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How do you feel about the noise young children make when playing?

(37 Posts)
Charleygirl Thu 07-May-15 12:41:17

I enjoy watching the children running around and letting off steam after a day at school. The youngest, around 3years old loves riding his bike and having great fun. As somebody said, it is not for long, very soon it is bath, bed and then peace.

I do object to them playing football at any age because of the damage done to cars and the odd broken window. When the latter happens, there is nobody to be seen and nobody naturally was out playing so know zilch about it!

The gardens are too small for playing in but the road, on the whole is safe as it is a cul de sac. All of the drivers are aware that there maybe a little soul around the corner. The children are very good, usually warning each other if a car is approaching.

rosequartz Thu 07-May-15 12:26:49

Ah yes, the paddling pool antics! grin
Squealing is a must!

Nelliemoser Thu 07-May-15 12:16:02

My DD was saying that DGS1 and his visiting slighty older 3 yr old cousin have been playing together and she has realised just how noisy and silly two 2/3yr olds can be when they egg each other on. Chasing each other around and squealing.

I think it was a revelation to her. Little children enjoy being noisy,
I can always tell when neighbours children are playing in a paddling pool.

If it's just high spirits it's unfair to stop them. It's far better than people's music blaring out into the garden.

rosequartz Thu 07-May-15 12:11:52

I love to hear them playing outside, laughing and shouting. However, some of them do seem to scream a lot these days.
I'm not so keen on the screaming and think if they screamed because they needed help no-one would take any notice.

Soutra Thu 07-May-15 12:04:03

I agree with Jane10 's comment about young children's uninhibited laughter smile . Fortunately we don't suffer from the other!

Teetime Thu 07-May-15 12:00:58

I love to hear children playing in the playground and the park near us in their own gardens and on the green. What I don't like is the sound of children playing in the local restaurant and running all over the place between the tables and the children area at the back. DH has long legs and sometimes leaves them sticking out. grin They seem to leave us alone.

Jane10 Thu 07-May-15 11:54:36

We lived next door to a Primary School for 30 years. I can honestly say that the noise at playtime never bothered us. It was quite funny though, it was as if it was switched on then off as the bell went. The sound of young children's uninhibited laughter is one of the best sounds in the world.
Teenagers kicking a heavy football in the street just as people are trying to get off to sleep is another matter..................... angry

whenim64 Thu 07-May-15 11:44:30

I like the sound of children playing and having noisy fun. My six year old grandsons are quite noisy after school, letting off steam in the garden, bouncing on the trampoline and playing football, but it's a couple of hours, then bath and bed. Much better than sitting indoors. They need to play and run around. Children doing damage and trampling neighbours gardens needs dealing with, of course, but not noisy play. They'll be grown up in no time at all!

TerriBull Thu 07-May-15 11:25:55

I live in a town house and we have communal gardens that lead down to the Thames. During the holidays and in the summer the children play out in the gardens, I really don't mind it all I think children need to run about and expend energy, after all they are forever being told these days how sedentary they are. Because I take my granddaughter, 5, into the gardens to play, she loves it here, I often chat to younger mums who have similar aged children. I know they get it in the neck from some of the older residents who complain about the noise. It's never that bad really, children just get excited, they are not rude or nasty. There was one occasion when one child was yelling at the top of his lungs for no particular reason which I found too loud. In the main these are little children having fun. I do think that if you live in a mixed development you should expect to hear the noise of children and similarly in the summer adults will have gatherings in the grounds and crack open a glass or two, I don't mind that either. Again we have moans and groans from people who just don't want to hear anything else other than birdsong. Find a field in the middle of nowhere and go and live there, if that's the case!

whitewave Thu 07-May-15 11:22:10

What rubbish the DM reports.

janerowena Thu 07-May-15 11:12:54

Maybe the timing is just off sometimes. When we moved here 8 years ago, DS was 12 and quickly made friends with a gang of boys aged 9 to 13, about 7 of them. We had a 14' trampoline, and he had his own den in an outbuilding, so we were very popular as they could all just arrive and troop down the garden. Our neighbour was not so happy, she liked to sunbathe in her garden all afternoon with a magazine. All of a sudden she would see smiley faces bobbing up and down above the fence, happily and nosily asking her what she was reading... I would hastily pack them off to the woods, to make a den down there (an excellent way to get rid of giant laurel branches, used to make a wigwam) but someone further along complained because they were playing Indians and the whooping got a bit too much for him and the landowner was dispatched to deal with the teenage yobs!

He thought it was wonderful, he used to play there himself and they were simply warned not to leave litter and he spent most of the afternoon down there with them. As they grew older, they filmed themselves being spies and enemy agents and soldiers, they all had BB guns and that caused more trouble... hmm But no wonder children stay indoors more now. I must have had a complaint a year, all from different neighbours who only wanted to hear birds.

Forget their noisy cockerels, constantly barking dogs, cats on heat at night, early morning cars left to splutter for half an hour, noisy Sunday afternoon BBQs, fireworks too late at night, the noise of children playing seemed to upset them more than anything.

vampirequeen Thu 07-May-15 10:22:01

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3069900/Police-question-children-aged-four-six-45-minutes-neighbour-complains-playing-street.html

I love the sound of children playing. I live near a primary school and can hear them every playtime and on the way to/from school.

When I was a teacher some of the people in a nearby office complained that our children (KS1 and FS) were too noisy in the playground and disturbed them when they were having their cigarettes on the office fire escape.

When my DDs were 3 and 7 they used to play on the green outside of the house. One day the police arrived asking to see my children. I let them in and they said that they wanted to see my teenage children. I told them I didn't have teenagers just the little ones. The complainant had made it sound as if they were a gang of unruly teenagers screaming, shouting, swearing and damaging property.

As noise and it's acceptability is subjective I just wondered what others thought.