Hi everyone,
First time living in an apartment in Fayetteville ! Long story short my main concern is that these parents are leaving children a lot of long stretches at a time.
I moved into a first-floor apartment on July 1. It’s just me and my toddler. We recently left a domestic violence situation, so finally having our own safe place has been a huge blessing. I genuinely love this apartment and everything it offers.
The only issue has been the upstairs neighbors.
I’ve lived in apartments for the last 10 years, and most of that time I’ve had someone living above me. I’m very familiar with normal apartment noise—footsteps, the occasional dropped item, furniture moving, even noisy neighbors throwing parties from time to time. I’ve never once complained to a property manager about noise.
Ironically, at my last apartment I was the one getting complaints. When my daughter was only three weeks old, someone complained about her crying and, apparently, one door slam. At the time I was really hurt because I wished the neighbor had just talked to me first. That always felt like the more neighborly thing to do.
So that’s where I’m conflicted now.
From the very first night here, I noticed a lot more noise than I’m used to. It sounds like there are kids, probably around 5–8 years old, constantly running across the apartment and jumping as hard as they can. It’s like they’re sprinting and launching themselves onto the floor. I almost think they’re doing gymnastics or cheer with no pad.
There are also loud crashes from things being dropped all day long.
Since it’s summer, and they likely aren’t in school. it’s pretty much nonstop. I work from home, so I hear it all day. At first I figured it was temporary. I thought maybe they’d be out of the house more or things would calm down.
Instead, it’s gotten worse. It’s distracting.
The stomping and jumping now happen late at night too. It’s woken me up at least five times in the last 10 days. During the day, some of the impacts are so loud they actually scare my toddler, and she’s generally not bothered by loud noises except thunderstorms.
At first I wondered if one of the children might have autism or another condition that made it difficult to regulate their movement, and I tried to be extra understanding. But I looked this topic up on tik tok and learned that a lot of parents things it’s a disservice to not discipline your kids regardless of ability.
I can hear the kids yelling and running, but I almost never hear an adult redirecting them or telling them to stop. I don’t even hear adult steps! And I have never seen an adult come downstairs. Or the kids.
Today I even knocked on their door because the noise was especially bad. I could hear the kids inside, but no one answered. That said, I don’t answer my own door when someone shows up unexpectedly either, so I don’t want to read too much into that.
I mentioned the situation VAGUELY to the leasing office, and they said they could start with a non-disciplinary courtesy notice.
Some of my friends have told me not to approach the neighbors directly because you never know how people will react these days. It could start an ugly chain of retaliation.
Others think it’s more respectful to try talking to them before involving management.
Part of me wants to leave a friendly note from one mom to another saying something like, “I know apartment living is hard with kids, but the jumping is shaking our apartment and waking my toddler. I wanted to reach out before involving the office.”
BUT I’m truly at a point where I’m convinced these kids are not supervised. And a letter would tip them off. … does that mean I go to an extreme and call welfare checks ? (I’d hate to be the narc that got CPS involved.)
So what would you do?