Hello all - I've been a reader(lurker) here for a while but I wanted to introduce myself. I am a woman in my early thirties and I have known my whole life that I don't want kids. I have an awesome family who have always known this about me as well and have never pressured me. We always joked that my sibling would have kids and then they would go visit aunt Joy on her farm with all her animals. Well, the farm hasn't happened but the rest is true. I have just recently been divorced from a 5 year marriage and 10 year relationship. There were lots of issues but his reason for leaving was that he decided he 'had to at least try' to have kids. So if anyone questions whether I will change my mind... yeah... no.

I had to come here to post this because I think all of you will sympathize where others will not. I live in a townhome and have great neighbours. The woman on one side is older... I think she may have grown children and is divorced. My neighbours on the other side are a young couple with a cute young girl who I think is about a year and a half now and is very quiet and well behaved.

The young family has bought a house somewhere else and has been pushing hard to sell their house so they aren't paying for two. I've been hearing when there are showings and making sure I try extra hard to keep my house neat and not having the dog out when it's being shown (my dog is lovely but hey... I don't want her to put someone off of buying the house).

So a few nights ago they had a showing and I was up in my room on the computer with the window open. I start to hear the really loud noise of children playing/screaming. I look out the window and there are two young boys next door who have pulled out all of the toys that they keep in their backyard for their daughter and are going nuts playing with them. Which seemed kind of rude and intrusive to me for a home showing. My neighbours later told me they knew the people looking at their house must have had a least one kid because the toys inside were all moved around too. Who does that during a home viewing?!

So I called it. These are the people who have moved ahead with making an offer and seem very close to being the purchasers. I really want it to work out for my neighbours sake but.... sigh.... I may be posting here more often.

Thanks for putting up with my long post and so good to say hello!

I hear ya. It's one thing to bring unruly kids to the restaurant you're dining in, but having them live next door is something different. I can only wish you the best, and recommend noise-cancelling headphones if it turns out to be a nightmare.

Actually, I just thought of something. You know those whistles that only dogs can hear? There's something similar for stopping unruly & antisocial children from loitering outside malls etc:
Here's a picture of one. They're called "Mosquito sirens":


OH. MY. WORD. They actually WORK! http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/n ... yob_siren/


"The siren, which the council says is "extremely annoying" for those who can hear it, relies on the effects of age-related hearing loss.
The authority said research had shown the Mosquito could be clearly heard by the under 20s, while those over 25 struggled to hear it at all."

Here's a sample:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/wiltshire/audio/mosquito_sound.mp3
Can't hear anything other than traffic etc. Excellent! Where can I buy these? As long as they don't upset any of the neighborhood dogs...


Edit: Here's the sample played again, then slowed down by 20% so we can all hear it.
http://yourlisten.com/channel/content/1 ... 4jzovs3l6o
Man, that would get really annoying!

Oh, I am going to remember the Mosquito Control trick!

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You're the very people who said it didn't take a village to raise a child. So, get YOUR kids out of MY hut!

Joy: Welcome! I'm still new here myself.

That sounds like the worst possible situation to be in. Small children next door, who are extremely rude and left to free-range, and a shared wall. Oh, jeez! You might be serially bingoed by the new neighbors, too.

I recommend turning your stereo up, getting a good supply of your favorite alcoholic beverage, and posting here often.

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You're the very people who said it didn't take a village to raise a child. So, get YOUR kids out of MY hut!

I'm 33 and I can still hear those things. They drive me fucking nuts.

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You know me, always like to savor that last shot before popping the heatsink.

This is why I will never buy. Renting=being able to move fairly easily.

Whoah, that's weird. I just woke up and I can hear the siren now. It's not 100% clear, but last night I couldn't hear a thing. Interesting.

freekiwi, hahahahaha! I played the faster version of the mosquito file yesterday and it got my youngest beagle all riled up!

Today I played the slower version and both beagles heard it and have just gone outside barking their heads off and trying to find the source of the noise. My basset hound looked around but decided to stay inside in his chair where it's cool.

I couldn't hear the mosquito sound on either recording, but I'm super old.