[HN Gopher] Let Kids Be Loud
___________________________________________________________________
Let Kids Be Loud
Author : trevin
Score : 103 points
Date : 2025-07-09 19:16 UTC (3 hours ago)
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| ysavir wrote:
| I live next door to a summer camp. The kind that has kids from
| the nearby city come for 2 weeks, sleep in bunks, play outside
| all day, hike, etc.
|
| A few months ago we had a carpenter doing some work on the house,
| and he was asking me about the camp and living so near to it.
| Eventually he asked "Are they loud when they play? That must be
| so annoying. I'd hate that."
|
| I replied "Nah, it's healthy and fun, and it doesn't travel as
| far as you'd think. The real annoying sounds are all the
| lawnmowers, weed whackers, and gasoline powered tools that people
| keep using throughout the summer". He immediately went quiet and
| sour. Guess I hit a nerve.
| johnfn wrote:
| Maybe because he was trying to make small talk and you insulted
| his profession?
| askafriend wrote:
| Definitely this. A total lack of awareness and tact
| demonstrated by OP.
| justinrubek wrote:
| This is a very ironic comment.
| reverendsteveii wrote:
| The point of the story is that OP is absolutely aware of
| their lack of tact.
| GuinansEyebrows wrote:
| i can't tell how much of a point you're trying to make, but
| if complaining about children playing is small talk, the less
| of it the better.
| the_cat_kittles wrote:
| social skills of hn on display
| gilfoy wrote:
| The age old profession of generating small engine noise
| pollution
| bigyabai wrote:
| If you work in computer science and tell that to your
| carpenter, godspeed. There is a nonzero chance you wake up
| without electricity the next day, and a note on your
| kitchen counter reading "who needs a generator now?"
| pavel_lishin wrote:
| What?
| AnimalMuppet wrote:
| Carpenters don't use many gasoline-powered tools...
| askafriend wrote:
| This is even funnier.
| klank wrote:
| Guess we had the same thought, I posted a similar comment.
| It genuinely threw me for a loop cause I was trying to
| figure out how OP actually said anything about carpentry...
| mr_toad wrote:
| Making furniture with chainsaws is a thing. Funnily enough
| they used to call this hacking, rather than carpentry.
| klank wrote:
| OP mentioned "lawnmowers, weed whackers, and gasoline powered
| tools".
|
| That has nothing to do with standard carpentry.
| callc wrote:
| The carpenter may have thought the same sentiment is being
| applied to loud power tools such as table saw, jointer,
| router, ...
| nothrabannosir wrote:
| In other words: GP hit a nerve.
| klank wrote:
| Certainly, which is why the social interaction OP
| described makes sense.
|
| But OP was specific in the loud things they mentioned,
| and that list very much does not directly imply
| carpentry. So to then make it about OP's lack of tact by
| explicitly calling out the OP for focusing on their
| profession? It strains credulity as a good faith reading
| of OP's story.
| johnfn wrote:
| You don't think carpentry falls into the category of
| "professions that make loud noise outdoors"?
| klank wrote:
| Sure, and if OP had said that, perhaps we'd be having a
| different conversation. Or none at all?
|
| EDIT: Ah, maybe you're responding to my remark of it
| having "nothing to do"? If so, yeah, that's hyperbole.
| There are similarities if you want to look for them. But
| I don't think they're meaningful connections for the
| point of the story and OP's reaction, in my opinion.
| johnfn wrote:
| The point of the story is that someone tried to strike up
| a conversation with OP and he responded by effectively
| saying "your job is loud and obnoxious", and it's
| presented as if it's a win. It doesn't really seem like
| one to me.
| rascul wrote:
| Gasoline powered generators and air compressors that the
| carpenter might use to power tools can be quite noisy.
| klank wrote:
| Of course. But we already established that OP struck a
| nerve. OP themselves said that. And nobody was confused
| about why they struck a nerve with the carpenter.
|
| But this isn't a conversation about whether or not it was
| possible to connect from what OP said to "loud noises".
| We all seem to agree on that. Specifically it's a
| question of whether OP was targeting the carpenters
| profession. I can't see how OP did that.
|
| I'm kind of surprised I'm still here arguing this. But
| hey, it's a slow day and I guess it struck a nerve with
| me for some reason. Hope you're having a good day too!
