Noisy children.

As we have 5 sons I am glad we lived in a detached house with no neighbours too near!

Play some loud classical music to drown them out ? then if they complain you can tell them why !

Depending on where you are with technology, why not invest in a set noise cancelling headphones. Better still get the ones that plug into your phone/tablet and listen to music. You shouldnt have to, but it would certainly help with the noise. Audio books are good too.

Summer is like bedlam in my lovely, quiet rural village:-

-drills, electric planers and other DIY equipment
-lawn mowers, high pressure washers, strimmers and like gardening power tools
-shrieking children
-radios played loudly
-dogs barking
-barbecue shenanigans.

I am fairly easy about most of it as I cut my lawn, had children playing out once and clean my patio annually. I've been lucky to live near quiet dogs kept in check by their owners.

The thing I really cannot stand is the selfishness of music played out of doors. It is never acceptable. We could all put our favourite music on the radio but refrain for the general good.

Really, all I want to hear is the gorgeous birdsong but life isn't like that.

Ann, i have every sympathy. We had the neighbours from hell, very unapproachable. But the worse thing was, the one lad skateboarded from noon til night, and believe me, that noise is totally grating. I asked if he could maybe stop at around 7 at night, as we are trying to relax then, especially in the summer, and mother agreed to tell him to stop. You can guess, not a chance. Its just an unfortunate situation, but the children do grow up and change their habits, but in the meantime you have to put up with it. As someone suggested, i would go out and play classical music to wind them up. Or wear head phones yourself and listen to something you like. Sorry there is no easy solution, i really feel for you.

I had to move house due to the noisy children who lived next door. A boy and girl aged around 7 and four. The girl screamed endlessly. I presume the boy was constantly teasing or bullying her. When she screamed their two large dogs would then start barking like mad. It was constant in the summer. I couldn't sit out in my garden, it was unbearable. The mother never intervened. I think she must have had ear phones in. When I moved I realised it was the right thing to do for peace and my sanity.

You have my sympathy. I live in the house I had my children in and I raised them to think of the neighbours when playing in the garden. I have neighbours with children where the children a pretty good and not very noisy but one door down a new family moved in and the racket is horrendous, screaming children and shouting parents. The parents have zero control over them and try to ‘reason’ with them, then shout when that doesn’t work. Ghastly! I hate to think what it is like for their direct neighbours.

I feel your pain,l couldn't sit in my garden at all last summer, dogs barking,kids screaming,ball constantly being kicked over my fence.the thing is these are all neighbours grandkids,left to run riot while grandparents are inside with their doors shut!l too have lived here all my married life,with kids and grandkids of my own,but I've never heard anything like the constant noise these days.

Personally I have every sympathy with this situation.
Like many other's, I have no problems at all with children playing and the noise that comes from it but over the past two years, in my street it's becoming intolerable.
As an example, yesterday, the football came out around 08.15 and the thudding carried on until lunchtime...the ball hitting walls, fences and vehicles. This occurs virtually every single evening too.
Siblings of our local footballer, scream and shout constantly.
Their parents do the same, every conversation is held by shouting and if on a phone, for reasons known only to themselves, the phone is on loudspeaker!
Approaches have been made to the local council and Police about the level of noise and occurences of what is actually antisocial behaviour and nothing has been done.
There's no consideration for other's whatsoever and sadly this seems to be a reflection of our times.
I actually live 5 minutes from a large park and a little further from some open spaces...a great place for youngsters to let off steam and as far as I'm aware, there's no reason the parents couldn't take the children there.
Two of my neighbours work shifts including nights and one of them actually sleeps at a relatives house in order to get some sleep.

Lilyflower

Your village sounds like mine!
I've bought noise cancelling headphones so I can sit outside in my garden and block out all the noise

annsixty I had the same for the whole of last year. Three children out from 9 every morning until it became dark. Screaming and shouting and kicking football. They have a huge garden and I think the parents told them to go as far away from their house as they could. Sadly, this means we can hear them all the time. Many afternoons I gave up and came indoors. The two lovely sunny days last week they were back.

i too have new neighbours that are very noisy with one girl about 6 years now , they constantly have garden parties even during lockdown , they had another one yesterday 3 / 4 / 2021 it started approx 1.pm and was still going at 9.30 when i gave up and went to bed to watch t/v lots of children screaming, that doesnt really bother me , but the awful loud music , and the constant thud of the deep bass makes it very uncomfortable , if you say anything your an old fuddy duddy , i dont know what to do for the best , i am 75 and my neighbour is approaching 90 , i feel sorry for her also , the neighbours that are the problem / he is an estate agent and she is a solicitor , it means we cant sit in our gardens in the summer as they have parties nearly every weekend

My daughter and family have the same problem with neighbours to the side of them. The shouting and screaming from the whole family can be relentless. I would allow that hedge to grow high and thick to help muffle the sound. As others have said, put headphones on to listen to music or audiobooks. Hopefully as lockdown eases, people will be able to go out more and you can enjoy some peace.

