Children, and playing in the street

Spendless

LilacLouisa wrote: »

Perhap that is because years ago children weren't allowed to be so noisy, were called in if they got too loud, and were taught to be considerate towards others.

It is nice to hear children playing outside, but not when their noise drowns out anything you are trying to listen to or watch.

Again, there must be a happy medium between kids shrieking and screaming or sitting at their computer or play station all the time. Also, is there no time in the evening when parents feel that it is time for their children to play quietly? e.g no kicking footballs around on the road at 10.00 pm say?
It never seems to be outside their own home I notice.

erm nope. They were MORE kids playing outside years ago, as someone has already pointed out. Not only are there more actvities to keep kids indoors, xbox, ps, ds, wii, computer and less people allow their children out. Threads on here like 'what age do you allow your kids out alone' prove that from the answers.

I think perhaps people have become used to the lack of children playing out and the noise of them when they do seems loud in comparison.

mikey72

I don't think kids are noisier.
I think adults are more territorial though, and more worried about their "space" than they used to be.
Probably as they have become more insular, and stay inside their house or garden, and expect the rest of the street to do the same.
From kids playing in the street near their car parked over the pavement, to the noise wafting in as they lie in the garden, it's all an invasion of their own little area, whereas before kids were in and out of evereyones house and garden, and the parents all knew each other, and trusted each other.
It should be possible to tell the difference between kids playing and kids falling from the upstairs window, so yes, I go out if it's the wrong noise.
And kids have always played football outside someone elses house, I think that must be an unwritten rule. I used to.

aliasojo

I agree with the posters who comment on the lack of consideration. We were out from morning till night as kids BUT we had to behave in a certain way. No kicking balls near parked cars, no screaming or shouting unless we were in the park away from the neighbours etc. We did our fair share of noisy things but we knew where to draw the line. We also knew that from 7pm ish onwards that was when babies and younger kids went to sleep so we had to be quieter then just in case there were homes nearby with babies in.

I wonder how many kids these days are given similar 'consideration rules'. I bet very few. I've taught my kids the same way I was brought up but out of the groups they mixed with, they were the only ones who even thought about other people, the rest of the kids took the mick out of them when they tried to get them to shut up.

The kids round our way seem to shriek for little reason. It's not even with excitement whilst playing a game, it seems to be their normal method of communication but there again there are a few I'm thinking of at the moment who have parents who yell at them almost constantly so I'm guessing it's all linked.

WASHER

mikey72 wrote: »

I don't think kids are noisier.
I think adults are more territorial though, and more worried about their "space" than they used to be.
Probably as they have become more insular, and stay inside their house or garden, and expect the rest of the street to do the same.
From kids playing in the street near their car parked over the pavement, to the noise wafting in as they lie in the garden, it's all an invasion of their own little area, whereas before kids were in and out of evereyones house and garden, and the parents all knew each other, and trusted each other.

I think you are spot on with this post.

My neighbour at the back stands at her window at watches children playing, and god help them if they so much as stand on the council owned grass verge at the side of the pavement in front of her house, she comes out shouting etc, she even told the post man not to park his van infront of the grass verge so he didn't need to stand on the grass...some people really need to learn to chill, not all children or teenagers are unruly or disrespectful. I blame the lack of parental guidance, and the lack of discipline in schools for some of the behaviour today, but I also think some people are so protective of their so called own space (even if it does belong to the council!).

Another thing I think, especially with new builds, generally it is an open front garden, no fences or hedging, or even a dreaded shared drive way, it can make it almost impossible to keep the occassional child from running on to it.

Kate78

^ True about new builds, some of the gardens simply aren't big enough for kids to play.

Although on our estate, there is a grassed area specifically for kids to have a kick about on. It is almost always deserted. Instead they choose to play in the built up area near the parked cars, where the noise reverberates... :mad:

gravitytolls

Perhaps they play on the street rather than the playing field, because their folks tell them to 'stay where I can see you'?

DVardysShadow

brighthair wrote: »

... The children playing in my street sound like they are being murdered sometimes, and screaming at the top of their lungs. I know if I had made that noise in the street I would have been dragged inside :rotfl:

On a more serious note, if I hear someone screaming, I don't even get up to look now. At my old house, someone was yelling, and I didn't look until it carried on for more than a few minutes, neither did anyone else. When I got up, there was a child hanging from a second floor window, and she fell out was I ran over, landed on the patio and broke her leg :eek:

I think what I am saying is, if (and it's not just children!) people make that level of noise, and screaming and shouting, if anything did happen and someone was shouting for help, they wouldn't even be noticed

Or is this whole post just me?!

PasturesNew wrote: »

Where I live a girl was savagely murdered by a deviant. She screamed. People heard her screams but said that nowadays they're so used to hearing people screaming that they don't bother looking outside any more as it's 'normal'.

It is much, much worse these days.

It does show that there is some sense in stopping your kids screaming. It is the wisdom of the ancients [ie people as old as granny] that you save screaming for real danger. But, hey, now we have CRB checks there is no danger to kids from peados and any other danger does not matter, so why stop the screaming?

LilacLouisa

Spendless wrote: »

erm nope. They were MORE kids playing outside years ago, as someone has already pointed out. Not only are there more actvities to keep kids indoors, xbox, ps, ds, wii, computer and less people allow their children out. Threads on here like 'what age do you allow your kids out alone' prove that from the answers.

I think perhaps people have become used to the lack of children playing out and the noise of them when they do seems loud in comparison.

If there were more kids playing outside years ago, the children today must be noisier and less interested in being considerate to others. The childrens fault or the parents?

tessie_bear

i think kids outside are really loud but its funny how u can hear your own kids above all the others....must be mother natures way of telling u to run out if your bambino is introuble

LilacLouisa

mikey72 wrote: »

I don't think kids are noisier.
I think adults are more territorial though, and more worried about their "space" than they used to be.
Probably as they have become more insular, and stay inside their house or garden, and expect the rest of the street to do the same.
From kids playing in the street near their car parked over the pavement, to the noise wafting in as they lie in the garden, it's all an invasion of their own little area, whereas before kids were in and out of evereyones house and garden, and the parents all knew each other, and trusted each other.
It should be possible to tell the difference between kids playing and kids falling from the upstairs window, so yes, I go out if it's the wrong noise.
And kids have always played football outside someone elses house, I think that must be an unwritten rule. I used to.

Oh well, if you don`t think they are noisier, that`s all right then.

You think people have become more territorial? Have you never heard the phrase "an Englishman's home is his castle"?

We don't park our car over the pavement, nor on it.

Why shouldn`t people expect to be able to sit or lie in their garden without their peace being disturbed by children screaming and shouting? Apparently many seek silence as a way to escape from the pressures of everyday.