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Am I the only one who doesn't agree with this?
I don't expect total silence when my kids are napping when I'm at someone else's house of course. But some common courtesy would be nice. Maybe not standing outside their room yelling to people across the other side of the house? Or having the radio on loud right outside their room?
People wouldn't do that when an adult was sleeping. No way. But children are just less important I guess :(
I get that as well.. Even in our own home people will shut doors loudly, tv on loud, and it peeves me off!
Thankfully mine sleep really soundly through noise, but it wouldn't hurt for some quieter time until they get to sleep..
It depends on the child, I used to have the radio on or vac around my girls while they slept in the basinette.
I didn't agree with people yelling and would ask DD1 to be quiet if DD2 was sleeping but otherwise I was ok with noise.
It certainly makes life easier for everyone if they do. I don't really expect that other people should be inconvenienced by my children's bedtime.
We're on holidays with my family at the moment. I can just put my boys to sleep in a spare bed/sofa wherever we are and they will go to sleep. Same with my cousin's children. My evenings are simpler than my SILS' who need quiet for bedtime.
Even if your family are all quiet for bedtime you will find that hotels, campsites etc can often be unexpectedly noisy.
When my boys were babies I vacuumed, talked on the phone, watched tv and other noisy stuff while they slept. I have never had cause to regret it. On the contrary, I'm quite glad my children are used to sleeping through noise.
I'm in between.
Being a light sleeper sucks. A lot. I hate it. I can't sleep anywhere. I can't sleep in a bright room etc. so when my kids were babies I never made a fuss. I took them to parties. They slept in their rooms during the day with ample light.
They both sleep now like their father. Anywhere. Anyhow. And I'm grateful. Because being me. Sucks.
So for me it was never about them inconveniencing me with their sleep. But me not setting them up to have sleeping difficulties like me.
DD likes to sleep in the dark and quiet.
DS sleeps with noise and I don't even shut his curtains during the day.
Each kid is different.
But yes, I think people should have some respect when it comes to sleeping kids.
In the rare occasions that I have had my kids asleep in shared accommodation I like to remind the yeller of my rule that if they wake the kid then they have to deal with that grumpy, tired kid for the rest of the day. It isn't like you are expecting total silence, just but a bit of courtesy.
When DS was born I was totally going to make all kinds of noise while he slept so he got used to sleeping around noise and wasn't a light sleeper like me. That lasted all of a couple of weeks when every sound woke him and I couldn't get him back to sleep. I pretty much didn't move while he was sleeping because he would wake up. No use trying to desensitise him to it if he was awake after 3 seconds every time. I remember trying to pack to move house and he would wake up every single time I tried to tape up a box with packing tape at the other end of the house!.
Yep agree with you all and my kids do sleep through noise. Luckily because otherwise they would have had no sleep these holidays. General background noise they will sleep through no problem but sudden loud noises near them can wake them up, like everyone I guess.
What annoys me though is just people's view of children (in my family anyway). That they're 'just' kids. Not as important as adults and don't deserve the same amount of respect. Totally opposite to how I feel.
I am with Rouge. I am a terrible sleeper. I am exactly the same. My kids are well used to noise, and sleep better now if they can hear us. I was recently away with a 9 month old. Her parents made us sit in silence every evening and sleep time. It was terrible and we won't go away with them again. We ended up sitting outside in the rain with our kids as they said they were too noisy.
I was told that and I did that I had vacuum and tv going and talking and ds would sleep anywhere but since 6 months he has needed a quiet place to sleep so for me it made no difference
I agree that common courtesy should be in play (i.e. no yelling). However I also used to vacuum and clean around them when they were younger as that was the only time I could do it.
My oldest is not a great sleeper. At 6, we still co-sleep as he needs someone to touch during the night. I will often get a hand on my arm or face during the night. If he doesn't feel me (or someone), then he wakes up. However, he will sleep through noise.
My youngest can sleep through anything including a fire engine using our driveway to turn around with lights and sirens blasting away.
Children deserve as much respect as everyone else and are never "just" anything.
I can see where you're coming from. I didn't expect total silence for my kids but just respectful not to scream and shout outside there room. Like u said who would do that if they knew an adult was in there.
I'm such a light sleeper I would slap someone screaming outside my door!
It's a difficult attitude to get past, yeah.
I think it is fair to expect people to not be deliberately noisy when your kids are sleeping, but it is unreasonable to expect them not to make normal noise because your kids have gone to bed. So no yelling outside the door to their room, but the telly on at normal volume is fine, as is having a conversation at normal volume. I would not expect any different if the person sleeping was an adult.
woooow! that's not cool. I wouldn't be going away with them again either!:
I think general lving noise is fine. But loud unexpected startling noise is different. No matter how sound a sleeper someone is, a sudden loud noise like yelling is likely to wake you up.
I would vacuum, TV, etc with sleeping kids. But I would also tell my children to be quiet while the baby slept. Which simply meant don't go running & playing outside the bedrroom door.
I think it's common courtesy and respect to lower your volume level when anyone is sleeping, regardless of age. Most kids will sleep through background noise, but sudden loud noises will usually wake anyone. An adult could probably just fall back to sleep, but babies and kids don't rebound from startle quite so easily.
I was surprised that my youngest slept through the festivities at my parents house on Christmas day because their house is long and thin so there is no room "out of the way" for her to sleep in. All the rooms are right off the corridor that people go back and forth down. Even my other two kids were going up and down it with rolling toys (on a tile floor *sigh*). I didn't warn everyone she was sleeping though and I think my family would have made an effort to be quieter if I had asked :)
DD will sleep through most noise (having an older brother will do that for you), but doors slamming wake her everytime. Our Toilet is next to her room and on Christmas Day I stuck a sticky note on the toilet day that simply said "Please close this door softly while A is sleeping". FIL just let is slam while I was in her room resettling her, then MIL commented that she didn't sleep for long - Grrrrr
I don't expect total silence either, but a bit of courtesy not to deliberately be loud wouldn't go astray.....