Neighbor's screaming grandchild.....

Define "Screams". Kids yell and cry but screaming can mean several things. The choice is yours but I would definitely pursue it. The child could be in real danger.
 

Sassycakes said:
I was wondering the same thing about the parents and if the child does the same thing at home. The child might have problems and maybe the grandparents are just too old to take care of a youngster.
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The "mother" is an irresponsible girl and she is not married. She doesn't want the kid so she leaves him at the grandparents a lot. The grandparents are not old. They are in their 50's but we think they're just inconsiderate as to us as a neighbor.
 
We're taking some measures to "block out" as much of the noise and view of their house as we can without spending a ton of money on a block wall that we can't afford.

We have put up 2-10 foot outdoor shades on 2 large areas of the back patio. They will give us some privacy and block a lot of hot sun here in AZ.

The other thing we are doing is planting a row of Texas Privet to form a 6 foot hedge. We went to the nursery yesterday and got the Privet and several Pineapple Guava plants. That was a lot cheaper than a block wall. I'm sure we'll be able to hear him but at least these plants will make a slight sound barrier and next year they'll be a good privacy screen.

There's not much we can do about the kids yelling and screaming. We're not going to say anything to our neighbor or approach them because they would be combative and we don't want that. So much for having a peaceful senior life :(
 

Colleen said:
. . . We're not going to say anything to our neighbor or approach them because they would be combative and we don't want that. . . .
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What about talking to your other neighbors about this, and then all confronting the grandparents together? If the screaming child is as loud as you say, I would expect that other people are annoyed too.
 
raybar said:
What about talking to your other neighbors about this, and then all confronting the grandparents together? If the screaming child is as loud as you say, I would expect that other people are annoyed too.
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There are no other neighbors close by.
 
Colleen said:
I don't think the child is being abused. Just inconsiderate, clueless grandparents :(
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Ok now see, here's what your very first post said.
Just curious how you would handle a neighbor that's very close to our back yard (we're only separated by a 10' right-of-way) that has their 4 year old grandchild stay with them several days a week and screams constantly. Would you just ignore it? Believe me, it's very nerve wracking. There isn't any barrier between our properties that would block some of it out. We had an estimate last week on having a block wall built but it's way over our budget. I dread this summer.

What you opened this thread with, above, IMMEDIATELY raised all kinds of red flags for me. I will ALWAYS advocate for children as the innocent victims of situations over which they have no control, which is why I advocated making a call. Many subsequent posts later, it turns our that you don't think the child is being abused. The child apparently has an uncaring mother and grandparents who don't seem to mind that she screams the whole time (which would tend to make me think they're not giving her much attention) and it's just a situation where everyone's clueless but not abusive.
 
Colleen said:
The "mother" is an irresponsible girl and she is not married. She doesn't want the kid so she leaves him at the grandparents a lot. The grandparents are not old. They are in their 50's but we think they're just inconsiderate as to us as a neighbor.
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I'm sorry you have to go through all this. I would go crazy if I heard a child acting like that. The Mother of the child must not care very much about what goes on and obviously the Grandparents aren't concerned
either. If they were good grandparents they would get the child help with the temper tantrums. It obviously doesn't bother them. All I can say is that poor child.
 
Ronni said:
Ok now see, here's what your very first post said.
Just curious how you would handle a neighbor that's very close to our back yard (we're only separated by a 10' right-of-way) that has their 4 year old grandchild stay with them several days a week and screams constantly. Would you just ignore it? Believe me, it's very nerve wracking. There isn't any barrier between our properties that would block some of it out. We had an estimate last week on having a block wall built but it's way over our budget. I dread this summer.

What you opened this thread with, above, IMMEDIATELY raised all kinds of red flags for me. I will ALWAYS advocate for children as the innocent victims of situations over which they have no control, which is why I advocated making a call. Many subsequent posts later, it turns our that you don't think the child is being abused. The child apparently has an uncaring mother and grandparents who don't seem to mind that she screams the whole time (which would tend to make me think they're not giving her much attention) and it's just a situation where everyone's clueless but not abusive.
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Can I just quote these lines of yours back at you:"If its stupid, but it works, it ain't stupid"!

Maybe this particular child does need this kind of treatment right now, and he'll grow out of it to become a wonderful rounded person, inspite of these extraordinary times we're all living through, and the distress caused to neighbours.

BTW I'd give my vote to Pam Ayres having the wherewithal to sort the whole situation too!
 
grahamg said:
Can I just quote these lines of yours back at you:"If its stupid, but it works, it ain't stupid"!

Maybe this particular child does need this kind of treatment right now, and he'll grow out of it to become a wonderful rounded person, inspite of these extraordinary times we're all living through, and the distress caused to neighbours.

BTW I'd give my vote to Pam Ayres having the wherewithal to sort the whole situation too!
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What do you mean treatment? No child deserves to be in an environment that makes them unhappy.
 