| ysavir wrote:
| I've never seen a carpenter use a lawnmower on the job. Seems
| unwieldy to drag up a ladder.
|
| On a more serious note, most carpentry tools aren't that bad
| in terms of noise. They can get loud, but they tend to be
| momentary, getting a cut done, and back to silence. It's the
| landscaping companies that are running powered tools right up
| next to people's houses for 30-40 minutes at a time that are
| the problem. And by the time one company is done, another
| arrives and revs their own engines.
|
| As for me ruining his attempt at small talk and insulting his
| profession... Eh. If someone's idea of small talk is trying
| to make children appear disrupters of the peace for having
| fun at camp for 6 weeks out of the year, as children ought to
| do, I'm not too concerned about making a comment expressing a
| common and often relatable sentiment that makes that person
| feel bad about their own disruptions of the peace. To the
| extent that I "insulted his profession", that was him setting
| himself up. Don't serve a dish you wouldn't want to eat. He
| could have made small talk in a hundred different ways or
| found a way to show appreciation instead of annoyance, but he
| said what he said, and he set the tone.
| madcaptenor wrote:
| Also the camp was probably there when you moved in! So if you
| complain about normal camp noise you just didn't do your due
| diligence.
| sokoloff wrote:
| People buy cheap[er] houses near airports and then try to get
| airport ops changed/restricted _all the time_. (I agree with
| you, but it's obviously a thing that people have no problem
| doing.)
| analog31 wrote:
| IANAL, but there's established precedent about this, under
| the heading of "Coming to the nuisance."
| Der_Einzige wrote:
| Very based. All the people who try to claim that this is bad
| social skills apparently just take it from folks in the often
| scummy trades (i.e. mechanics, dentists, etc when I say scummy)
| who treat us like shit and make snide comments and backhanded
| compliments with impunity about us lazy computer users. This is
| triply true in the post AI era. They hate us cus they aint us.
|
| You hit a nerve here too.
| GuinansEyebrows wrote:
| i think you might be picking up on a level of disdain from
| others based on your attitude that might not be related to
| your profession.
|
| we are all extremely lucky to have been born at the right
| time with the right set of resources to have found work in
| the information trade. we are not better than mechanics or
| dentists, and we're often compensated to ridiculous degrees
| when compared to arguably vital roles like teachers, social
| workers, therapists, custodial staff, conservation workers,
| public defenders, farm laborers, and so many other
| professions.
| scubbo wrote:
| > i think you might be picking up on a level of disdain
| from others based on your attitude that might not be
| related to your profession.
|
| Bravo
| valiant55 wrote:
| Yeah, I hate lawnmowers. I live next to a church/religious
| school and an apartment building both with a large yard. I
| don't mind the daily church bells at 6/12/7 but the constant
| lawn mowing is the worst.
| GuinansEyebrows wrote:
| i think this started happening before the "iPad generation" we
| all love to bemoan, but it seems like practically overnight, kids
| were no longer expected to play outside (for all the reasons
| we've heard ad nauseum, especially those that fly in the face of
| declining violent crime statistics and increased communication
| media)... and rather than reflect on that, latently-cranky adults
| adapted immediately to the disappearance of children from public
| life. what a shame. i grew up one of those kids playing in
| parking lots and riding bikes through apartment complexes in my
| neighborhood looking for jumps, cool free piles and generally
| just places to be a kid.
|
| i hope (not much, but somewhat) that with this increased
| recognition of the less-desirable effects of throwing kids in
| front of a screen, indoors, apart from each other, that we'll
| start to see kids reintegrate into the fabric of society. it's so
| important for kids to interact with people as they learn about
| the world, and it seems equally important for adults to realize
| that they're a part of the same community as parents and
| children.
| spjt wrote:
| I wonder how much there is an increased concern about injury, I
| have three kids and by the time I was their age I had spent
| more time in the emergency room than all three of them put
| together. I go to my kids' school from time to time and I don't
| think I've ever seen a kid in a cast.
| bartread wrote:
| We have kids of various ages playing outside all the time when
| the weather is good and, yes, they are loud. At least, sometimes
| they're loud, but they aren't always, and you get used to it. I
| think it's good for kids to get outside.
|
| So generally it's not an issue and we just sort of tune it out
| and get on with our days but there is this one kid who only
| communicates by screaming at the top of their lungs at very high
| pitch constantly all day. Literally morning til night.
