busy body neighbour

[dmo]

my neighbour is an old lady she lives 4 doors away from us
i am a childminder

aparent came in tonight to pick their child up and told me that my neighbour is talking to everybody about the noise from my garden (children running, bouncing balls, laughing etc) and said its outrages the noise of the children running up and down the decking etc.
she also asked the parent how much i charged and said i was a daylight robber and things will be put in place to stop me

feel cross and dh is in america working so fuming on my own

enviromentle health wont do anything if the noise is within the daytime, i checked

Definitely make your first stop the old lady neighbour and be nice: say you've heard that the noise bothers her and you will (perhaps) not play music in the garden any longer or something. If you treat people as though they are the enemy they will act like it, if you go in all nice and reasonable it's harder for a person to be an arse with you. Of course if she does turn out to be a grim old troublemaking bat then at least you Know and at least you tried and can then go and buy a lot of toy drums for your charges....

good idea maybe i will pop round tomo as i only have 1 child

She cant do anything legally - obviously nosy old bag jealous you have things happening in your life. The only conversation she has had that day was with those parents probably. We had a neighbour like that - well - she is still here - but everyone knows what she is like though - try not to take it too much to heart... even our old bag found someone new to focus her attention on eventually... unfortunately her trump card is that she is old, and therefore can manipulate this to her advantage and look the victim. As a parent as long as my childminder did a good job I wouldnt give a stuff what some random neighbour said who lived near the childminders house... I'd be too busy at pick up time stealing my attention for the full day of housework and childcare awaiting me at my own home

my crazy ma used to love the sound of children playing a few gardens away.

but i can't myself find anythign wrong with the sound of children playing.

Business noise it may be, Fizzy- but how is it different from the noise made by a large family? The OP herself has explained that she only has 6 children at any one time. I know families who have 10 children all of their own production. Are you saying this is no longer allowed?

Sorry, missed your later post, Fizz.

I expect when this old lady was young, families of a dozen children were common. The people who were old in her day just had to put up with it.

Best wishes from me too DMO. I am a childminder too ,I think I would speak to her even if to acknowledge that you know that she has spoken to the parent.

I would also say to the parent that you are dealing with the issue.How did the parent pass this information on? Was it done in a friendly way or berating way?

Children are allowed to make noise.You need good relationships around you too. If you can, be at peace with your neighbours.

I am off to nursery now but let us know how you get on DMO.I will look in on the thread later.

parent said it in a laughing way
dont think she took notice

she came into toddler group today (at church opp our house) to ask whos car was parked in front of her house and could they move it (she doesnt have a car and its terraced houses so no drives etc)

was going to talk to ther then but i was busy working and couldnt be fagged