Mom Gets Upset After Downstairs Neighbor Complains About Noise Her 3-Year-Old Is Making On Sunday Morning

We all have different thoughts on what is acceptable at what time of the day

Jesse

• Published in Interesting
• September 17, 2022

Children are one of the greatest gifts of the world. They are also known for their loud noises and playfulness. Their zest for life and eyes of wonder are things many adults crave.

However, having a child comes with some responsibilities and stresses. For one, you have another human to care for and ensure they are fine. You also have the huge honor and responsibility of shaping that child into who they will eventually become in the future.

Raising a child is even more challenging when you live in a shared apartment. 

While this may come with some perks, like getting help from a friendly neighbor, there are some downsides, too. One of those is having a neighbor who is intolerant of kids.

We found a story that paints a similar picture. A mother shared on Mumsnet that her neighbor was complaining about the noise from her apartment.

This neighbor was frustrated about having to listen to her 3-year-old running up and down the hallway and laughing. Sounds like the little kid was just having fun—but not everyone can tolerate loud noise on a Sunday morning.

In OP's (original poster) words;

We’ve literally just had a knock on the door from our downstairs neighbor. We live in a maisonette; we’re in the top flat, he’s on the bottom. He said, ‘listen, can you tell your kid to be quiet and stop running around?’”

According to her, the previous neighbors who lived below had never complained about her child's noise. So it was quite surprising and annoying to hear that for the first time.

OP admits that even tho she's fuming, she's not sure if she has the right to be angry. So now she's asking the community for their verdict on the matter.

Scroll down to read the entire story.

This mom wants to know if she's being unreasonable for getting upset about her neighbor's complain

Let's get into the details

OP got an unexpected visitor one morning. It was her downstairs neighbor who came to make a complaint about her 3-year-old

From OP's point of view, her daughter is too young to understand that she needs to be quiet at certain times of the day

The complaint got her upset, as she expected that her neighbor would understand that noise is inevitable in a shared building

Here's how the community responded:

"Your neighbour can't move into a ground floor flat below a family with young children and expect silence"

"A three year old can usually understand the instruction not to run"

"Tricky. It’s Sunday so I would have maybe made a bit of an effort to stop her running in the hallway"

"Running up and down the hall at this time would be noise tbh"

"Kids run around,. It's what they do"

"Before 8am on a Sunday? I wouldn't be too impressed"

"She might not understand but you do, and you are the parent"

"In his position I'd be annoyed too"

"YABU. Massively!"

"3 year olds can definitely be taught it's not ok to do things at certain times of day"

"I know we all have different thoughts on what is acceptable at what time of the day"

"YANBU. If you live next to or under a family, you will get noise"

The commenters are split between both sides of support and disagreement regarding OP’s feelings.

A majority agree that this mum is being unreasonable for getting upset. They further asked that she be more considerate, as it’s possible to instruct a 3-year-old to stay put.

On the other hand, a few people believe the neighbor should understand that children make noise—It's what they do. And if they didn’t want such noise, they shouldn’t have opted to live below a family with young kids.

What are your thoughts on the matter? Let us know in the comments section!

Jesse