Loud, entitled families at the beach

[Tuxedomaddness]

Aibu to think they are so self absorbed. 5 windbreakers, take over so much space and then play loud ball games,screaching. Performative parenting at it's worst. Just so feckin rude. No wonder their kids are spoilt brats.

What's an acceptable number of windbreakers then?

I think the sun's gone to your head!

Sounds like your average family get together at the beach on the hottest day of the year. How dare they have fun 😊

Lighten up.

Chill out, you don't own the beach. Perhaps they think.your boring.

People ‘watching’ on a beach can be very entertaining, as long as you’re not close enough to be hit by a ball, frisbee or flying sand. In Cornwall during last year’s heatwave, 2 very drunk men (with a ghetto blaster playing that awful beat beat beat music) plonked themselves next to us on beach. We got up and moved. Great move as the rest of their clan soon arrived (about 10 of them). After building Carnarvon Castle with their wind breaks, no joke they used about 6, they really kept us (and most of the beach) entertained - drunken paddle boarding or when 2 of them decided to climb up the very steep sand dunes, rather than walk along the beach. It was hysterical. Took over 30 mins, stumbling, falling, tumbling, stumbling, falling, tumbling. The singing and dancing was a bit annoying but I have a great pair of noise-cancelling earphones. Really don’t understand why some people can’t have a good time without music, not even in the background.

Today on the main road heading towards our beach there was literally an army of teenagers and families processing to the shore. All arrived on the train. We knew the beach would be rammed so we avoided it. You can't really be on the beach yourself yet complain about others doing the same thing.

I feel your pain. My pet hate is these huge tent like things where you fill the four corners with sand and use four poles to create a huge gazebo like structure that takes up about ten metres square and obscures any view for anyone unlucky enough to be sitting behind them.

So a family come to the beach, well prepared with windbreakers etc, their kids are playing & enjoying themselves. The parents are actually parenting & teaching their kids & all you & others can do is take the piss out of them. Really? Sounds more a YOU problem than a THEM problem. It's going to be busy & noisy at the beach on a hot day, if you don't want to see others enjoying themselves maybe stay at home & sit in your garden. I'd totally get it if they were mortal drunk, swearing & shouting or fighting, smoking weed etc & the kids were feral but to complain because children are playing & a parent is being a parent is a bit much & makes you sound like a misery kill joy.

Performative parenting is exactly what this is OP, and it's so irksome!

Honestly I don’t think the comments apply to 90+% of families. There’s what I’d describe as normal level and type of kids and family noise and activity, and the OTT type.

I don't believe in capital punishment, but I might make an exception for people who play loud music on a beach.

Absa-bloody-lootly!

i’d rather have all four wisdom teeth yanked out without painkillers than go to a beach on a hot bank holiday!

People need to shut up and be quiet instead of being noisy and annoying other people.

No they don't.

Yes they do. There is no need for noisy, annoying behaviour at the beach or anywhere else.

People don't have to sit in silence. They are allowed to talk and kids are allowed to play.

Kids can play nicely. People are allowed to talk but they should not do so excessively loudly.

But who decides what behaviour is at the expense of others and what’s fine?

@OonaStubbs says having fun is ok as long as you’re not talking too loudly.

When I’m out and about with my family how do I know my conversation volume meets @OonaStubbs ’s totally subjective and made up standards?

It sounds bloody exhausting to go round calibrating mine and my children’s behaviour based on what 50 strangers at the beach might think of us. Much better to use my own judgement as to what’s reasonable and also have a fairly decent tolerance for other people’s behaviour - recognising that we’ve all got our different, subjective standards of what’s reasonable and what isn’t. Live and let live and all that.

Are you talking at a volume greater than what is necessary to communicate? If so then that is too loud.

I live about 2 miles away from our nearest beach, it always amazes me that there is literally miles of beach yet everyone huddles together in one place, right next to the pier. OK it's close to the beach shop but if some went a bit further out its a couple of minutes walk to the shop but you get loads of space to yourself.
I'm doing a volunteer beach clean soon, I have no doubt there will be lots to clear up.

@OonaStubbs often, yes, my volume is louder than purely necessary to communicate, eg:

• laughing
• excitement/enthusiasm
• trying to get my 4 year olds attention
• cheering my 4 year when he catches a ball
• chasing my 4 year while pretending to be a monster
• Etc etc

Human emotion and interaction doesn’t tend to happen at perfectly modulated volumes.

Well no, I agree, but how come most families don’t draw criticism. Presumably because they are “normal” sounds of excitement as fun as you describe, all good! But surely you can recognise the difference between this and the annoying over the top volumes - screaming for example- that is just unnecessary). I’m sure most people criticising on here are just meaning the selfish few?

I must be getting old but I can’t think of anything worse for me personally than to be sitting on a crowded noisy beach in this heat. Let others enjoy it and find somewhere quieter to go?