Should children stop playing in the back garden after say 8.30pm?

[Owlingate]

You know most people don't let them out in the morning until 8am or 9am at the weekend? Does the same apply for the evening? Mine are trying to sleep in the back bedroom and next door's four year old is yelling and banging her toys on the concrete...

I do tend to get unreasonably annoyed about things disturbing my children's sleep but would I BU to ask the parents to keep her quiet? she should be in bloody bed

Just so not by stealth - we live in really small terraced houses so can hear every noise in every room not just back garden.

use it as an ideal time to catch up on your hoovering and bonfires.

"yabu

yet again this "early bedtime" UK thing

tough! although even mine would be out of the garden by that time

get a detached house! "

Porcamiseria, surely whatever is the norm in the society you live in is acceptable - I'm guessing you're either on the continent or originally from it? Ok, maybe the norm over there is a later bedtime, and later to rise - surely then you'd be upset/cross if someone allowed their children out into the garden early (7-8am) to play? For my DD that is a normal time to be awake. Would I be unreasonable to let her play then? Not really, unless I was aware that most people who lived around me would still be asleep then. If you know that most people around you have sleeping children - whether at 7pm, 9pm, 7am, whatever - then surely you would try to keep your children quiter than during the day?

It's not 'oh the early bedtime thing again' it's whether it is reasonable to let a child make large amounts of noise in the garden when most children are in bed.

None of your business what time she goes to bed (within reason, if you had genuine welfare concerns I mean).

My mum used to keep me up late in the summer, having had a siesta. Far better that than trying to manage an under-5 in the sun and the heat.

I digress.

It would be neighbourly of them to not allow their dd to play noisily after 8pm, partic. if your DCs have to be up for school or whatever.

A quiet word, if they are reasonable, should suffice.

OTOH your DCs need to be able to sleep though a bit of summertime al fresco noise. It reminds me of this

Galena

funnily enough I dont see early bedtimes as the norm! where I live is pretty multicultural so even if I go to the playground at 8pm there are some (usually non English) kids there

I can see that loud music at 12 midnight IS unreasonable. but I dont think a kid playing in the garden at 8.30pm is!!!!

sometimes my baby is napping and next door decide to do their lawn, nowt I can do about that either.

It was the tone that 8.30 is sooo bloody late, well its not really.....

DS1 age 14 in bed by 9pm Sunday - Thursday
DS2 age 9 in bed by 8pm Sunday - Thursday except Wednesdays when due to cubs it is 8.30.

Weekends and school holidays a little more flexible, but a 4 year old should be in bed.

I understand OP's point - we have a neighbour with four boys under ten and in the summer they are out in the garden every night until gone nine on weekdays and past 11 at weekends.

The screaming and shouting is relentless for hours on end - all of the neighbours are sick to death of the noise. I can't reasonably expect their parents to keep four healthy, active boys indoors on a lovely evening nor would I ask them to.

I just wish they would keep the bloody noise level down!

8.30 is OK but anything after 9 is probably pushing it on a weeknight, especially if the kids are being exceptionally screamy. Why would anyone want to listen to that? I know I wouldn't.

YANBU, my kids are not allowed out before 10 or after 7.

Perhaps you could take a tip from my neighbour and shout for her to 'shut the f* up' like he did during half term when we had the paddling pool out, at lunchtime.
It's improved our neighbourly relationship no end as you can imagine .

I have 5 DC/DSC so it is hard to keep them quiet, which is why they were are only allowed out during the daytime.

Don't be ridiculous ,You can't expect people to be silent after 8.30pm!!
Why do you think a 4 YO should be in bed at 8.30? Presumably she is a pre-schooler ?

On school nights bedtime is about 8ish, on weekends and holidays though it is whenever he crashes/I have had enough.

my 1 and 2 year olds are in the garden chasing the rabbits round til 9 most nights. they dont seem to need much sleep, they are still up at the crack of dawn. I thought any noise up until 11pm was acceptable according to environmental health. Although i can't remember where i got that from

my 1 and 2 year olds are in the garden chasing the rabbits round til 9 most nights. they dont seem to need much sleep, they are still up at the crack of dawn. I thought any noise up until 11pm was acceptable according to environmental health. Although i can't remember where i got that from

sorry

oldandgrey - I don't tink the OP was asking anyone to be silent, just to keep the noise down. Which after 8.30pm I don't think is unreasonable. (unless it's a one off social type occasion) there's really no need for it. Even if they're school age by 8.30pm they're going to have had at least 4hrs to be outside running around buring off energy.

They should have taken her in to bed, because it sounds like she was tired.

But in general I think it's fine for children to play in the garden until quite late, we so rarely get good enough weather for children to play outside in the evenings it's lovely when they do. In a couple of months the nights will start drawing in again.

belgo - so is it ok if I let my DS's go and play in the garden at 6.30 tomorrow morning if it's as nice out there then as it was this morning??

as long as he's not making loads of noise, I don't have a problem.

well I don't think it's reasonable at all. Children make noise.

I would no sooner let my children play out in the late evening or early morning than I would mow the lawn at those times (ok I don't actually have a lawn now but you get my drift . It's about consideration for others that live around you IMO.

There are plenty of much more sociable hours (even for school aged children) to play outside making the sort of noises that children make.

blimey o'reilly

do people really expect their neighbours to observe a curfew? mine are outside until I say it's time to come in

if they are screaming and fighting I go out and Speak To them and they shut up for a bit

no WAY would I observe some stupid effing crap about not being out after 8pm or 9pm or whatever

if people want monastic isolation, they can bugger off out of my street

not a curfew - just common courtesy - we don't all have a choice to live ina deatched house you know .

The OP says the 4yr old was yelling and banging toys on the concrete.

I wouldn't want to sit in my house after 8.30pm (once my kids are in bed) and listen to someone elses child making an absolute racket.

Fine make all the noise you want during "normal" hours of the day - but just because it's still light doesn't mean it's an invitation to make as much noise as you want.....

I mean - 4am it was getting light here the other morning.......perhaps I should have gone out and started singing

Well from what i have just read on environmental health pages, although you cant make as much noise as you like between 7 and 11, these hours are considerd acceptable for noise. Noise from Children is not considerd a problem by them at all. So ill keep letting mine out to burn some energy for as long as i like, the neighbours ca join me or avoid me, so long as they dont moan to me.

I really don't give a shite what it says on the Enviromental health pages - it's common courtesy.

Of course making noise up until 11pm is fine if they're having an occasioal BBQ or whatever, but making noise (or letting them make noise) just because the law says it's ok isn't on imo.

god yes how annoying

I don't think you can really expect quiet until 10ish on a week night tbh.

Permitted Noise Levels

There are three new permitted noise levels:

Time of day
Specific hours of day
Noise level

Daytime
07:00 - 19:00
LAeq 41dB

(7.00am - 7.00pm)

Evening
19:00 - 23:00
LAeq 37dB

(7.00pm - 11.00pm)

Night
23:00 - 07:00
LAeq 31dB

(11.00pm - 7.00am)