Ignorance is bliss

Dear neighbors. Since when are”playing kids” equivalent to “screaming” – and me wondering if I should phone family services. When I used to play outside as a kid and I would start to think the amount of noise we produced was a legitimate indicator of the amount of fun we were having, my mom would strongly object against those assumptions. A firm “be quiet” would set us back on the right track.

Her approach to parenting seems to have grown out of date. When I’m working in my home office (at the front of the house) I sometimes do wonder if the neighbourhood children (playing in the back of their house) are doing ok. The amount of screaming might indicate, from a layman’s perspective, they are not. There’s a wonderful book written on Screamfree Parenting, which must be popular with some houses on my street since the parents have stopped screaming and moved that trait onto their offspring. It still leaves me wonder whether they are ok, but it seems the more fun they’re having the louder it…