Sound Advice 
Volume 11, Issue 1, 2008

Pipe Down, Kids!

Ever had a noisy neighbor with undisciplined, shrieking children? Many of us have experienced the discomfort of living close to a noisy, inconsiderate family, and have had to put up with the earsplitting screams and yelling that some parents choose to ignore. In this situation the majority of us, wishing to avoid an unpleasant confrontation, do nothing.

So it was interesting to read a Fox News article about a group of Long Island residents who sued their neighbors over the noise their 11– and 5--year-old daughters make while playing outside in the pool. Polite requests to the family to limit the girls’ noise had gone unheeded, and the children continued to disturb the peace in the neighborhood. One neighbor commented that she has five dogs that collectively make less noise than the neighbors’ two girls.

Unfortunately, the legal complaint was filed in reference to an ordinance generally used to limit the “shouting and crying of peddlers, hawkers and vendors." Since the children are not hawkers, peddlers or vendors, the judge ruled that this ordinance did not apply, and so the case was dismissed. But the threat of the suit had a positive outcome:  the sued parents have been forced to accept that their lax discipline was causing a community noise problem, and they have apparently offered to “try to keep [the girls] quieter.” Perhaps the dog-owning neighbor could lend them her bark collars? (Just kidding!)

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