|
| That gets pretty annoying although, fortunately, the particular
| kid is not always around. If I knew who the parents were I'd
| probably have had a polite word with them already because it's
| just so unnecessary even by the standards of excited and
| energetic children.
| petercooper wrote:
| For years our neighborhood had an ice cream truck or two turn up
| a few days a week during summer, which we used to enjoy. This
| year, not a single one.
|
| I saw one of the trucks at a school fete and asked about it. The
| guy said _one_ person had complained about the noise so the local
| council banned them after 7pm! With most of their sales falling
| between 6-9pm, they decided it wasn 't worth it for one hour and
| moved on to other local towns.
|
| So not exactly "kids", but I think banning the normal, everyday
| noises involved in a local culture, whether that's church bells,
| kids playing football, carol singers, or ice cream trucks, is a
| slippery slope to nowhere positive.
| taylorlapeyre wrote:
| I agree, but with a caveat about ice cream trucks specifically.
| If they park in one spot and play the same jingle very loudly
| for hours on end (say, three to four hours in one location
| outside of your home), it is in fact insanely maddening.
| johnthedebs wrote:
| I may be more sound sensitive than most, but if I could hear
| it _loudly_ for even 5-10 minutes I 'd be annoyed. 3-4 hours?
| While I'm at home? Absolutely no way; I'd complain too.
| petercooper wrote:
| In the UK stationary ice cream trucks don't play music,
| only those travelling around, so you hear it for a couple
| of minutes at most as it winds around the neighborhood. I'd
| also be complaining if it was going on for hours :-)
| masfuerte wrote:
| The UK has rules about this:
|
| https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/code-of-
| practice-...
|
| Among other things, playing the jingle in the same place
| repeatedly is prohibited.
| toast0 wrote:
| At my old house, we had the best ice cream truck. Rather than
| playing music, it just had like a train bell. Sounded like
| the ice cream engine was rolling through. Ding.... ding ....
| ding ....
| loco5niner wrote:
| That is a vast improvement.
| lapetitejort wrote:
| Have you heard the ice cream trucks with a random "Hello?"
| thrown into songs? I don't understand the purpose. Googling
| brought up some people saying it goes back to the 90s, or
| that it's specifically a Southern California thing. Strangely
| enough the movie A Different Man (2024) played that exact
| sound during an emotional scene. That movie takes place in
| NYC.
| neaden wrote:
| I hear the Hello from our local ice cream trucks in
| Illinois, so not just a California thing.
| tetris11 wrote:
| I wonder what the copyright licensing is on Frank Mills
| _Music Box Dancer_ which is quite common on the icecream
| trucks here
| lapetitejort wrote:
| Based on the images and knock-off ice cream bars I've
| seen, ice cream trucks seem to treat copyright as a
| suggestion
| macNchz wrote:
| Definitely a thing in NYC--had an ice cream truck that
| would sit down the block from my place playing music all
| day long and many years later that "hello" is like nails on
| a chalkboard.
| gowld wrote:
| Presumably, the problem was the truck music, not the ice cream
| sales. There's a market opening for a travelling ice cream
| seller who doesn't play loud, obloxously noise on loop after
| 7pm.
| petercooper wrote:
| Someone else involved in the conversation suggested they
| could announce their times and locations on Facebook, which I
| thought was a good idea, but I guess it conflicts with their
| preference to not have a fixed schedule. They just drive
| round till they make enough money and then go home when
| they're bored.
| parpfish wrote:
| Or just play the jingle on the half hour like church bells
| pavel_lishin wrote:
| Our local ice cream truck plays a very annoying jingle,
| coupled with a woman's voice saying "Hello?" in an obnoxious
| way. I haven't complained, because I'm not that kind of
| asshole, but something about that voice clip feels like
| stubbing my toe over and over again.
|
| If it were a regular jingle, I'd have no problem. Perhaps one
| that could be turned down so you don't hear it from halfway
| across town.
| bitwize wrote:
| Was it this one?
