Neighbours kids playing outside early…

[FooFightersFan]

It’s the school holidays and I appreciate that by starting this thread I’m going to sound like a right grump, but here goes…

Our garden backs onto two houses, both of which are owned by couples with young kids. All four parents work from home full time.

The kids (youngest 3, all primary school aged) regularly play outside in the gardens. The houses are new build with literally no plants or shrubs. Just lawn surrounded by fence / brick walls. The noise just bounces around as there is nothing to ‘absorb’ it.

I accept that they are noisy when they play because they are young, energetic and kids!

Now that the school summer holidays are well under way, it’s become apparent that getting up and out into the garden at 8am is their routine. And they shout. A lot.
Then at 10am they go inside and there is silence for a while.

I can deal with it, I have 2 kids and I appreciate that’s what kids are like.

and here’s the “but”…

My son works full time and his room overlooks our back garden. He works 12 hour shifts a lot of days, in hospitality. Most shifts mean he is home around 11pm and in bed by midnight. He’s getting increasingly fed up with the neighbour kids’ morning routine.

During term time, the outside playing is just at the weekend. But now it’s a daily occurrence due to the holidays, I really feel for my son, because being woken up 90 mins before he needs to be up for his next shift is pretty miserable.

WIBU to message or pop round to my neighbours and see if they can encourage their kids to be quieter (a big ask) or to not let them out before 9:00.

I’ve become that grumpy neighbour 😩

Disagree. Children are young and don’t have to behave as adults because they arnt. They arn’t being naughty - they’re just playing at a totally reasonable time of day.

Well said

Not poor behaviour but if they scream it certainly is. If my DD had tried that she’d have been back inside, sharpish.

Very annoying for you and your son. I feel for him. Of course he can't come home from a 10 hour work day and go straight to sleep, I know I can't. But there is nothing you can do and it would be unreasonable to ask them to be quiet as 8am is not that early for anyone else other than people working shifts.

Good earplugs all the way.

But you don't know how much noise they are making do you? OP says they are screaming which I, and quite a few others, feel is out of order especially at 8am.

Playing does not have to involve screaming although so many children (and their parents) don't seem to realise this

@ClaudiaWankleman · Today 12:30

Children screaming isn't a 'now they do it' thing - you probably just didn't realised you did it because you were a child, and in the intervening years didn't spend enough time around children to know.

@mydogisthebest

No, I have asked my parents in the past and they say I did not scream when playing and nor did my sisters.

I have spent plenty of time around children - friends' children, neighbours' children, living close to schools and it is only in the last 10 or so years that children seem to be unable to play unless the scream and screech.

Exactly this. ^ It's absolute nonsense that children have always had this habit of squealing and screaming constantly, and yes it IS a recent phenomenon. It boils down to poor parenting, from half arsed parents who CBA to entertain or discipline their own children, often because they are too busy fucking about on their phone.

I am gobsmacked at the posters on this thread excusing the hideous squealing and screeching sounds their children make, and claiming 'it's just what kids do!' NO it is NOT just what kids do. Not well-behaved ones anyway. As for telling people 'get a white noise machine then - or earplugs!' Why should people be forced to spend money on white noise machines and earplugs because you CBA to parent your noisy and disruptive children?

Parenting standards have truly gone to shit in the past 10-15 years. And the entitlement of some, and the lacklustre attitude they have about their childrens poor behaviour is shocking.

Not screaming isn't the same thing as behaving like an adult. I haven't seen a single post on this thread where someone has suggested children should behave like adults.

“These days” yawn. There have been badly behaved kids in every generation.

Badly behaved is not loudly playing outside and expelling energy all children have.

They are not running around a pub at 10pm screaming, they are in their bloody garden in the morning. They are children. Christ

😂 my mother was hit as a child, parenting standards haven’t gone to shit, you are just being hyperbolic and sat on a high horse.

Very ironic comment as there is nothing more entitled than expecting everyone to tiptoe around you.

Loop earplugs are not cheap but worth every penny, highly recommend!

Yawn. If you think there's a need to scream at 8am outside you're half the problem. Yawn. Christ.

No one says there’s a need. I just don’t care when other peoples children do it.

Absolutely “yawn”. Very bored of all these “parenting these days” comments as if parenting has always been perfect 😂

I understand. My partner works nights. I got home from work today and he was awake. I asked him why he was up and he said he could hear next doors kid playing and couldn't sleep.

Not much we can do about it though, he will sleep when he can

I can’t believe this thread is OP being so pent up about how much sleep her adult son is getting. Talk about overbearing.

8am is fine to play normally in the garden but screeching their heads off is not ok at any time of the day.

So it really depends if they're making more noise than ordinary 'child' noise.

8am is normal daytime hours. Shift workers are often affected by daytime noise but for another person 8am might be fine if they have just finished work but 10am a problem. As people work all sorts of hours I think you can only go by keeping noise to a minimum in night time hours to suit the majority. He should buy something to block or cancel the noise.

8am is not that early. And if it’s becoming apparent that’s their routine, they’ve probably deliberately chosen that time as they’ve been up since 6am.

You can ask them to be considerate and not scream but really I think white noise/ear plugs etc is a better idea.

Presumably this doesn’t happen in the cooler school holidays/weekend months so really I would just suck it up.

Bed by midnight and up at 8am is literally fine! Would have sympathy if he was a shift worker coming home at 4am or something…

Very bored of all these yawn comments. People should have enough decency to get their kids in.

You need to get him some earplugs. My DH works permanent nights (milkman) and the only way he can sleep during the day, especially in the school holidays is with earplugs.

Come on, what would you do if you lived by a busy road? Ask the cars to stop?

Get their kids in!!!!! I’ve heard it all now. Screw the vitamin d and get them on their iPads!

Grow some resilience. You clearly have none

No, but if someone idled outside and randomly beeped their horn then I'd be annoyed.

Someone idling outside will move on soon enough. A family using their own space might take a bit longer to do so.

Youre saying it like it didnt bother you to be woken up at this time. Im sure you would have wanted them to do it later. Its important to respect neighboors, the other day I went to yell at a guy who decided to moan his loan at 6:40 am. Next day, he started after 8:30.

Im not a morning person, so I agree that screaming at 8 am is early. Since they have the right to do it, I would go and nicely ask if its possible. I used to live in a large appartment building and my neighboors had a baby who was napping in the middle of the day, she nicely asked me if my son and his friend could play elsewhere and because she was nice, I told them Obviously, kids have the right to play in the middle of the day, but I didnt want to spoil our neighboor relationship.
So if these people are decent, they would try to accomodate you.
And for people who suggest earplugs or to stop moaning, I wear earplugs, close my windows and I still wake up with the noise. There are some better earplugs out there, but your son would have to try different ones.