After politely asking the neighbor to quiet the children, who responded dismissively by saying the OP would get used to it, the OP decided to retaliate by mowing their lawn and using a leaf blower right next to the shared property line starting at 6:00 AM. When confronted by the upset neighbor, the OP mirrored her previous statement, leading to conflict with the neighbor and other community members who suggest the OP should have handled the situation differently, leaving the OP to question if their actions were justified.
Alright, I work late nights and sleep in every morning. My neighbors right next door have three little kids who scream and play and bang and ahhhhh! in the backyard at 7 in the morning every single day.
I mean talking yelling, running, loud toys, pounding, whatever they can do to make noise.
I know. Kids are kids. But every morning? Weekends too? No. Just….. no.
I nicely mentioned it to my neighbor a few weeks ago. She laughed and said, “Oh, they’re early risers! You’ll get used to it.” No apology, no effort to quiet them down.
So the other day, I set my alarm for 6 am and mowed my lawn. Right up against their yard. Then I used my leaf blower, for added punch. Neighbor comes outside in her jammies all pissed off.
“Why are you being so inconsiderate?” She says. I smile and say, “Oh, I’m an early riser! You’ll get used to it.”
Now she and some other neighbors are saying I should have just “dealt with it like an adult.” But I feel like I just gave them a taste of their own medicine. Those kids need to be considerate too.
AITA?
Conclusion
The original poster is experiencing frustration due to a significant disruption of their required sleep schedule caused by the neighbors’ children’s early morning activities. The conflict centers on the OP’s decision to use aggressive, retaliatory noise to enforce quiet hours, contrasting with the neighbors’ perceived lack of consideration for the OP’s schedule.
The core debate is whether the OP was justified in using reciprocal noise pollution as a means of negotiation, or if this behavior constitutes being the primary problem. Should the OP have continued direct, non-confrontational communication, or was the calculated noise response a necessary, albeit aggressive, step to establish boundaries?
Here’s how people reacted:
I have a noisy obnoxious asshole neighbour who only ever has his kids once a fortnight but 7 am they’re bouncing the basketball in the driveway and yelling.
I could live with that but he makes more noise on his own, at 4.30am the other day he was standing outside having a very loud phone call until I told him to shut the fuck up and he went inside.
The problem I have is, the lawnmower annoys other people than just your targeted neighbour. Sure the kids probably annoy them too but now you’re the one pissing people off and it’s even earlier.
I can hear a lawnmower a good 4-5 houses away especially on a quiet morning. Now your other neighbours get to put up with you two having a noise war.
Similarly, you may also have broken the noise ordinance. It may also be that they didn’t but you did.
So YTA. You asked nicely, now it’s time to call the cops and let the professionals deal with it.
My parents taught me and my sister to be respectful of other people’s needs, which included not acting like fucking maniacs at inappropriate hours. Parents today just don’t want to do any actual parenting, and it’s disgraceful.
Im an early riser lol.
Sucks re your sleep habits due to work. I know thats a tough one but it is your situation you need to deal with.
7 am is wake up time. Kids will be kids.
Dont like it ? Then maybe she should be a little more considerate of her surroundings.
NTA