Anonymous wrote:IMO, if you live in the city, you should not expect quiet during the day. Whether it is children playing, construction, traffic, whatever, cities are loud. If you can't tune noise out, invest in some noise cancelling headphones or move to the country. It's very quiet there.

Anonymous wrote:

I think there are no winners here. It is very difficult for a single work at home lawyer to share a wall with a family with little kids.

There is really no way to resolve this conflict.

I think one of you should move.

Townhomes are terrible.

Anonymous wrote:OP, I have a neighbor exactly like you. She does not understand why is it disturbing when her kids are playing/screaming in their own home. There is a limit to everything. I am writing this, because I know how it feels like as I was the Victim earlier. Could not concentrate on anything during day/night as it is always Kids Yelling/Mom shouting/they hitting the walls with balls&toys/Music blaring. We cannot even enjoy a quiet 1-2 minutes after work in our backyard when her Kids are yelling/screaming/laughing loud along with few other kids all evenings in their backyard. Looks like she was a backup sitter for many of her friends. Their landlord came in and observed the noise from our place(without informing them), we got our own peace of mind back.

Anonymous wrote:OP, I have a neighbor exactly like you. She does not understand why is it disturbing when her kids are playing/screaming in their own home. There is a limit to everything. I am writing this, because I know how it feels like as I was the Victim earlier. Could not concentrate on anything during day/night as it is always Kids Yelling/Mom shouting/they hitting the walls with balls&toys/Music blaring. We cannot even enjoy a quiet 1-2 minutes after work in our backyard when her Kids are yelling/screaming/laughing loud along with few other kids all evenings in their backyard. Looks like she was a backup sitter for many of her friends. Their landlord came in and observed the noise from our place(without informing them), we got our own peace of mind back.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're in MoCo (not sure where OP is, but I suspect the noise disturbance issues might be similar),and here's the deal.

OP, your children are only allowed 'to be kids' in their own home if the sounds they're making do not exceed the noise levels set up by the county. The levels vary depending on the time of the day and the day of the week. Here's what I'm talking about

http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/DEP/community/noise-ordinance.html

11:54, you're wrong if you believe that "If she needed to sleep during the day because she worked nights, that would be one thing, but it's not reasonable to ask someone not to make noise during the day so you can work at home. They have a right to enjoy their home just as much as you do".
FYI, it doesn't matter if the woman is a lawyer, a stripper or the president of the United States..she is within her rights to demand a certain level of noise protection, night or day. So if the child you're having over for a play date enjoys 'screaming at top of his lungs', repeatedly, over a period of time, your neighbor has the right to call the police... and if you're 'singing and dancing' with the music blasting, your neighbors are also within their rights to complain.

Believe it or not, similar rules apply to dogs barking. 4 barks, and your neighbors can call the cops on you - and the police has to respond to the call.

OP, I suggest you take a hard look at your situation and see if you can find ways to keep the noise down. Once again, no one can request pure silence from their neighbors, but it is perfectly legitimate to expect them to keep the level of noise down to certain levels.

I'm surprised people on this site don't understand this simple issue.

I disagree. The OP said that the woman wants silence so that she can work at home. That is not reasonable. To expect or request. She's totally within normal bounds to ask that OP not have kids yelling and screaming in the house, or music blasting at a high volume, but silence all day? Not reasonable. If the neighbor had said, "I know that kids make noise, but the yelling and screaming is too much," I don't think very many people would be supporting the OP's refusal to cooperate. But from what we're told, the neighbor is asking far more than she is legally entitled to.

Exactly. I'm the OP. I suffer from horrible severe migraines and the kids are kind enough to sit and do puzzles or watch a TV episode quietly while we wait for my medication to take effect. We're in now way breaking such codes. We don't hear music that loud and our play area is not in the room we share walls. The sound system is in the kitchen, the farthest room from the neighbor and we usually push the furniture in the dining room to make room for running and dancing games. Again a room that is not connected to the neighbor.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
My kids are 2 and 5, they're not allowed to play ball in the house but they run and yell. We sing and dance together and they love to slide down the stairs on cardboard boxes.
Anyway, today we were having a play date and the other child is a screamer. Mom is working hard on teaching him inside voice but the guy likes to yell from the top of his lungs.

The kids run and yell, you all sing and dance, they love to slide down the stairs on cardboard boxes, you have a child over who likes to yell at the top of his lungs -- and it's unreasonable of the neighbor to complain about the noise?

Right? Crazy!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
My kids are 2 and 5, they're not allowed to play ball in the house but they run and yell. We sing and dance together and they love to slide down the stairs on cardboard boxes.
Anyway, today we were having a play date and the other child is a screamer. Mom is working hard on teaching him inside voice but the guy likes to yell from the top of his lungs.

The kids run and yell, you all sing and dance, they love to slide down the stairs on cardboard boxes, you have a child over who likes to yell at the top of his lungs -- and it's unreasonable of the neighbor to complain about the noise?

Anonymous wrote:sliding down the stairs in a box is unreasonable with shared walls.

some noise is fine, but you can't live in a town home and get silence without a pair of bose headphones.

Anonymous wrote:sliding down the stairs in a box is unreasonable with shared walls.
some noise is fine, but you can't live in a town home and get silence without a pair of bose headphones.