Help! Does anyone have any idea how to get a 2 year old to stop running and jumping on the floor?

Question

We live in a third floor apartment. We have never had any complaints about our 2 year old grandchild before, but new people moved in on the second floor who are constantly running to the landlord complaining. They say her running across the floor sounds like a herd of elephants. Management was on our side, because she is only 2. But now all of a sudden, management is siding with the new people below us. So we are afraid of getting evicted. We don't know what to do. We try getting the 2 year old interested in something less obnoxious... it doesn't work. We can't sit and hold her all day and evening..nighttime she sleeps. She is a normal 2 year old little girl. They even griped when she was sitting in her high chair, because she hit on it a couple of times, with her hand. The high chair is plastic with a plastic tray. If she runs, jumps, or makes too much noise, they complain. Yet they have 3 very noisy boys, who are NOT quiet. What should we do? Thanks in advance.

We have carpeting. She doesn't do it all the time, just occasionally. The people below us have been there only about 3 months. We've been here going on 5 years. Their 3 kids are boys. I'm guessing on their ages, but I would say around 11, 7, and 5. Our son and his little 2 year old girl are staying with us because of his separation with his wife, which is permanent. Long story short, she slept with too many other men.

By the way, whoever said put her in a dog crate, is just crazy!!

Answer 1

Listen, it is horrid to have to raise children in apartments which are so cheaply built the builders failed to put down proper noise cancelling flooring. Carpeting is simply not enough to stop the trampling and banging noises that simple walking across the floor can cause for the downstairs tenants.

I owned a two story home which did not have any type of spacing between floors which contained some form of material nornaly used to cut down on such banging. I appreciated it when my children were young, as it alerted me to what they were up too. However, as they grew older I wished for my sanities sake that we had exactly that!! lol

They developed very heavy walking habits and would run up and down the stairs in their exuberence for life and wishing to hurry up and get where they were going. Teens seem to think they will miss out on something fun if they walk in a leisurly fashion, like most normal folks. Add to this the slamming of doors, again in their hurry it just was quicker to give it a swift push shut, rather than stop to take the time to shut the doors quieter.

Well, it drove me batty! I never was able to get them to slow down for long. I finally came to the conclusion that until they grew older and had enough brain cells to have some condideration and appreciation of others that I just had to grin and bear it. lol Yes, they were good kids, not brats at all, just normal kids. They are now grown and are productive well adjusted young adults.

Now, it seems to me that people should be a bit more understanding and considerate of the fact that these cheap buildings that are built do not cut down on even simple normal footsteps, let alone the footsteps of a fun loving child who means no harm and has no conscience ability to understand that they may bother somebody else. You shouldn't have to do more than the normal level of things to keep it to a minimum, as children need to play and their play is how they learn.

If I were in your shoes I would write everything down which has gone on thus far. I would begin to tape my grandchild while at play to demonstrate that they are not being overly loud or rambunctious for children. In our country they can't evict you for your grandchildren's normal play activities. I doubt very much that they are actually running like a herd of elephants, that they just are running in normal childhood manners. However, if it as I think it is, the builders failed to put any spacing between floors and any of that special multi-level material which goes in those spaces to cut down on sound between floors.

You could also ask if it were possible for you to relocate to a ground floor apartment, or to a different area of the building. That would be a hassle, but would show you are attempting to cooperate with everyone concerned. I would put it in writing to establish a record of cooperation and keep all corespondence in a file in case you have to fight a eviction.

As I said, I don't think they can evict you for this alone, but these types of businesses can find other reasons to evict and cover up the real reason. Which is why it is important for you to get paperwork involved which shows the complaints are child based, that you have attempted to your best efforts to cooperate, and yet they are still harrassing you for simply being on an upper floor with children.

Management knew you had children when you moved in correct? If the children moved in after you first moved into that apartment then they had to approve the additional members of the household, correct? Then, it is their responsibility that the put you on a higher level and placed tenants who are bothered by it all on the bottom.

