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Little girls love to squeel---not exactly a scream but a playful noise when they are being chased with a water pistal, etc. If a child can't run and yell with abandone outside in his own neighborhood that is pretty sad. They sure aren't doing it to distraction to any of my family or neighbors and my kids know this is appropriate for outside play.
Teachers will tell you they encourage kids to whoop and holler outside. It is a great tension release and burns off that extra energy that builds up when they have to be quiet and orderly for hours inside.
We have double pane windows so i rarely hear kids playing outside and when I am outside in the garden when they run and play I actually enjoy hearing the sounds of kids playing. I remind my girls never to yell No when they really mean Yes. And after awhile an experienced parent can tell the difference between play screams and distress screams. It takes a trained ear.
Little girls love to squeel---not exactly a scream but a playful noise when they are being chased with a water pistal, etc.
If a child can't run and yell with abandone outside in his own neighborhood that is pretty sad.
We might be more in agreement than it seems, but to me what's sad is parents who are too irresponsible/lazy/stupid to bother teaching and ENFORCING proper behavior to their children.
PS no one is saying kids should be church mice and never make any noise. But loud, shrill, ear-piercing screams or "squeals" are way over the top and totally unnecessary. In fact my sister did this when she was little - for awhile. Repeated discipline (up to and including a paddling or two) cured her of that. And she still managed to have plenty of fun playing outside w/o doing it.
Unfortunately, nowdays many parents are so spineless that they simply refuse to discipline their kids (or consider taking away a video game "discipline" ) and - big surprise - the kids end up being obnoxious brats.
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Teachers will tell you they encourage kids to whoop and holler outside. It is a great tension release and burns off that extra energy that builds up when they have to be quiet and orderly for hours inside.
Carrying on at a playground is a different matter altogether, but even then I have never known a teacher who actually encouraged screaming (in fact some who discouraged it) and I've known plenty.
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I actually enjoy hearing the sounds of kids playing.
I enjoy the sounds of kids playing too - so long as it's not ear-piercing screams and squeals. Heck I used to coach little league and it was a blast. They weren't exactly quiet. But the only time screaming was permitted was when someone was in pain. As it should be.
I don't like the sound of kids screaming. I don't like the sound of anyone screaming. I accept that kids make noise, and I'm okay with it because short of cloistering myself in a cabin in the woods a mile from the next house, there's no getting out of it. But the loud shrill piercing screaming is just really bad. Parents are used to it, parents think it's cute, parents know the difference between the "fun" scream and the "help" scream. This is all lovely and wonderful. But how about the neighbors next door who don't know the difference, because they don't have any kids of their own?
Do you want to explain to the hospital why you were in the house with the cell phone covering your ear, and your neighbor did NOT call the police in time to keep your child from moving after falling out of the tree and cracking her neck? Do you want to explain to them it's because your neighbor was SO used to hearing your kid scream all the time, that he stopped being concerned when it happened?
Do you want to explain to the police why you were in the basement doing laundry while your neighbor called them to find out why your child sounded like she was being molested in the back yard?
Don't presume that your neighbor a) knows the difference or b) appreciates the difference, if they do know it.
We often have explained to my granddaughter that when she *squeals* in a high pitched tone at the pool, the lifeguard might think she needs rescuing. She still loses control on occasion, but she knows better and usually stops when we tell her too.
Then you're doing the right thing by teaching your -child- the difference. It isn't up to the lifeguard to know. Just like it isn't up to the neighbor to know. The sound of children laughing is like a carillion. I can meditate on that stuff, even if it's loud. The sound of children screaming is horrifying (due to a child in distress) at worst, and annoying (due to a child NOT in distress and screaming anyway) at best.
I grew up in the suburbs and all the kids on my block screamed. it got to the point where we couldn't enjoy our patio in the summer. If someone would have been murdered I would of never known because thats how common screaming was. Now I live in NYC and I never hear children screaming. One time I heard a scream and I was actually scared and called the police because thats how uncommon it is for kids to be screaming.
I have heard this pretty much all around the country in public places especially restaurnts. One reason I moved to the burbs was noise. In that case it wasn't children but loud talking adults even in late night;car with thumping misic ;car speeding ;poeple honking their horns. Just plain noise in the city that became too much. Where I live now all that is gone except for a occasional thumping car passing thru.
Just pray your neighbors don't have two girls between 8 and 12 and then they buy a trampoline. I want kids to have fun. I want kids to scream when something exciting happens but to scream continuously, and I mean continuously for hours on end is just rude. Not to mention scream-singing. I don't want to be the grumpy old neighbor at 39 years old but I have no kids and assume that I would be perceived as not being tolerant. These parents have an issue. I let it go because about 8 times a summer I stay up late on my deck and have drinks with friends but that is nothing compared to this constant disregard for others.
When I was a kid, I ran wild with a pack of 6-7 other kids. We played ghost in the graveyard and such from dawn until dusk. There were no parents hovering over us, and we knew better than to bother the neighbors.
I sincerely don't ever remember us feeling the urge to scream. I wonder if some of this (and there are children who do it on our block) is because kids get much less physical activity these days, and even less unsupervised time. So when they do get outside, they tend to overreact because they have so much energy built up.
I have a problem with kids screaming. It must be a primal thing that makes them feel good. I mean screaming. Not words, not yelling, but screeching. It gets attention. It says "I am here". There must be a positive feeling from it or kids would not do it, would they. Again, I am NOT talking about yelling. Yelling would mean words are being spoken. I have seen it in boys and girls. I tend to think of it as a "girl" thing but it appears it is NOT.
I wonder because I am older now does it bother me more? Is it MY problem? Is it something normal that I now find aggravating as a 60 year old male? I raised two kids. I am not unaware of the ways of kids. I think I was a fairly good parent. This SEEMS like a NEW THING to me. It happens in restaurants I have noticed, but also I was at the YMCA and a kid about 10 or so, a boy, yelled to a friend, "Jimmmmmy!" And then he screamed extremely loudly. Not words, just a scream. I was like three feet from him. It shocked me out of my socks and I automatically said to him, "Could you please stop screaming!" He looked at me sort of surprised and walked away.
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And she still managed to have plenty of fun playing outside w/o doing it. 
) and - big surprise - the kids end up being obnoxious brats.
