AIBU to struggle with neighbours' children screaming while working from home?

[fld]

One of the few things I am not looking forward to the next few days are screaming kids.

Two families that moved late last year and earlier this year have 5-6 kids between them and all they do is scream! They run outside and scream. As the properties are in an odd shaped quadrangle, their screams bounce off the walls. Making the screaming even more intense. The kids’ ages, c3-9 years old.

My job is hybrid, so didn’t get this issue last summer as properties the kids live in - one didn’t have kids and the other had kids and behaved.

I had to close a window to keep the screaming down. There is no way I would close a window when it’s 31c.

I do wish parents would tell their kids that screaming is not acceptable. My work is two thirds on calls ti various customers, other staff in other departments and my team’s colleagues. I can hear the screaming from wearing the call headset.

Any tips will be appreciated

I say this as a person who mostly works from home. The key is in the word - home. The other people are in their homes and can behave in them as if they are home. And that includes kids playing noisily outside. People at home shouldn't have to behave as if they are in a workplace. Good headphones cancel the noise for when I'm on calls and if the noise gets through then so be it.

what call system are using? Most have noise suppression and decent headset would mean you hear nothing else

weve just had some extensive renovations
and at times my work desk was vibrating and the noise was so loud and no one could hear a thing.

a decent fan would also be better than opening a window when it’s hot or you’re just letting hot air in

Well my company have closed down all their UK offices as working from home is more efficient, cost effective and attractive to employees so heading out to work would mean driving 3 hrs to Heathrow, getting a 7 hr flight and then a 1 hr transfer to the nearest office. Or I can just sit on my arse in the house I pay for and expect to be able to use it without listening to ill behaved poorly parented children screaming for hours on end. I don’t expect silence, I enjoy hearing the kids playing, I live really close to a primary school and it’s great hearing them have fun at lunch and in PE lessons. It’s shit listening to the 3 kids a couple of doors down who will be allowed to literally just scream shout and swear from 7ish in the morning till it gets dark.

Absolutely. There’s a difference between hearing children playing, and screaming constantly…

If it’s screaming in the literal sense then yes it is.

I will never understand why parents allow they're kids to scream, why?
My rule with my wee 7yr old is no screaming and no whiny voices. 😂

Erm, by your logic, everyone has the right to enjoy their respective homes without noise and nuisance… 🤔

I still hear these, they’re bloody hellish. I suffer from migraines and some antisocial asshole on our estate has one it always sets me off when I pass. Why would you be this person

Your work situation isn’t their problem though. They are enjoying their homes and gardens, burning off energy after school. It’s only 2 hours after school. Homes are for living, if you have an issue with it you need to work elsewhere.

No child needs to "scream" though, unless they are under attack/about to be attacked.

Kid’s scream. It’s what they do. Annoying at times but that’s life. If you don’t like it go to the office.

I don’t ‘allow’ my dd to scream as such. She has been referred for ASD and ADHD and she screams when playing without really realizing she’s doing it. I’m not going to keep her in on nice days, she needs to let off her energy and regulate after her day at school. My DS who is likely not ND doesn’t scream like her.

I WFH full time (remote working so no one goes into the office, although there is one) and when we first all moved here (new build estate) 4 years ago, the neighbour on the left had a girlfriend (still does) who has THE most feral kids. The girl, then aged around 12, would run around swearing at any adult she saw, would wedge herself under all our cars, (God knows what she was doing) and was just a horrid rotter. Once she started randomly screaming at my other poor neighbour to fuck off, sticking her finger up at her.

The boy, then aged around 8 or 9, was quiet but ALL he did was kick balls. One summer we would have literally 4 or 5 an hour booted in. I'd be on a teams call and they'd knock on the door asking for it back. I wasn't getting any work done.

The annoying thing about the boy was that he'd invite the entire neighbourhood kids to my neighbour's house, and one hot day, they were wild - they defaced the "no turning around" sign in our courtyard, deliberately ran through all the gardens, destroyed flowers (poor woman down the road who had spent ages growing sunflowers - destroyed in seconds) and just yelled and roared like savages. The amount of damage they did that day was incredible. The mother was drunk in the back garden.

Normal playing? Bring it on. I love polite kids. Sadly, so many kids are rude little brats these days. You have to walk past the kids playground in this estate to go anywhere, and every time I walked my dogs they would heckle me. They soon stopped when I told them to fuck off.

Back to the neighbour kids, thank goodness they stopped coming, as the neighbour bought his girlfriend her own house so she rarely comes by here anymore (she used to live 2 hours away). He refuses to live with her. Gee, I can't imagine why.

No real advice but you have my full sympathy.

Wear noise cancelling headphones and get a good fan.. problem solved!

Get yourself an air conditioner and close the windows. It’s a couple of hours in the afternoon - if you know that already try arrange most calls before.

😂I have 3 kids and I could/would not "tolerate" them screaming and nor should anyone else
Parent your dc people

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

The other people are in their homes and can behave in them as if they are home. And that includes kids playing noisily outside
So it's ok to have a big party every Saturday night? It's their home.

It's okay to have 5 barking dogs? It's their home.

Okay to do DIY at 6am? It's their home.

Being in your home doesn't give you the right to be selfish, inconsiderate and entitled.

I have this problem in the holidays. The acoustics mean that even though the kids are in next doors garden and im in the house in my office, it sounds like they're in there with me. My job involves highly confidential conversations and ive been asked if I have children at home with me whilst I'm working before, despite using a headset

No they don't!!

No, there's no need for screaming. Parents with children in built up areas with lots of neighbours should be teaching them to play and have fun outdoors without screaming. It's really quite easy to grasp.

Nah, you don't need to keep her in, just gently remind her every time she does it.

It's not a couple of hours though. School nights they're out from 4 - 10. Weekends and school holidays it can be 12 - 10, 1 - 10, sometimes until 11. These are all aged 4 - 11. They're not in their gardens either, they're out in the street.

I couldn’t stand it and would move . People are becoming more and more selfish these days with no thought about others at all .

You are getting a hard time on here - my kids didn’t scream when they were little. Regardless of whether you are working, trying to relax in the garden, doing a bit of gardening it’s still anti-social. I don’t know how you can solve the problem & with 6 weeks hols coming up it will only get worse. Don’t they ever go to the park?