Backalley Banshees Part II

Six months later, the saga continues.

When I last wrote about my noisy neighbors, it was winter, and the children were making themselves merry, banging the sidewalk with snow shovels and sliding down the lawn, screaming all the while. Now it's summer, and school is out.

My daughter is on a pretty set schedule. She takes a nap at 1pm every day, and as I'm nearing the end of pregnancy and need as much rest as I can get, I nap when she does.

Cue screaming.

As I said in my previous post about this, I get it: kids have fun. They play. They scream a bit. Not these kids. They scream as loudly and constantly as possible, leaving me to wonder at the stamina of their little vocal cords.

The last few times this has happened, I've gone outside, calmly talked to the children and told them they needed to be a little quieter. This usually worked for a couple weeks before the noise level started creeping back up. I've tried different approaches, from cool understanding lady to stern shut-the-heck-up-now woman. The only permanent thing I've accomplished is making the neighbor kids avert their eyes whenever I come outside and pretend I'm not there.

I've done a bit more observation and have come to realize that their parents seriously don't care what they do. There is a bank-owned house next to mine, and the kids have spent hours in the yard there, vandalizing it and trying to break in through the window well. I've told them off for that too, but what really astonishes me is that this, as well as the screaming, is all done even while the parents are outside, working on their car or cleaning out the garage, apparently oblivious to their children at all.

The last time my nap was short-changed due to a (I kid you not) 4 hour long screaming session, I decided it was time to escalate things and talk to the parents. I had been careful to be kind and neighborly to them, without seeming overly interested or like I was trying to get buddy-buddy with them in case this day ever came. The mom seems nice enough, but I was still unsure. I called a trusted neighbor whom I believed knows the woman and confided my issue to her, asking whether the woman was approachable and how she might react. She told me that normally, this woman is very kind and easy-going, but as far as her kids are concerned, very defensive. On this head she has made a few different "enemies" in the ward. She told me that the woman's parenting style was very "free-spirited", and that she believes in raising her kids in a minimal discipline environment.

Sigh.

Normally, I have no problem confronting people to work out issues we may have. But it seems that not only would she disagree with me in the first place that her kids should show a bit more consideration to those around them, but she would most likely throw me into the "enemies" pile and hate me for the rest of the time we're neighbors. Talking to them will probably do far more harm than good. Not exactly a solution.

So after talking it over with my hubby, we decided maybe it was better to try to deal with things on our own. I've started trying to take naps on the couch downstairs, as the window faces the opposite side of the house. Today, my nap was again interrupted by the screaming. Incredibly, they were loud enough in the back yard I could hear them clearly from the front.

I've just about had it, but it seems like I'm running out of options. I could use ear plugs, but then I wouldn't hear Zoey when she wakes up. At this point, I'm just not sure what else there is to do about it. These kids have no respect for adults or authority or the lives and possessions of other people. Their parents aren't much better. If I don't get more sleep soon, I may go berserk. The worst part is, I know this is just the beginning.