Why Do Kids Make So Much Noise?

I try not to show my age.  I really do, but sometimes having young children later in life takes its toll, on the ears.

I had great dinner with a girlfriend of mine the other night at Cameron Village.  We sometimes say we are twins separated at birth. She, too, was a journalist.  We had our first child in our late 30s, both boys. We are “only children” in our families, and we grew up in small North Carolina towns.  We were even working in the same office when we were pregnant with our sons, and both of us chose to stay home with our kids, full-time.  We have a lot in common.

On this night, we were talking parental woes. It’s not surprising that we both had the same complaint.

NOISE.

She has only one child.  I have two, but my youngest doesn’t really make noise.  My first child takes the “making noise honors” in our house.  Apparently, my friend’s child is just as noisy.

Saying goodbye to the noise as we leave our children with a sitter so we can
enjoy a nice, quiet dinner. 

I had to ask:  “Do you think it’s our age, and we just can’t tolerate the noise?”

It could be.

However, my friend thinks it could be the fact that we are only children and are not used to having constant noise around us.  She pointed out that we didn’t grow up with a lot of noise.

That’s a good point.  I didn’t. The only noise I really heard was the TV. I didn’t have a lot of kids in the neighborhood to play with, either.  I had a rather boring, quiet childhood.

This got me to thinking. Does our “only child” status make us less tolerant of noise?  Probably so.  

But I still think age may play a role, too.  Noise bothers me a lot more at 4 p.m. in the day as opposed to 10 a.m.  I think by 4 p.m, I am spent. Noise at 8 p.m. is just a downright crime. 

I. Can’t. Stand. It. By that point, I want to just run in my closet and hide. Either that, or I start to yell at my children like a crazy lunatic. And it’s not just the kid noise they make.  It’s TV noise.  Music noise. Toy noise.  It’s all sorts of noise that children generate.

My son loves to use my husband’s laptop while I’m writing.  It’s hooked up in our office adjacent to my desktop. I can’t stand the noise he makes while I’m on my computer. Some game dings. He’s humming. It drives me batty.  My husband actually brought out earphones for my son to use while in the same room as me the other night.

It was an improvement, but he was still making noise with his mouth.  Singing. Humming. Talking.  It’s nonstop.  I can’t think.  He is like the Energizer bunny of noise.

But I may have the solution.  I’m the one who needs the earplugs or headphones, not him.

What do you think?  Do you have quiet children? 

Pouring my Heart Out on the subject of noise with:

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