Kids screeching

[Vintagejazzing]

Is it my imagination or is there an increase in children who cannot play without screeching and screaming their head off. I'm not talking about ordinary 'children playing out' noise but ear piercing shrieking over and over.
I live beside a green and this Summer have nearly been driven to distraction some days by children doing this. Sometimes it goes on until 9 o clock at night, so not just younger children. No parent ever comes out to put a stop to it, so presumably they think it's ok. Am I just getting over sensitive to noise, or is this genuinely something new?

Not as bad as unreasonable neighbours, probably the same one demanding a months notice for BBQs!

Bad neighbours in a built up area is a bad combination!

the parents should take responsibility...but they dont!! They just think the little darlings are perfect and just let them do it. There is no respect for anyone else, we are all just meant to shut up and let the kids do what thy like. I have next door neighbours with 2 little!! who constantly play outside until late at night screaming and crying...and i mean literally shouting and screeching their heads off. They are a real nightmare to everyone.

Give them a break, I'm guessing none of us have lived through a pandemic as a child
How long is this card going to keep being played?

The pandemic isn't responsible for parents choosing not to teach their children to use an appropriate volume for the activity and location.

Can you imagine Mumsnet in 2030?
OP: My next door neighbor's teens are loud, shouting, disrespectful and seem to have no consideration for other people. I can hear the arguments through the party wall, and it's not one off arguments. All day I hear the teens and my neighbours shouting through the house about anything from toilet roll to who is in for dinner. AIBU?

Replies: YABU, poor little 16 year olds experienced a pandemic as children. Don't you know that meant that they should have had no boundaries for the last decade?
Stop judging the parents too whilst you're at it. They also had to live through a pandemic and one of the well known side effects of a pandemic is an inability to find the person you're talking to. Everyone knows the only way to communicate post-lockdown is to shout, scream and screech.

I agree. I have no doubt that Covid will continue to have some effect on society for a while to come. I have equally no doubt it will be used as an opportunity to excuse all kinds of rudeness, lack of parenting and laziness for years to come.

I was a kid in the 70s and did all the things you describe, but we were able to have fun doing them without constantly screaming and screeching.

This ^ can’t stand lazy parents who don’t want to pull their kids up for any sort of ill behaviour!

This ^ can’t stand lazy parents who don’t want to pull their kids up for any sort of ill behaviour!
Agreed.
Everyone parents in different ways, has different systems, different discipline approaches and children have different temperaments too, but expecting parents to teach and model appropriate behaviour is not a very high expectation.

If a parent isn't able to teach their children basic behaviours as a young child they're going to have a hard time when their child is a teenager.

YANBU my neighbor’s grandkids scream and screech it’s just awful. Three years later they still do it! I

@LolaSmiles I imagine this pattern will be going on long after 2030. Once those kids are adults, and then when they have their own screechers, it'll be, "yes but the parents were in lockdown when they were toddlers so how could they have developed the parenting skills to teach their own not to do it?"

I was just about to say the exact same thing.

I was capable of having a great time playing as a child without screeching and screaming. So were my friends. It's only been in these last few decades that kids being incapable of playing without screaming has been such a widespread thing.

SEN and similar issues aside, when people claim you 'can't' stop children screeching and screaming they're admitting a failing in their own parenting.

Seriously?? 'Supposed' to screech and scream?

I'm glad I don't live in your street.

Children that screech have one thing in common.
They are all other people’s kids.
😉😁😁😁

Have you read the thread? It's absolutely not true.

The only thing they have in common is lazy parents who play the "kids will be kids", "they should make as much noise outside as they possibly can"

Children that screech have one thing in common.
They are all other people’s kids.
😉😁😁😁

I don't think that's the case though. There an awful lot of posters on here who seem to think it's absolutely fine that their kids shout and scream.

Honestly I reckon most children will try the excessive shouting and screeching in their play at some point. Mine certainly did. What matters is how the parents deal with it.

If the parent response is to do something effective, whatever their chosen style/approach is, then that's fine.

If the parent response is to shrug their shoulders apathetically saying "but what can you do?", or worse insist it's entirely normal and reasonable for their kids to screech because it's impossible to play without screaming the neighborhood down, then that's lazy parenting.

It’s from memes apparently. I asked my son about it recently. Weird, sudden, squeaky noise that just suddenly comes out of their bodies without a warning or a reason. It’s TikTok or other online rubbish.

I think some of the posters criticizing others as 'Grinches' don't seem to realize there is a big difference between 'shouting and yelling' and 'screaming and screeching'. Shouting and yelling is normal in playing and in games to a certain extent. But continuous or excessive shrill high-pitched screaming and screeching is not. And most of us are talking about the latter when we're complaining. It's just not necessary.

All children will give out with a scream or screech now and again when playing, that's fine and I'm sure not what the majority of posters are talking about. And special needs aside, any child can be taught not to scream and screech continually. It just takes time, attention, and repeated corrective action on the part of the parent until the child learns that even 'loud play' has a correct volume.

I think some of the posters criticizing others as 'Grinches' don't seem to realize there is a big difference between 'shouting and yelling' and 'screaming and screeching'. Shouting and yelling is normal in playing and in games to a certain extent. But continuous or excessive shrill high-pitched screaming and screeching is not. And most of us are talking about the latter when we're complaining. It's just not necessary
This.

Children calling to each other when they're playing football on a grassy area near the houses - absolutely fine

Children shouting to each other as part of a game in a play area - absolutely fine

Children making typical child noise at an appropriate volume for the location - fine

Children in their back garden or playing out front screaming and screeching at the top of their lungs all afternoon because their parents can't be bothered to teach acceptable behaviour - not ok

Oh for god's sake. That's not an excuse. People can stop blaming the pandemic now.

Our garden backs onto a school playground. My husband has his office in the garden and can't have his door open when kids are out playing. General playing noise is one thing, but the screaming, oh my fucking God.

Three teenagers walked past my house last night linking arms and screeching. WHY???

Presumably the school was there when you moved?

I'm old, you could always hear local schools at playtime

Our garden backs onto a school playground. My husband has his office in the garden and can't have his door open when kids are out playing. General playing noise is one thing, but the screaming, oh my fucking God

Even if the children weren't unreasonably screaming you'd still have quite a lot of noise from that many children. A large number of children all using a playground-appropriate volume is always going to be noisy.

Yeah but back then (also old! lol) kids didn't used to scream like they do now. Some shrieking, yes, but not this prolonged/recurrent horrible pointless noise they seem to enjoy making now. I'm not even sure the screaming would have been allowed by the teachers when I was at school.

You're not being unreasonable. Anybody who thinks you are is one of the perpetrators. Those trampolines are the work of the devil.

@DataNotLore
Presumably the school was there when you moved?

I'm old, you could always hear local schools at playtime

As you can see from my post I did say general playground noise was to be expected. We have lived here since 2012 and the screaming has been in the past few months.