Kids, trees, screaming and whistles.

[Anto2024]

A little background… Once upon a time… We moved into our home just over three years ago, we noticed very quickly that the neighbours children were loud.

Their trampoline was a few feet from our fence and they would, all three, bounce and scream until their hearts were content.

One afternoon their mother was shouting for their attention, asking why they weren’t listening, and I half jested to my partner that the children probably couldn’t hear her having deafened each other from the constant piercing squeals. I didn’t realise my own volume, and heard her say to the children, “think of the neighbours!”.

Cut to the next day, and mother ushered the children onto the trampoline, encouraging them to play a game that involved a lot of screaming, which in itself didn’t bother me, but the day before there seemed to be a brief concern about the level of noise, and now there was none at all, which made me wonder if this was now being done to be an annoyance.

The children steadily grow more obnoxious by the day, probably not helped by what seems to be a lack of attention from the parents, but there we are.

They are now friends with our direct neighbours children and so last year, kept appearing in the corner of their boundary and ours. We raised our fence a little this spring so they couldn’t see directly into our home but now they scale the tree just behind that raised fence and can see across pretty much our entire garden. I don’t care that they’re there, and to a degree can block out their incessant racket, I just don’t appreciate our privacy being encroached upon.

I’m not sure there is any talking to the parents as I think they hate us for daring speak about their little darlings screaming habits, (so much so one of them has now been given a whistle) but it does feel better to type this out.

I cant stand screaming kids normal kid playing is fine all kids make noise but some just take it to far and sometimes if you speak up 9 times out of 10 the parents will say sorry he or she has SEN as if its an excuse.
Could you move op.

How old are they - they should give this up in favour of gaming soon.

I'm in a similar situation too. Ours play out the back and now also have a humungous pool. Add to that the Dad who smokes weed from 7am-11pm that stinks the house out - it's all a delight. And I honestly have no problem with children playing, it's the sheer volume. My DS would have been told to quieten down. But they would never have been that loud because they just wouldn't. ....The shouting at each other when they're a couple of feet apart 😩 I know if said something it would be "oh. It's just kids playing.... " but no, imho, it's not. Even the parents normal talking voice I can hear the entire conversation clearly. They'd never hear ours. Drives. Me. Nuts.

I think I overheard the youngest saying they were 5 and the eldest I believe, is 11. The other, somewhere between.

At the end of the day, I have to accept it because we’re not moving and I doubt they will, either.

Play music... loudly. When their volume increases, so does yours until they either lose their voices or take a hint.

My neighbours always have their windows open and they have tiled flooring so it just echoes when they play their awful music loudly. So I always one upped them and played death metal until they shut their window or turn it down.

There seems to be a fixation with trampolines these days from the tiniest front gardens. I'm even seeing trampolines on balconies of all places. It's like anything that involves engaging with children and taking them to the park is just too much.

I'm now genuinely wondering if you live in the house whose garden backs on to my next-door neighbours' garden because this is all uncannily similar.

Except their kids wouldn't be up at 5am because they don't seem to go to bed until about 1am.

My neighbours also have a dog which to the best of my knowledge has never been taken for a walk and which is extremely under-socialised. I actually adore dogs and would love to be friends with this one, but it does not share that wish because it goes into a furious panic the moment it sees anyone who isn't one of the six people it lives with, because it never goes out and sees anyone else. Therefore it only has to hear me in the garden (not even speaking, just pottering around or sitting out with a drink) to come out and start barking and barking and barking at length. The fence is wooden and it can't even see me, but it aware of my presence and unhappy about it.

I kind of assumed the neighbours couldn't actually hear it from indoors or perhaps had gone out and it had free garden access via a dog-flap or something, because surely it would otherwise drive them nuts as well (when I had dogs I brought them in when they barked because it's massively annoying whether it's your own dog or someone else's).

But yesterday I noticed that the 20-minute non-stop barking session was taking place while the owner was literally sitting on his back step about a metre away from the barking dog. He'd just sat there listening to it, apparently unbothered.

Death Metal would be my choice of 'weapon' too.

Our bedroom wall backs in to our neighbours sitting room wall. The sound of bass that hammers through on Friday evenings mainly, drives me crazy. He of course denies that the noise comes from him.

I know this may get me told off, but I’m house sitting for my parents whilst they’re on holiday and have a similar issue. And in fact (from what I can tell one of them is just a stroppy madam who SCREAMS if doesn’t get her own way or her DSIS annoys her) the screaming is incessant, I had to have a little eavesdrop to make sure there wasn’t something more concerning going on.

Anyway, it’s warm so I have the patio doors open and I’ve taken to watching GOT; the sex and violence noises, together with the language seem to have stopped them playing out so late 😅

You are not being unreasonable at all. Even if the parent took umbridge with your comment, you were on your own property and her kids sound like hell hounds.

does your local council have a noise abatement team?

I would be ashamed and appalled if my child disturbed neighbours. But she wouldn’t because I engage and interact with her. We do crafts, go for days out, play together etc. too many people have kids then don’t want to interact with them. Wtf have them if you are just going to ignore them?!

See this annoys me. Children are children and they will scream (sometimes, it shouldn’t be all the time!), but who lets their children in the garden at 5am?! That’s ridiculous. I have three under 5 who LOVE the garden in summer, but I would never let them outside before 10am.

You are absolutely NOT being unreasonable and I would be having words with the parents. Maybe ask whether they would like it if you started using power tools at bed time!

You clearly don't have SEN children who stimm very loudly, its not an excuse its a valid reason.

The neighbours in question had two dogs when we first moved in. They'd be left to bark at the patio door for what seemed like an age in the morning and evening, school run I guess, but for the most part they were quiet.

I overheard the mother once say, "can you make sure insert dog's name is in its cage, uh, I mean room!". She was evidently embarrassed by making that statement out loud. I wouldn't personally keep any dog I had in a cage.

I heard the children, earlier this year, telling our other neighbour that they'd both died

By the sounds of it, they bought home a new puppy today, so pair that with the heatwave we are experiencing at the moment in sunny England, the children are super quiet, thank goodness!

Long may it continue.

Best of luck with your neighbours!