Noisy children.

When my DS used to do it there were a lot of young children in the street out playing but they've all grown up and moved away now.

Callistemon

Why don't parents buy their children a mini football goal?

DGS has one and I wish they'd been available years ago.

I agree, people who don't think a ball being booted up against a fence or wall must never have had to listen to it

I have sons btw, I am not some curmudgeon

I suppose it all depends on a lot of factors, my neighbors aren’t really close, but I think I’d feel the need to quieten things down a bit if they were just the other side of a fence.
On the other hand, families buy homes with gardens, specifically so their children have a safe place to play, playing often involves shouting and squealing, lots of laughter and a few tears.
I feel for you, but I think children need to be outside.

My neighbour keeps lighting fires burning old fence panels just as the nights are suitable for sitting in the garden toxic fumes horrendous

You have my sympathy ann. Not children here but a dog. There is one two doors down that yaps continually all day until it gets dark.
Its owners were sitting in the garden today and it was yapping non stop. They didn't appear to notice. It's still at it now.

I think there has to be give and take. An hour or so of noise while they blow off steam is one thing, but constant screaming is quite another.

I think it is important for people to be able to relax in their own homes - if that right is taken away, where can we feel 'at home'? It is very selfish of the adults to allow their children to inflict constant noise on other people, and it doesn't bode well for the chances of the children growing into considerate adults.

When I was a child, our next-door neighbour was an elderly widow, and she would often tell us to play outside our own house, which we were - it was attached to hers! Those were the days when children did play in the streets, but my mum always warned us not to shout or make too much noise, or we were brought indoors.

My own children played in the back garden, but the same rules applied. I would warn them if they got too over-excited, give them one more reminder if they forgot, then that was it - they came indoors if they couldn't play considerately. I rarely had to do it, as they knew the rules would be enforced, and they still had fun running about and playing.

Also - children who have gardens have not been cooped up for a year. There has never been a ban on playing outside in your own garden.

Why don't parents buy their children a mini football goal?

DGS has one and I wish they'd been available years ago.

Sorry, Kamiso I have no idea why I quoted your post, I didn't mean to!
Although our neighbour is a car door banger! ?

You have my heartfelt sympathy. I hate screaming kids and it’s a very different thing for hearing kids playing - that sound fills me with joy. I don’t think there is a lot you can do about it though without being thoroughly vilified by the neighbourhood ? We live next door to a ‘musician’ and there’s nothing we can do about the noise, and now the son has started to play the trumpet ? I think the classical music idea is perfect - it might drive them indoors ?. Best wishes from a fellow sufferer. X

Kamiso

Our joined neighbour’s daughter stays overnight mostly at weekends. When we turn off our tv off at bedtime we can hear her laying down the law to her Dad. She’s about four years old and it’s often close to midnight.

You’ll have to invest in some noise cancelling head phones.

When my OH was working as a private hire chauffeur he often had to pick people up for airport runs in the early hours. He said some would creep out and whisper but others would come out shouting, banging doors and making sure everyone knew they were going away. Hopefully the burglars were all tucked up in bed.

My friend used to live near a school (there was no indication that a primary school would be built there when she bought her house).
She said the sound of happy children playing was lovely but that many of them seemed to scream and scream - why?

DS used to thump a ball against a wall - not an adjoining boundary I should say, and far enough away from neighbours I hope, and now I hear a neighbour's son doing the same although it is nearer us than their house. I don't mind - I can't really moan, can I!

It's dogs yapping incessantly which annoy me.

If there’s one thing guaranteed to cause me to get anxiety it’s the sound of a football. I have lived in a house where a ball was kicked against my fence most days and it drove me mad. I have a lot of sympathy for anyone suffering problems with noise. It causes no end of suffering and although children have to play, their parents should also ensure it’s not continual noise. It’s not just families with screaming kids that have rights!

annsixty my heart goes out to you. We are all different and I suppose some people do indeed enjoy hearing children shriek, maybe their hearing isn't so good?!

I have posted before about being in a semi detached and having a young family move in next door - boys of around 8 and 6 and a girl of 4. The boys seem to spend their time roaring and yelling, the girl whines and sometimes screams.

It's awful, we can hear them clearly in one of the bedrooms upstairs and the garden is sometimes unusable. As others have said elsewhere, children used to be told not to annoy the neighbours and play quietly. Nowadays, no one seems to think children should have any respect for anyone else. We have just sold our house (I hope the next people like children) which is quite drastic but I can't stand it much longer. I do wear ear plugs sometimes, they are uncomfortable, I also play music but I prefer silence!! Not much chance of that anymore it seems.

