June 22, 2006

Sick and Hearing Cryin'

I understand that when you live in an apartment building, you have to put up with some irritations and annoyances. There is a couple who lives down the hall from me who have two small children, one of whom is about 1 years old. I don't hear either child making noise, perhaps because they are far down on the other end. However, I have become aware of another child, an infant, in an apartment two doors away from mine.

It's summer, and people's windows are open, including mine. Lately, I have heard that particular baby crying all the time. I've been home sick on and off this week, thanks to a cold I caught from my boss, so I've been hearing the kid practically all day and night. It sounds like they have him or her positioned right next to the window, so the sound carries up and down the gangway.

Sometimes, I'll come out in the hallway and find a baby stroller parked there. The couple also lives in a studio, like me, and with a kid, there's less room to move around. I just wish they'd do something more to keep the kid quiet. For a long time, there were zero kids in the building, due to the majority of tiny studio apartments. The quiet was amazing. Now I see families just squeezing more people than there should be in spaces. I know the economy is not that hot, and people struggle, but a kid in a studio apartment? There oughta be a law against it.

4 comments:

Chase said...

I thrive on my quiet, too. I haven't had to deal with living next to a screaming child, but I can't imagine it'd be too fun.

I feel for ya, Tomboy.

Anonymous said...

Sometimes I think people with children just think we need to being understanding to them...like they have more of a right than we do because they are parents. I'm not going to change my life for any children or have any children disrupt my life either.

kT said...

If common sense were common, "childfree" zones wouldn't be necessary. Children have limited attention spans and a need to move. Therefore, there are places they don't want to be (and that no one else wants them to be in).

Yes, kids need some special accomodation. But so do adults, and we deserve that consideration. I assume that even parents who choose a babysitter for their date night out don't want to listen to someone else's screaming child in a nice restaurant.

Anonymous said...

Chase, Chris, Robin, KT, thanks all for your comments and thanks to Boxing Tomboy for this post.

A kid in a studio apartment sounds like a recipe for disaster, but I don't think the law will change for discriminating against families any time soon.

Seems to me a lanlord could make a better choice for the happiness of all the residents, but that's not their concern, unless good tenenants make a fuss. Condos seem to get around the "can't we all just live together" issues by creativing voluminous regulation books that all residents are expected to know.

As AlphaGirl pointed out, it is against the law to apply age discrimination to a tenant applicants. Senior housing is the one exception -- in California if not for the entire U.S.