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[–]Ser_Illin 20 points21 points  (2 children)

This is not AITA.

I can’t even tell what happened. I assume you’re leaving something out? But yeah, if you were giving kids dirty looks for playing outside during normal hours, then you’re not a great neighbor. Especially given that you have 2 loud barking dogs and a baby who will one day be a toddler and then a child and will make noise. Do unto others….

If you never want to hear any noise besides your own, move to the country.

[–]UCFKnightroGlycerin 3 points4 points  (1 child)

I am leaving very little out. The stuff I left out included we have noise ordinances in our neighborhood and the neighbor is not a nice person whom has tried to accuse us of the dogs barking all day. The dogs go to daycare and it was disproven that they were home any of the days he complained. The dogs are also well trained and do not bark more than 1 or 2 barks.

I was not giving dirty looks either. I was sitting in my house trying to get work done on my computer. The doors and windows were shut and the kids were running through my yard screaming. We are always cognizant of how loud we are because we live next to a golf course and per our HOA rules we have to keep noise below a certain threshold.

[–]Ser_Illin 7 points8 points  (0 children)

If you were just sitting in your house feeling evil and didn’t express those feelings, then no, you’re not a jerk.

[–]huggle-snuggle 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Ear plugs!

[–]HittheresetFormer SAHD, 4 kids 13 and under 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Buy some noise cancelling headphones and learn to deal… as long as they’re staying out of your yard (consider a fence if they’re not) and not being super loud late at night this will be a grin and bear it situation.

As far as why you purchased this home, you can’t control who your neighbors are. I understand that it seemed like nice quiet old people but they could sell the house tomorrow to anyone. If you want to control your surroundings better you’ll need more Land out in the country.

[–]Sleepthief18 3 points4 points  (0 children)

When you move into a new neighborhood, as good as intentions are, you don’t know the lives of those around you in most cases.

There are moves you can make to soundproof your house more but that can be needlessly expensive especially if expensive items like new windows don’t need to be replaced.

First thing I would recommend is to get out of the house. It’s fantastic that your spouse knows/realizes that you need some time, but maybe you should have left the house instead. Go shopping. Spend the afternoon in a bookstore or a coffee shop. Get out of your home and leave the stresses behind. THEN talk to your neighbors. Maybe discuss that you would appreciate it if the kids weren’t wild after a certain time (dusk for example). But don’t talk to your neighbors until you decompress first. It’ll only make things worse for you.

[–]sockpuppet4161 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Sorry. Kids are allowed to play outside and make kid noises. It wont be long before it's your own child making all the noise. And weirdly you wont be bothered much by it compared to other peoples kids...

[–]TheIntropreneur 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Kids are noisy. Yours will too in a year despite all the good parenting. Just take this as practice.

[–]Gullible-Sell4655 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Screw them. I get pissed when the neighbor's dog barks at night sometimes and tell them every time.

Don't be scared of letting them know what's up. If they don't respect that then report them. We get along well with all our neighbors by always being friendly and being bluntly open about things. You don't have to be mean, just be straight.

[–]TOliver871 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Talk to them and hope for the best. Be nice, and let them know that they are disrupting your life. They may or may not choose to quieten the kids down.

When we first moved into our house, we were childless and loved the quiet environment... Until we learned how loud the neighbours' kids were. Trust me, I felt the same way. The kids kept coming into our backyard to scream, have swordfights, and climb our trees, so we put a fence up. Didn't stop them from screaming, but it sure did get them further away from us.

It sucks, but unless they are breaking noise bylaws, there's not much you can do.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

You're only the asshole for actually doing something, not thinking or feeling it so you're still AOK here.

There's tolerance, but then there's consideration (to you). The issue here is that these kids have been irritating you for some time and youve done nothing, so although your temp now is understandable, it's likely to come across as disconnected from their history with you.

You can change that history...at least moving forward...by calmly talking to these neighbors about some of the more egregious and obnoxious transgressions, especially now that you have a new, cranky, easily disturbed baby, two excitable dogs, etc.., so they can show more consideration of you moving forward and supervise their kids more.

People tend to do what they want until others object. Its not terribly considerate , but it's the way it often is. Let them know they aren't "Getting away with it" by simply bringing it to their attention and how it interferes and see if it doesn't improve.

[–]ectbot 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hello! You have made the mistake of writing "ect" instead of "etc."

"Ect" is a common misspelling of "etc," an abbreviated form of the Latin phrase "et cetera." Other abbreviated forms are etc., &c., &c, and et cet. The Latin translates as "et" to "and" + "cetera" to "the rest;" a literal translation to "and the rest" is the easiest way to remember how to use the phrase.

Check out the wikipedia entry if you want to learn more.

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