You don't like them. Their noise annoys you. Do you think there could possibly be a connection between these two things?. I find headphones and BBC sounds on my phone makes pleasant listening when I sit outside.

You have my sympathy too!
The family sound a nightmare and from what you have said the parents don’t sound particularly friendly or approachable so it’s difficult to know what to suggest.

Perhaps as one or two others have said, a friendly word along the lines of “I know all children make a noise when they are playing but....” and then ask if maybe the boy could be discouraged from kicking the ball against the fence. I am sure you would love to add that the girl be discouraged from screaming at the top of her voice, but much as you would be justified, criticising both the little horrors might be a step too far!

It’s such a shame that you have lived there all those years with no problems to prevent you enjoying your garden, then this lot move in and everything changes.

I’m not sure if you know if they have bought the house or if they are renting. If it’s the latter you could try approaching the letting agent or landlord as causing a noise nuisance to neighbours would be in breach of their tenancy agreement.

You have my sympathy, annsixty.
That very high-pitched screaming can drive you mad - I used to have an incessant screamer on a trampoline next door - thank God they moved.

The endless bash, bash, bash of a football can be just as bad - we’ve had that, too.
Before anyone has a go, I don’t have the slightest objection to the normal noise of children playing - it’s nice to hear it.
But there’s ‘normal’ and there’s ‘drive you to distraction’.

We had this a few years ago, a trampoline right up against our fence on which it the children spent hours always screaming at the top of their voices. Their mother did try to stop them but I had my own method when it got too much, it was Wagner played very loudly from a speaker I moved to an open window. They soon got the message!

Our joined neighbour’s daughter stays overnight mostly at weekends. When we turn off our tv off at bedtime we can hear her laying down the law to her Dad. She’s about four years old and it’s often close to midnight.

You’ll have to invest in some noise cancelling head phones.

When my OH was working as a private hire chauffeur he often had to pick people up for airport runs in the early hours. He said some would creep out and whisper but others would come out shouting, banging doors and making sure everyone knew they were going away. Hopefully the burglars were all tucked up in bed.

i would keep the hedge thick and high, might muffle the noise a bit.
your other idea reminds me of a bus station near here that used to play classical music to deter teens from loitering.
then it was objected that they were being subjected to unfair punishment, having tchaikovsky blasted at them, so it stopped.

I have posted my thoughts, I have mostly received the replies I suppose I expected, however I shall still start threads On topics I feel strongly about.
I shall leave this one now.

When I was about 7 we had a fixation on doing handstands up against a wall with dresses tucked in knickers I clearly remember a nearby house had a very convenient end wall and we would go one after the other doing handstands ...and thinking it about it as an adult I realised those poor people would have had a couple of hours of thuds every evening till we went in about 7.30
I don’t think there is an answer annsixty apart from headphones and radio I think chestnut is right once something annoys you you without realising it concentrate on that I ve got music next door which I can only just hear over the tv so it’s not overly loud but it often starts to grate Try not to dwell on it

It doesn’t sound like they are doing anything wrong to me

Pity they are not your neighbours then Amberspyglass

You have my sympathy annsixty, they sound awful.

Amberspyglass
I don’t expect him to cut my hedge.
I was merely saying if they would like it lower than it was they were very welcome to cut it to their desired height.
I quite like it at a reasonable height for privacy for them and us.
We have never let it become a nuisance .
Please don’t put words in my mouth that I haven’t uttered.

I think the problem arises when you realise a particular sound is annoying, then you becomes sensitised to it. Every time you hear it your brain switches into overload and drives you crazy. Is it possible to 're-train' your brain to accept these sounds (or at least most of them) as normal? Try and get your brain to put it on the back burner, so it becomes background noise. I'm sure people who live near airports or railways have to learn to do that. It's all about how you perceive the noise, and unless you can achieve this state of bliss I think you will suffer constantly.

I admit the kicking ball could be annoying, I wouldn’t allow that, because it would annoy me as well.
But screaming isn’t usually continuous, our little one shrieks and squeals with joy when her siblings push her on the swings, or chase her around the garden.
Honestly, it fills me with joy.

It doesn’t sound like they’re doing anything wrong to me. And why would you expect him to cut your hedge?