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_BF88VYRvE
|
| The "hello" is bizarre. It's like something a weapon AI
| from Metal Gear Solid would do to flush out its enemy.
|
| The tune is also weird. It's not a recognizable folk or
| children's tune, and it sounds vaguely Japanese, like
| background music from a Sega Pico game.
|
| If I heard an ice cream truck playing this come down my
| street, I'd think I was in an episode of Black Mirror, or
| some sort of analog-horror scenario. I'd do my best to find
| a good hiding place and avoid being seen. (Maybe crouch in
| a cardboard box?)
| bitwize wrote:
| I found the tune I linked to. It is, in fact, Japanese in
| origin: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KpT9mHF7xfE
| thinkingtoilet wrote:
| It's amazing how much power one person can have if we let them.
| I would organize people to talk to the people who made the ban
| and let them know you are unhappy. People pay so little
| attention to local politics that even an issue like this can
| result in someone being elected or not being reelected.
| ryandrake wrote:
| It really is crazy in the USA how much of an overreaction a
| single, loud, entitled, nosey, complaining neighbor can get
| with local government: whether it's complaining about kids
| making noise, complaining about kids playing alone,
| complaining about traffic, complaining about suspicious black
| people in their neighborhood, complaining about the length of
| their neighbor's grass or a car parked in front of their
| house. You read all these stories about how one complaint
| resulted in the police being deployed, fines being assessed,
| innocent people getting in trouble, roads getting speed bumps
| and 5 all-way stop signs, and other crazy shit happening
| because some one person couldn't manage to mind their own
| business.
| Der_Einzige wrote:
| Now imagine a determined AI agent empowered by a nefarious
| and disgruntled AI researcher.
| jpk wrote:
| I think part of this is because people often don't appeal
| to local government unless they've got an axe to grind.
| Nobody goes to the city council meeting to comment on how
| everything is great and things are fine the way they are.
| So when someone shows up to complain about ice cream truck
| music, the people who are pleased, or at least indifferent
| about it, don't show up to oppose the complainer, and the
| signal the council members get is that it's a problem and a
| city ordinance or whatever is required. There are typically
| opportunities in the local law-making process to allow
| someone to oppose the complainer, and it does happen, but
| few will match the complainer's level of effort. Then if a
| law makes it on the books, local LEOs become the
| complainer-class's customer service representatives, and
| you get what you're describing.
|
| Ultimately, local civic engagement is often what matters
| most to your day-to-day life, which is good. I think
| effective and durable self-governance must start at the
| local level. But we get blasted by media related to
| national politics at every time and season, to the point
| that the thought of trying to stay dialed into local
| government is a non-starter for many. If all the attention
| we can bear to allocate to politics is monopolized by the
| national wedge issues of the day, who will muster the
| volition to save the ice cream truck music?
| dylan604 wrote:
| When it comes to government reps that field calls like this,
| there's some variation of a formula saying for every one
| phone call translates to X number of people that feel the
| same way but do not make the call. It used to be different
| weightings for someone calling vs writing a letter. Either
| way, it was more a statistics reaction. Not sure if this
| comes into play or not.
|
| It could also be that the single person that did complain
| happens to be a close friend or even related to someone else
| powerful, or is just influential in the area in other ways.
| That tilts the weighting as well.
| antonymoose wrote:
| I've grown up in a Hollywood Hillbilly-esque family, one that
| made it but kept to the original values. That is to say the
| e've "made it" and live in a highly regarded vacation
| destination area. Except I grew up learning to stand up to
| bullies, ne'er-do-wells, and miscreants, if that meant coming
| to fisticuffs, so be it.
|
| From a young age I learned a fascinating lesson, socially
| speaking, is that some non trivial percent of the population
| does not at all mind the proverbial "Karen" causing a ruckus
| for the community. However, the second you stand up and tell
| them you don't agree, somehow, you are the one held
| responsible as the troublemaker.
|
| It's not the initial ruckus causer that matters, it's the
| conflict causer that does. Too many don't care about change
| in any way, they care about "the peace."
| loco5niner wrote:
| Ice cream trucks are specifically obnoxious especially in a
| neighborhood or a park. I would also complain. They would fit
| in fine at a carnival or similar.
|
| I've always found it odd that most people would complain if
| someone sprayed water all over them, but are surprised when
| people complain the same way about obnoxious noise.
|
| I do live next to an elementary school and enjoy listening to
| the children playing. Like the article says, that's a natural,
| even joyful, sound.
