CAMPING!

theres no justification for selfish behaviour

If you have a toddler screaming why doesn’t a parent go in bed with them till they are quiet? I’m assuming parents leaving child to self soothe? Most toddlers don’t scream when they have a parent snuggling them.

Did you miss the sentence where I mention the unpredictability of toddler sleep? Thinking more broadly about toddler sleep and, using your flawed logic, would you suggest that a family moves house if their child has interrupted sleep because "they are not a happy child" or, you no longer travel in a car/pram/on public transport for the same reason, the list could go on.

It's camping, you are going to hear noise. If that doesn't work for you then choose a different type of holiday where you are not sharing space so closely with others.

Not a hard concept.