I hate to tell you to get into a pissing contest between how loud their children are verses your grand daugher. However, if you can record the noise levels from downstairs in a legal manner, such as placing a recording device at your stairs, then they won't have a leg to stand on.

If possible, I would move. It is far preferable to living with such stress, and it is simply unfair to your grand daughter. She is a normal child and this could cause her to have adverse affects, feeling unaccepted by society simply for the sin of being a child who resides in an upper apartment with mean spirited tenants downstairs.

I do know how amazingly noisy such resedences can be. The noises are ampliphed a thousand fold and it seems like a herd of elephants. However, this is not your fault, nor your grandchilds fault. It is the fault of management and mean spirited neighbors.

I would like to say that there is a civilized way to deal with this to the satisfaction of all involved. However, from what you wrote I just don't see that happening. Whatever you do, don't offer to trade apartments with those tenants because then your life would be much more miserable than theirs, because of their three very noisy boys. It sounds like these are the type to want others to treat them in a manner they are unwilling to return in any meaningful way. It would be disaster to even attempt a civilized conversation with them, as they will counter everything you say with their twisted and warped version. Many times those who are the least considerate demand the highest level of consideration from others and are very angry when it is not forthcoming.

I believe you do everything in your ability to keep your grandchild in more sedate activities. However, this is not good for her health, mental or physical. In these days of childhood obesity, it is important that childhood activity is encouraged, not discouraged or the child made to feel bad or wrong for simply being a child engaged in a childs job of learning and growing in health and vitality through proper physical activity.

Again, if at all possible, I highly encourage you to move before it gets to a point you are evicted and have a fight on your hands in court. If you are evicted don't just simply go, fight, because that eviction will go on your record and make it very difficult to find another place which is decent. Fight for your grandchild and for yourselves.

You are doing an amazingly loving thing by raising your grandchild and you child be rewarded not punished. However, life is often so unfair, and it really saddens me how good people such as yourself get the raw end of the stick. It seems the more decent we are the more difficult life is because we have honor, integrity and ethics, which limit our ability to fight those who do not and so fight dirty.

Bless you and I wish you the best in this struggle. Please have the best evening possible and try to not let the stress of this get to you too much. I know, easier said than done. ;-)

Answer 2

Unless noise is extreme, or after established "quiet" hours, you should not be able to get evicted due to a child playing and jumping. Assuming that the 2 year old is not jumping off of furniture or pounding toys on the floor, there is no reason to stop her behavior or attempt to discipline her. Two year olds do this, and it is normal. As a peaceful solution, consider offering to move into an apartment on a different floor (or at least above different people!). Request that thicker carpetting be put in, and if financially possible, maybe even consider sharing the cost with the landlord. Why don't the neighbors move to a different apartment? As you said, you were there first. Be sure to mention to the landlord that you have been there for 5+ years, always paid your rent on time (hopefully!), and have not had any complaints from previous residents or neighbors. What would the neighbors do if you had a newborn that cried all day? They can't stop that (as long as it wasn't going on all night).

Finally, if possible, try taking the two year old outside more often if possible, or enroll her in gymnastics/activity classes. Kindly explain to your neighbors that you will try to encourage other activities, but she is an active two year old. Ask them what time of the day they are not in their apartment, and use this time as "activity" time with your grandchild. Maybe you can set up a time with them that will also be "quiet" time for her, like if there is a set block when the children below you do their homework, you will try to keep your grand daughter busy with activities like coloring, puzzles, books, etc. If the neighbors see you trying to make peace, MAYBE they will chill a little, too. (Then again, some people are just jerks).

Answer 3

There are a few things you can do in the apartment. If you have HW floors consider getting carpeting, as that will absorb a lot of noise. If you like your hardwood floors, buy some throw rugs, keep them rolled up but put them on the floor where your grandchild is most active, when he comes to visit.
You might also consider getting a small 36 inch trampoline. You can get ones that fold up, so they are compact and portable and will store just about anywhere. You can make the rule that the trampoline is the only acceptable place to jump in your apt. You can get the trampolines on eBay for maybe forty bucks. Also try gofit.net (I know they make one)

If you have a playground nearby, you could take them there to burn off a little steam, maybe at a time when your downstairs neighbors are the most cranky.