| moron4hire wrote:
| Ice cream trucks are a weaponized guilty trip against
| parents. The kids whine and complain about wanting ice cream
| and I'm already having a hard enough time modeling good food
| habits for them. If it were once a month I wouldn't mind, but
| it's been every day for the last month. Like, dude, nobody
| needs ice cream that much. Please stop starting an argument
| in my house.
|
| Incidentally, we just replaced all the windows in our house,
| and now the kids can't hear the ice cream truck coming, so
| chalk up one disproportionately expensive W, please.
| dkarl wrote:
| I agree; I wondered how HN would manage to make the article
| controversial, and this was the answer, equating the sound of
| playing children with the sound of intrusive commercial
| marketing aimed at children.
| alfalfasprout wrote:
| TBH a lot of it is also a cultural shift toward being selfish.
| You notice it here in the comments as well.
|
| Combined with "karen" culture, people are more empowered than
| ever to complain about things. They forget that when they were
| kids, they'd be loud, play in their neighborhood, and get up to
| no good :)
|
| It's a real shame, this mentality is what's moved us away from
| a feeling of community.
| dylan604 wrote:
| I'm not sure about this being a new thing. I also think we've
| gone too far with the anti-karen whiplash and think
| everything before that was trendy was perfect. When I was a
| kid that got up to no good or was just being annoyingly loud,
| I would hear about it. There's always been an acceptable
| loud, like kids running around and playfully being loud at a
| park or playground. Going to the same playground with a loud
| stereo is not the same thing. You're clearly up to no good as
| a teen smoking and hanging with your friends. You make it
| sound like kinds "back in the day" never got into trouble. I
| can assure you, I, er we, absolutely got in trouble for
| getting up to no good.
| taeric wrote:
| Certainly, there were plenty of "dude, really?" moments
| when kids would go over on limits. It is hard not to think
| we haven't pushed the limits down to zero, though.
|
| Granted, using smoking as an example is hilarious to me. I
| confess near zero sympathy for that going away. If
| anything, I'm pretty sure I'm more dumbfounded that people
| still smoke in any real numbers.
| sophacles wrote:
| There's a difference between the neighbor (whom you've
| almost certainly met) stepping out and saying "hey stop
| that" or "keep it down", and karen calling the cops. That's
| the new thing - this insane insistence that children must
| be kept hidden, and that the authorities must be involved
| if they are playing in designated play areas, or walking
| around the block unsupervised, or (heaven forbid) being
| loud during reasonable daylight hours.
| ectospheno wrote:
| Complaining about an ice cream truck you can hear in the back
| of your house while wearing noise cancelling headphones isn't
| Karen culture.
| gilfoy wrote:
| It absolutely is. Gettin an ice cream truck banned from
| your neighborhood because you heard it drive by is the
| epitome of Karen behavior.
| hombre_fatal wrote:
| Blasting sound out of your vehicle into a residential
| area for hours just because you want to sell something is
| selfish.
|
| So is defending the behavior and imposing it on everyone
| around you just because it's sometimes convenient for you
| to walk 10 meters for some ice cream once a month.
|
| Like TFA says, we have to decide as a society what kind
| of noise we think is worthwhile. The sound of kids
| playing seems essential for a culture to stay friendly to
| family development.
|
| But broadcasting an advertisement jingle to neighborhoods
| because you want to make money, perhaps not.
| earnestinger wrote:
| Parent is perfectly right.
|
| > cultural shift toward being selfish
|
| I enjoy ice cream so damn all other opinions :)
| sophacles wrote:
| Yes it is. No Karen thinks she deserves the title... even
| tho she does.
| taeric wrote:
| It is downright depressing seeing all of the people pile on
| regarding the food truck. I can almost understand setting a
| volume limit on it, if there are some that are going overboard.
| After all, I'll gripe to my kids for yelling while in the same
| room with me. But banning or justifying a ban!?
|
| And, I'm fine that we disallow extreme things such as sonic
| booms. Yes, that should remain banned. For really good reasons.
| No, that does not extend to sounds of life.
|
| Does it somewhat suck to live near a ball field during playoff
| season? I guess? Isn't exactly a hidden part of life, though.
| It also somewhat sucks when the chickens are upset about
| something out back. Or, heaven help you if you have frogs
| nearby.
|
| Reminds me of the hilarity of people that want to point out how
| horrible fireworks are for pets. You aren't wrong, but
| fireworks are nothing compared to a standard storm in many
| places. So, maybe tone down the bitching about it a bit?