You have my sympathies. In my 30s, I lived opposite a huge brick retaining wall, in a cul de sac. Every boy in the neighbourhood (apart from my son!) came to kick balls against it, even in the dark. Drove me mad and I had to move. Noise cancelling headphones are very good.

How far away is the bottom of your garden? I would think a fence and a hedge would deaden the sound somewhat? Children will make a noise. I live next to a school and on a modern housing estate i would be surprised if there weren’t families making a noise.

I'm on full agreement annsixty. I was brought up to be mindful of the neighbours, but respect seems to be a thing of the past. And, as for sreaming being 'what children do' - rubbish! It's what children do if their parents haven't taught them that screaming doesn't get them what they want.

My neighbours have their son,partner and 2 small children living with them ( temporarily I hope ).
The whole family is noisy they never speak only shout.
It irritates the life out of me.
When the weather gets hot my uncouth neighbour and sons love to bare their chests, they will even go off in the car bare chested, tend the front garden etc.
They are actually nice people and reasonably intelligent but I wish they would move.

I would find the noise level you are describing troublesome and annoying too.

However, there is very little you can do about it.

Parents these days, perhaps it always was the case, become offended if you say anything and will definitely not attempt to control their children.

The attitude is "children are children and have to be allowed to play".

Yes, well neither you nor I am denying that - we are only asking to be able to enjoy our own gardens!

If you decide to speak to the parents, start by offering a compromise, for instance, "Obviously, your children enjoy playing in their garden, but I must admit, I find the noise very tiring.
Could we agree that they don't shout, sing or kick balls about between two and four in the afternoon, please? You see, I have to rest then.

If it is your fence, I think you can ask that the boy does not kick his ball against it at any time. If it is a party fence, or theirs, they can pretty much let him do what he wants.

If the fence is on your ground, I would simply take it down and put up wire netting that shrubs can grow up instead.

At least now they're back at school (after Easter) you can have a break from the noise. We used to live next door to 3 noisy children and the little girl was a terrible screamer; worse when they got the trampoline for them. Turned out that she had a form of autism (hence the screaming) which did help me bear it a bit better. But the only things that helped were: noise cancelling headphones, using the garden only when they were at school or away; and sometimes playing classical music really loud out of the back window. Funny thing was that the father came around and asked me to turn it down (!) to which I replied "I'll turn it down when you turn your children down". Nothing worked until they moved out. Another family now live there and they couldn't be quieter.

Hello Annsixty, Plenty of feedback on this subject!! We all have experience of this horror - unless we are rich enough to own a large surround of ground that keeps others noises away from us. I had to move house to get away from the same problem. But I also think it is a generation difference in lifestyle. I feel sure my children made too much noise for the elderly lady who lived next door to me. Se la Vie

I have the opposite problem! I live in a bungalow with other bungalows and elderly residents all around. I am much younger ( 64!) and get on well with my immediate neighbours. When i am in the garden it is so quiet, I rarely hear anything other than lawns being cut and during lockdown I would have loved to hear other people around me.

I envied people who spoke of street get togethers, chatting to passers by or seeing people passing by. All our lounges are at the back so there have been many days when I have not seen anyone or heard anything. It’s very odd to sit outside and feel totally isolated in the middle of an urban area!

Mind you, there is a yappy dog at the back which grates but luckily it is only outside for a short time. However, I suspect I would moan if my neighbours were very noisy, screaming children and repetitive bangs are really annoying.

May I put this into some perspective.
Like you @annsixty I had been waiting for a new hip, the NHS duly provided me with one in August 2020.
I had neighbours one side with 3 barking dogs and children, and the other side 2 barking dogs.
In September 2020 the NHS also duly provided me with a cochlear implant which meant I went from being deaf to hearing. My brain went into overload with noise. But I was so grateful to be able to hear those children playing. I can now listen to the birds singing too. Guess I will have to learn to put the dogs barking as well in the background as much as possible, and just be grateful that I can hear, it’s amazing !

I feel for you Annsixty. We had some very intrusive neighbours, the younger child had a netball, constantly being bounced on their patio next door to ours. I bought one too, and started bouncing it on my patio, at odd times. She stopped.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Noise cancelling headphones ordered and being delivered tomorrow.
Thank you all for input and advice.