Kudos to those who replied to this topic and gravitated towards contacting authorities relative to the initial OP.

You have restored my confidence in the idea that our world still harvests a select percentage of people who care, and have no problem with stepping up to the plate and doing what's right.
 
Aunt Marg said:
What do you mean treatment? No child deserves to be in an environment that makes them unhappy.
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I'd say a child having "a paddy" deserves the treatment of showing them their behaviour won't win all the time by the adults around him or her.

"The idea quote, " No child deserves to be in an environment that makes them unhappy", I'd counter with, "We'd all like to see children loved as much as possible by those bringing them into this world, if they feel able to do so without worrying what every action they take might land them in front of judgemental people assuming they know better than the parent, (people who cannot possibly love the child themselves).

We've heard on this thread that the OP doesn't think there is abuse here, in the case of the screaming boy, so all we're left with is how far to push ones nose into his families private life, or the reasonable responses the neighbour might wish to take to reduce the noise they're forced to live with right now. .

So sorry, can't agree with you on this one, and your " No child deserves this or that" mantra. .:(
 
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nothing worse than a kid screaming -dont go spending out for goodness sake !!!!!
go and tell them to keep the screaming to a limit ' if she dont= fone who ever you fone to get it sorted
dont put up with it -it will stress you both out '
 
As tempting as it may be to record the screaming child and then play it back for the grandparents, that would be considered intentional harassment and disturbing the peace, and could get you fined if the neighbors took it to court. A screaming child, on the other hand, is just a screaming child.

Better to record a few hours of it, and play it for the police and child protective services.
 
raybar said:
As tempting as it may be to record the screaming child and then play it back for the grandparents, that would be considered intentional harassment and disturbing the peace, and could get you fined if the neighbors took it to court. A screaming child, on the other hand, is just a screaming child.

Better to record a few hours of it, and play it for the police and child protective services.
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(y) 👏
 
raybar said:
As tempting as it may be to record the screaming child and then play it back for the grandparents, that would be considered intentional harassment and disturbing the peace, and could get you fined if the neighbors took it to court. A screaming child, on the other hand, is just a screaming child.

Better to record a few hours of it, and play it for the police and child protective services.
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It’s funny though. 🤓
 
There are serious issues of jeopardy for all involved in the scenario described in the OP, It could almost be an episode of "The Simpsons" where Marge gets accused of child abuse, and the three kids removed (for a spell obviously!).

Here is what happened, as briefly as I can describe it, when parents in the Shetland Islands, north of Scotland, were accused of mass ritual abuse, and their kids removed for a time too. Eventually the "evidence" dragged up by investigators, by asking the children over and over, the same questions, until as the children gave in and gave them the answers they wanted, created a national crisis with mainstream media attention in the 1980s!

As adults the children were interviewed and explained why they'd said what they'd said, and it was because they believed there was no other way to stop the questioning, and it was all totally rubbish, as the parents managed to force the local sherrif to accept, and hand over their children, when they confronted him en masse. All those years afterwards the same woman who dredged up the false accusations defended her decisions by saying, "Do you want me to believe the children lied".

So after official investigations concluded just that, this same person refused to accept they'd been responsible for such a travesty.

No one wants to see any child abuse, but we've heard from the OP author there isn't any here, and all we're left with is dealing with an obvious neighbourhood nuisance. Still we've seen the cheerleading for sticking your nose in, and there we go, the world falling apart, but we still need some fabricated accusations to make sure, " No child ever suffers abuse", just as the woman in Shetland looked at the parents with blinkers on too! ;):( .
 
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I agree with fmdog's request: Define "screams."

A "screaming" child could be a hearing-impaired child who says everything in a very loud voice.
He could be autistic or developmentally disabled.
He could be bored to death and frustrated, desperately in need of companionship.
Yes, he could be a spoiled brat.
He could be physically abused and scared to death.
He could be mentally abused: "Bad boys like you are going to hell."
He could just be playing, and every time he raises his voice, some crabby neighbor complains about "screaming."
He might even be trying to sing, for God's sake!

So, what is meant by "He screams constantly?"
 
Sunny said:
I agree with fmdog's request: Define "screams."

A "screaming" child could be a hearing-impaired child who says everything in a very loud voice.
He could be autistic or developmentally disabled.
He could be bored to death and frustrated, desperately in need of companionship.
Yes, he could be a spoiled brat.
He could be physically abused and scared to death.
He could be mentally abused: "Bad boys like you are going to hell."
He could just be playing, and every time he raises his voice, some crabby neighbor complains about "screaming."
He might even be trying to sing, for God's sake!

So, what is meant by "He screams constantly?"
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What more do you want to know than the OP says no abuse?
 
Why would you have to record the “screams all the time”. None of this makes sense, call the local police, ask for a welfare check, and when they drive by they can hear the screaming for themselves. Problem solved, easily.
 

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