|
| Edit: Amusingly, I'm currently working from basically under an
| airport at the moment. Also a very loud place.
| jancsika wrote:
| > is a slippery slope to nowhere positive.
|
| Both you and the author are rankly speculating.
|
| Worse, the author is outright misleading:
|
| > Trying to suppress that energy by demanding silence or
| defaulting to screens is damaging.
|
| The word "damaging" links to an article by Haidt with evidence
| of damage from defaulting to screens, but decidedly _not_
| evidence of damage from demanding silence.
|
| They make the same bait and switch with screen time in a
| separate paragraph, again with a link to a Haidt article.
|
| I have to say I resent both you and the author for forcing me
| into having to side with boomers! But you have zero evidence
| that forcing kids to play sardines instead of tag is
| detrimental. Given that, I must begrudgingly respect the
| boomers' grudge and side with your local council's ban (or at
| least say that it appears innocuous). :(
| ravenstine wrote:
| Meanwhile, nobody does anything about all the crotch rockets
| and douche canoes with exhaust systems deliberately modified to
| be obnoxiously loud at any hour of the day.
| voxleone wrote:
| I'm noticing a reversal of social deference:
|
| -Then: Older generations had the cultural authority, and children
| were expected to conform.
|
| -Now: There's increasing tolerance--and even privilege--granted
| to children (and parents), sometimes at the expense of quiet,
| order, or adult comfort.
|
| Hypothesis: This shift reflects a society aware
| of its declining birthrate, where children are becoming scarcer
| and more symbolically valuable, so institutions (like courts) may
| reflexively protect or favor youth-centered activity.
| kreco wrote:
| Sometimes there are properties about generations that get
| carried "alternatively" as cycles.
|
| The generation that got too much authority will give the next
| generation more space (louder generation). Then the loud
| generation will create louder generation and authority will
| come back, etc.
|
| It's just an example and I don't think the loudness is part of
| those properties but the abstract mechanism has been observed
| along few generation (I think this mechanism had a proper name
| but I cannot find it again).
| junga wrote:
| > (I think this mechanism had a proper name but I cannot find
| it again).
|
| Are you referring to the Strauss-Howe generational theory?
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strauss-
| Howe_generational_theo...
| marssaxman wrote:
| I think it is quite the opposite: what is novel is that this
| has come before the court at all. Nobody would have dreamed of
| expecting children to stay inside and be quiet all day during
| my childhood, nor that of my parents, nor their parents;
| rather, we were often _made_ to go play outside.
| pizzafeelsright wrote:
| Kids are mildly annoying but generally there's a time and a
| place.
|
| I have kids. I love a loud house with quiet time.
|
| Loud children above age 2ish in the movie theater or restaurant
| are to be behaved because of the proximity of others.
|
| Babies on airplanes get a pass because iykyk
| timcobb wrote:
| This. My child can shriek at what really feels like ear-
| piercing frequencies and decibels.
| Neywiny wrote:
| One of my favorite stories is a flight with a mom and a few
| kids. Her oldest started shrieking at some point, likely due to
| the air pressure change. The mom said something like (calmly)
| "there's nothing anymore can do about it, so what do you want
| to happen?" And the kid shut up
| IanCal wrote:
| > Babies on airplanes get a pass because iykyk
|
| I think broadly if you're doing something you just need to do,
| then a kid being a kid (particularly babies) is fine. Even if
| it's annoying, that's just life. Beyond that you need to pick
| your place - I'm happy taking my young kids to dinner where
| there's other kids and noise, I'd not take them to a quiet
| tasting menu place.
|
| Having said that, someone with an upset baby is probably having
| a worse time than I am and I can usually just sympathise,
| sometimes things are more out of someone's control than you
| think.
| goda90 wrote:
| I generally understand dealing with an upset kid in public is
| hard and I sympathize. But I once had a red-eye flight where
| the kid was screaming for its daddy, who we later determined
| was on the flight just in a different row. We saw no
| indication the mother was actually trying to soothe the
| child, nor did she go get the father. We were not happy to
| start a vacation with such little sleep...
| progbits wrote:
| Planes are horrible without noise cancelling headphones for me,
| which incidentally solves the screaming kid problem too.
