Mums weigh in: How early is too early for kids to be LOUD?

All parents learn pretty fast that no matter how late a child goes to bed has no bearing on how early they wake up the next morning.

Asleep at 10pm? 6:45am wake up.

Asleep at midnight? Crack. Of. Dawn.

The extra layer of fun for parents on these early mornings is the need to consider other people, such as those (annoyingly) fast asleep in the house. And, if they live in high-density areas, the neighbours.

Because all parents also know that the earlier a child wakes up is in direct proportion to how much noise they want to make when they do.

So the Mamamia Podcast Network Facebook group asked parents how they manage the early morning noise last year….if it is something that needs to be managed at all?

Not all noise is equal

There’s a clear distinction between natural children’s noises, and kids shrieking their breakfast demands into megaphones handed to them by parents who don’t understand how megaphones work.

Tracey observed, “It depends on the kind of noise and what you can and can’t control. If my 4-year-old is having an early morning meltdown I can’t help what time that happens (though I can close the windows and hope for the best) but if he breaks out the recorder at 7am then the least I can do is take it off him until a more reasonable hour.”

Purdey commented, “We live in a complex of duplex’s & have a 15-month-old. Not much I can do about her crying in the middle of the night, but we try and keep the mornings quiet till 7am.”

Karly said, “One of our old neighbours kids used to practice his cricket skills with a swinging ball on their deck which was right outside our bedroom before 7 on weekends – this was before we had kids and was definitely unacceptable.”

The Glorious Mess discuss: How early is acceptable for kids to be loud? Post continues after audio.

Apartment vs house

Of course, the higher the density of living, the more consideration you may have to give your neighbours.

Natalie wrote, “We live on a quarter acre, so not too much of a problem. But, we adhere to the council noise restrictions times.”

Mariqua said, “I think definitely in an apartment/unit the rules change as your neighbours are so much closer & can hear more! I have a 5-month-old but my neighbors say they can’t hear him (I live in a house). I guess you could apply council loud noise restriction tones to children crying/making noise, haha. So not before 7am weekdays or 9am weekends?”

As Sarah noted, “it really depends on the child’s age and circumstances.”

“Our now almost 2-year-old had silent reflux as a baby so the first four to five months of his life consisted of him screaming day in and day out, all night, every night. Luckily we lived on a large property with no neighbours because nothing we did would soothe or settle him. If we’d lived in town with neighbours it would have been too bad because there was nothing we can do about him screaming and I was too exhausted to give a rats about anyone else’s feelings lol.”

Weekday vs Weekend

The group made the distinction between timing for week days versus weekends, with most people wanting to be respectful that the general population reserves weekend mornings for leisure.

Sarah wrote of her experience; “Now we’re in town with a close neighbour and my boys aren’t allowed out before 9am during the week and 11am on weekends. 9am during the week because I know our neighbour and her teenagers are up and have gone to work. 11am on weekends because I remember being a teenager and not getting up on the weekend before at least 11am lol so I give them that courtesy and in return they keep their music and noise to a minimum while partying in their shed which is adjacent to my kids’ bedroom window.”

The flip side: noisy adult neighbours

Many posters mentioned lawnmowers and loud music as their own complaints against inconsiderate adult neighbours, and noted that they aren’t always respectful of their noise levels.

Erin said, “How about the other way round? I had to ‘tell off’ my neighbour at 8:15pm as he was using the whipper snipper and it woke my baby. The council guidelines is 8pm.”

When all else fails

Leah summed up the general consensus perfectly; “We are generally early risers, but, we try not to let the kids outside before 8 any day of the week – unless of course they have exhausted both of our patience – in which case it is every man for themselves.”

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