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.
A Sunday morning noise complaint turned one mom's apartment life into a neighborhood standoff. What started as a child running and laughing in the hallway quickly became a question of who should have to adjust, the parent upstairs or the neighbor below.
The mother, posting on Mumsnet, said her downstairs neighbor knocked on the door to complain about her 3-year-old making too much noise. She was surprised, especially because the family below had never raised an issue before, and she felt the complaint was unfair in a shared building.
Now she is left wondering whether her frustration is justified, or whether this is just part of living in a maisonette. Read on.
This mom wants to know if she's being unreasonable for getting upset about her neighbor's complaint.
(Not Actual Photo) Photo by mentatdgt on PexelsLet's get into the details.
Mumsnet.comOP got an unexpected visitor one morning. It was her downstairs neighbor who came to make a complaint about her 3-year-old.
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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.
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The complaint upset her, as she expected that her neighbor would understand that noise is inevitable in a shared building.
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Here's how the community responded:
"Your neighbor can't move into a ground floor flat below a family with young children and expect silence."
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"A three-year-old can usually understand the instruction not to run."
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That empathy-versus-quality-of-life tug is similar to the case where someone confronted noisy neighbors about their barking dog.
"Tricky. It’s Sunday, so I would have maybe made a bit of an effort to stop her from running in the hallway."
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"Running up and down the hall at this time would be noise, to be honest."
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"Kids run around. It's what they do."
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"Before 8 a.m. on a Sunday? I wouldn't be too impressed."
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"She might not understand, but you do, and you are the parent."
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"In his position, I'd be annoyed too."
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"YABU. Massively!"
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"Three-year-olds can definitely be taught it's not okay to do things at certain times of the day."
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"I know we all have different thoughts on what is acceptable at what time of the day."
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"YANBU. If you live next to or under a family, you will get noise."
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The commenters are split between both sides of support and disagreement regarding OP’s feelings.
A majority agree that this mom is being unreasonable for getting upset. They further suggested 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!
And just like that, the noise complaint turned into a full-blown debate.
Want more neighbor-level tension? See the roommate who asked their noisy partner to move out.