| daseiner1 wrote:
| ear plugs + over-ear n/c headphones + white noise or jazz
| music playing works great
| pedro_caetano wrote:
| Indeed I never realized how high the level of the background
| white noise inside a pressurized cabin really is until I
| started wearing ANC cup headphones in a plane.
|
| Removing them after a few minutes to talk to someone always
| feels like I am getting assaulted with noise.
| DrillShopper wrote:
| I got some earplugs designed for people who deal with sensory
| issues and they have completely transformed being on a flight
| from actively annoying to passively acceptable.
|
| Fell asleep for the first time on a plane and I'm never going
| back.
| analog31 wrote:
| Earplugs are a godsend on flights. I've found one more
| trick. No caffeine on days when I fly. That way, I fall
| asleep easily all day long.
| gedy wrote:
| We seem less tolerant of kids these days, and more tolerant of
| dogs.
| c22 wrote:
| The other day an unleashed dog ran into my yard from the
| adjacent park and the woman escorting it informed me that _I_
| should build a fence!
| gedy wrote:
| Yeah I like dogs, but growing up we treated them as a home
| and backyard pet only, having them run around in neighborhood
| or bringing to stores or restaurants(!) would have been
| unthinkable. I really don't get it.
| Aurornis wrote:
| I always have a hard time interpreting these stories. Is this
| really a trend? Or is it an example of someone collecting
| anecdotes from all around the world and presenting it as a trend?
|
| The internet makes it easier than ever to search for anecdotes
| around the world that support an idea, but a collection of global
| anecdotes does not indicate a trend. There are billions of people
| in the world and some of them are cranky and intolerant.
|
| If we're sharing anecdotes: I've had nothing but positive
| responses to my kids playing, even loudly. Obviously I'm not
| taking them to a library, school, or other dedicated quiet place
| to play, but the overwhelming majority of people in my area smile
| and laugh when they see kids playing, loudly or not.
| foxglacier wrote:
| If it was real, they author would have shown some data to
| support that. So yea, it's just random anecdotes to make it
| look like there's something for people to be outraged about.
| klank wrote:
| I'll add to it. My neighbor and I were just recently
| chitchatting how we love the new family that moved into the
| neighborhood a few years ago. We love the vibe and color their
| family adds and it's a large part because they're very visible
| and audible.
|
| General "kid mayhem" happening all over their yard. It often
| spills into the street. More than once I have to slow down and
| wait for the children wailing on their friends with boxing
| gloves to clear out of the street so I can drive through. It's
| wonderful. They're close to the entrance of our neighborhood
| too, which means everybody coming through there is primed to go
| slow and watch out for kids. It has such a great, calming
| effect on the overall neighborhood.
| aidenn0 wrote:
| People complaining about being disturbed by kids playing is at
| least as old as I am, and probably has existed since about 5
| minutes after the first kid was born.
| eggsandbeer wrote:
| No.
| BrenBarn wrote:
| Kids playing is great, but I think this article glosses over some
| important wrinkles.
|
| A big one I see is that some parents seem incapable of
| distinguishing between "there are times when it is okay for my
| child to play noisily" and "my child's activities and/or noise
| level should never be restricted". Playing in a park is great ---
| that's what parks are for! Playing in your yard, or an apartment
| courtyard or the like, great. Playing on the sidewalk is fine. .
| . but remember that sidewalks are also for people to walk on, so
| if someone comes by the kid needs to realize that they should let
| them pass. But then we have parents who come into stores and let
| their kids grab things from shelves and play with them in the
| middle of the floor, and so on.
|
| Part of accepting and embracing play is understanding that not
| every moment is playtime, and that even within playtime there can
| be subcategories with different expectations.
|
| This article frames it in terms of noise, but in my experience a
| lot of the issues people have with noise are really issues about
| parents not understanding how to set boundaries for their kids,
| and teach their kids that behavior --- not just noise, but
| everything --- has to be adjusted for different situations.
| pier25 wrote:
| > _parents not understanding how to set boundaries for their
| kids_
|
| Absolutely.
|
| Kids being loud when playing football or at the beach is fine
| and even expected.
|
| Letting your kids run around the theater is not fine. You're
| ruining the experience for everyone.
| airstrike wrote:
| There's a difference between being loud in public vs privately.