You could invite your neighbors over when your grandchild is there. That way, they could meet her and know her as something more than a noise. They also wouldn't be downstairs in their apt, they would be up there with you!

Just a couple of thoughts, might work, might not!

Answer 4

oh my goodness. I went through this. I am so sorry cause it is so frustrating. I would talk to management, let them know you are being as considerate as possible. Let them know you dont complain about the noise that comes from their apartment and you dont think thats fair. Ask if there is a time that they reaaly need silence maybe to sleep to prepare for work shift or something and try to compromise. Other than that if it is all throughout the day they complain you may have to just deal with it. Make sure that she is entertain sometimes through the day, go for walk but understand she is going to make noise at some point and they will have to deal with it. Find out your tenants rights to find out what considered to be unruly noise. I hope that things get better, I hated living like that.

Answer 5

First of all, I would complain just as loudly about their 3 boys and let the management know that this is not a one sided situation. I can see your neighbors getting upset about the running and jumping, but the high chair incident....now that's just ridiculous. You could try taking her to the park and letting her run, jump and play so much that she gets tired. Maybe when she gets back home she would be ready to lay down and watch a movie quietly. Good luck...some people are just going to be pains in the *** no matter what.

Answer 6

You can't get evicted. You can't even get a ticket from the police. I know- because I used to be "the people downstairs",, and our upstairs neighbor would purposely pound on the floor all night long. We even video taped it and the cops said "well, you'd have to have like 5 minutes non-stop of the noise". So- we did that. And still nothing- they can do NOTHING!

We were told that if we weren't happy with the service (service being our rented apt) then we should take our business elsewhere.

We actually HAD to move. We didn't want to- we had been there 10 years with lots of other tenants upstairs, and there were never problems.

I couldn't believe it. Sounds like your neighbors are just like my old neighbors- they are bored and using you as something to do. It's too bad- it's only going to get worse.

Let them gripe all they want- there is nothing NOTHING they can do.

Answer 7

You are going to have to fight fire with fire. When they complain about the granddaughter, ask the landlord, if there is anything that could be done about the noise from their kids. I would take the two year old outside and let her play, and explain that the only time she can run is when she is outside. I don't think that they can evict you on that. As long as the noise stops at night, and you try to keep her from constantly running during the day, you should be okay.

Answer 8

First of all shes 2. Shes going to do that stuff. I would honestly look into your lease, Some leases say that you need to be respectful of others and not get loud, but thats usually when its late at nite, or early in the morning and when its something like the tv. If there isn't anything like that in the lease, don't worry about it. I would worry if they didn't have kids, or if their kids were quiet, but looks like you are both dealing with the same problem, and they are being the babies of it all and "telling" on you. But I would probably do the same thing to them, I can't stand when people think everything needs to be perfect, start complaining about everything they do, I know its childish, but sometimes in this sitaution there is nothing else to do. Good luck!

Answer 9

Can you ask your manager if you can change apartments to one on the first floor?

You may be able decrease this by taking her out during the day. Spend time at the park, get an annual pass to the zoo, just wherever she can run some of this energy off. This may help her transition more easily to quiet activities at home.

Answer 10

Well, first off I don't see how they could kick you out just for something like that because if their kids are just as loud as your two year old they don't have any room to be talking because their three boys should know better and seeing that your little one is only two years old she is just learning.

So you should tell the office that her kids are old enough to know better than to make that much noise and for her to be complaining like that they don't have any room to talk. I would talk to your landlord about that if I were you.

Answer 11

Talk to the neighbors, let them get to know you. If they have 3 boys they've been in the same situation with the 2 year old. My 2 year old jumps off the couch, so I know how you feel.