| As a kid, I was never allowed to be loud in a restaurant, unless
| it was a restaurant for kids--and even then up to a reasonable
| limit
| Apreche wrote:
| Yes, go ahead. Be loud and play outside. But I'm pretty sure I
| have misophonia, so just be loud somewhere not near me.
| didibus wrote:
| Kind of interested for someone to look into if hearing children
| noise is healthy, I could imagine it actually affecting one's
| hormonal response and such, but also maybe not.
| klank wrote:
| Anecdotally, children making "children noises" is calming for
| me.
|
| It was not until after I was a parent myself though. Like many
| things in life, once I had the connection in my own personal
| life, it is now very easy and automatic for me to empathize and
| support other children. It feels deep, like more an automatic
| response.
| KolmogorovComp wrote:
| No. I thought it was widely known that kindergarten employees
| suffer from earing loss due to repeated exposure to high sound
| level from the screaming kids.
| rock_artist wrote:
| As we're in tech, loud or noise are very implicit and can really
| range.
|
| Reading this on Amsterdam, I know many others countries where
| there won't be such a discussion at all about a soccer field
| outside a building.
|
| I come from a place where children and the population is noisy
| due to many factors. every time we went as family on a holiday
| (With dutch people as an example), I saw my children become less
| and less vocal only to become loud as they were once we were back
| home.
|
| Recently, we've relocated to Spain. It's only a few months but
| still, I thought my children would get become less noisy similar
| to what we saw on holidays after a while...
|
| But nothing changed, and also hearing other children here,
| they're in the same "noisy" levels as my kids.
|
| So there's also a cultural aspect that needs to be considered
| about what is loud or how children are expected to behave, add
| immigration to that and cultural differences and you got so many
| factors.
| tetha wrote:
| Hm. I think I am encountering cultural differences here, again.
| Personally, I have a point from my grandma in my head: "If your
| ears are ringing from happy, playing children, that's future in
| your ears. That's good". For sure, within reason, but a huge
| ruckus in the shared backyard or playground between 08:00 or
| 20:00 due to kids?
|
| That's what kids to.
|
| I rather get worried if they abruptly stop, or start yelling
| differently. I don't even have kids, but I'll still take a look
| wether a kid of a neighbour mananged to add a temporary third
| joint to their arm, is bleeding a worrying amount or something
| like that.
| EGreg wrote:
| I was just writing two days ago about how ADHD is overdiagnosed
| and our system is just set up to try to coerce kids to be
| convenient for the system:
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44490274
|
| There I put forward some proposals at the end
| burnt-resistor wrote:
| I have under-diagnosed ADHD because my father was a Fox News
| disciple, science-hating, arrogant bigot who believed ADHD was
| a "conspiracy" of anti-male leftists.
| mensetmanusman wrote:
| Free noise cancelling airpods for all. I don't hear anything
| anymore.
| burnt-resistor wrote:
| WHAT!? ;)
| YorickPeterse wrote:
| There's kids being noisy, which in itself isn't much of a
| problem, and then there's _Dutch kids_ being noisy, with the
| latter sounding more like a bunch of roosters at a heavy metal
| concert.
| christkv wrote:
| Thankfully this is not a problem in Spain (I think this is either
| a southern European thing or Spanish thing). Kids share adult
| spaces all the time being it restaurants, bar, plazas or other
| spaces. I would not trade this for the world. In general the
| country is a very welcoming one for children in public spaces
| including active children.
| theultdev wrote:
| I don't really see any need to take parental advice from a blog.
|
| Not going to give advice either as we all have our own methods,
| but it's more or less the opposite of what this person is saying.
|
| Doesn't mean letting them sit mindlessly in front of screens, but
| screen time is okay as long as they are creating, not consuming.
|
| That has nothing to do with their noise levels though. There's a
| time and place. Outside with friends, yeah sure be loud within
| reason. In public around strangers? You better shut the hell up.
| strathmeyer wrote:
| Our dorm was next to a playground in college. It was impossible
| to sleep in. They were literally just screaming at the top of
| their lungs for hours at a time. I guess it's different when it's
| someone else's day you're ruining.
| dpifke wrote:
| A few months back, my wife and I had our windows open and heard
| some neighbors' kids playing drums and guitar in their garage.
| They were TERRIBLE.
|
| We're sad we haven't heard them again recently. I was hoping to
| follow along as they got better.
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