how early is too early for kids to be outside playing

[Poohforyou]

We live in a townhouse development so neighbors are pretty close to one another . I remember when dd was little not letting her out to play until 9 on the weekends unless I saw that neighbors were out and about.

Anyway, I was out a bit a ago (about 7am) walking the dog. No other neighbors were out but I kept hearing a loud frequent banging noise down the street. I took a peak and there was a young kid shooting hoops on the driveway. I figured he got up early and his parents sleep like the dead. Then I saw his dad standing in the garage and thought WTH. Glad they aren't near us.

So what do you think? Too early?

 

[Christine]

We live in a townhouse development so neighbors are pretty close to one another . I remember when dd was little not letting her out to play until 9 on the weekends unless I saw that neighbors were out and about.

Anyway, I was out a bit a ago (about 7am) walking the dog. No other neighbors were out but I kept hearing a loud frequent banging noise down the street. I took a peak and there was a young kid shooting hoops on the driveway. I figured he got up early and his parents sleep like the dead. Then I saw his dad standing in the garage and thought WTH. Glad they aren't near us.

So what do you think? Too early?

Yep too early. My neighbors have a "hoop" that is about 20 feet from my bedroom window. The kid has played until about 10PM. Doesn't sound too bad except I get up at 4AM and am usually trying to sleep by then. Of course, I've never complained because I know that *I* have the early schedule. But I will tell you that it's loud.

Basketball hoops are banned by some HOAs for that very reason. If you do an internet search, you will probably run across some studies done that measured the decibels of the basketball bouncing. For some reason, it's just loud.

That's pretty rude on a a weekend morning.

 

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

We live in a townhouse development so neighbors are pretty close to one another . I remember when dd was little not letting her out to play until 9 on the weekends unless I saw that neighbors were out and about. Anyway, I was out a bit a ago (about 7am) walking the dog. No other neighbors were out but I kept hearing a loud frequent banging noise down the street. I took a peak and there was a young kid shooting hoops on the driveway. I figured he got up early and his parents sleep like the dead. Then I saw his dad standing in the garage and thought WTH. Glad they aren't near us. So what do you think? Too early?

7am seems a little early to me.
I make my kids wait until 9 to go out and play. One morning this summer the little girls down the road came to ask the twins to play 7:30! No way... Go home. Come back when GMA is over lol.
(Their mother was at work. Big sisters weren't up yet. Yes, I let their mother know what happened.)

 

[LiveYourLife]

Anything earlier than 9am on a weekend is too early, in my opinion. That includes kids playing, mowing, tree trimming with an industrial chainsaw and wood-chipping machine (seriously - 7:30am last Sunday for that one), and pressure washing.

 

[lauradis]

Maybe the parent wanted to watch how good the child has gotten at hoop shots, and this was the only time, before work?

 

[disney1990]

I agree that 9 AM to too early to be making a lot of noise outside. However, my daughter was always a very early riser & was often outside as early as 7 AM. She would call me from sleepover at 6:30-7:00 AM and ask me to come get her because everybody else was asleep and she was bored. While most of my friends had children & teens that slept in, she was never like that.

 

[3 MEN AND A BOAT]

I don't think it's to early, 7:00am seems like a reasonable time for kids to play but I guess I'm in the minority.

 

[Meriweather]

I think 7 am is fine.
I would rather them be outside playing than inside watching TV.
In the summer here it is already hot by 7, 9 is almost time to come back in.

 

[MSSANDRA]

I never really thought much about it because we live in a rural area with quite a bit of acreage so noise is not an issue. I guess 9:00am might be too early for some people, but for others 9pm is too late as they are already in bed trying to sleep. I guess it needs to be about respect and knowing your neighbors and controlling extra noise like screaming just to be screaming.

 

[anniemae]

I also think 7 is okay to be outside, but basket ball is quite loud. In our neighborhood kids are not usually out that early, but I would not be bothered by it. We are up early anyways. Most construction/landscaping starts around 7:30-8:00 it seems.

 

[SLP958]

I think 7 is fine for any day.

I live in the south and people often are out early in the morning because it is too hot later in the day.

 

[duh]

I think thats fine. If the kid wants to play basketball in his own driveway at 7am, or even 6am, I wouldn't complain. He's just playing. I wouldnt have a problem with it. The sound of the lawn mower tends to annoy me more than anything else.

 

[Wishing on a star]

Being outside is okay whenever one wishes to be outside.

Do you know what any noise ordinance might be in place in your neighborhood???

Even in the South, I do think 7:00 a.m. is early for any kind of noise like loud lawn equipment, or maybe even basketball???

 

[LBIJim]

For a typical single house development, 7am is fine IMO. But in a townhouse community? Yeah, that's a little too early to be making noise.

 

[drinkme]

Well, here's a question for you:

What time do you think is the latest for night time noise?

We had neighbors who LOVED to party. All summer long they would have parties about 4-5 nights a week. Lots of drinking involved so these were not quiet parties. On weeknights it would last until 10-30 or 11. On weekends it would last until sometimes 1 or 2. It was awful because I had to keep my windows shut all summer long and sleep with a tv on to drown out the bad karaoke or drunken laughs. They moved so it's been a peaceful summer.

So, back to OP question. I think 7am isn't too early, but if it's going to be something too noisy then yes, wait until at least 8.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Anytime is fine and shooting hoops would not bother me.

We maintain a don't mow before 8 or 9am policy. So loud noise activities shouldn't begin until then.

But I find it arbitrary to expect kids to stay inside until a set time. Even if it is a townhouse development.

 

[PA DVC]

When it's cool enough to keep the windows open we use a window fan. It brings in the cool air and works as white noise.
It's not that 7:00is too early to be outside but that constant thwack of the basketball is tough to ignore if you're trying to sleep.

 

[Bluestars]

I don't think 7 am is too early to play as long as it's not loud. I wouldn't let my kids do anything to disturb the neighbors that early in the morning. Same with mowing the lawn. It seems like 9 am would be a reasonable time to start being loud on the weekends.

Thankfully, we don't have a problem with noise in our neighborhood. The neighbors are always respectful. The only time we were bothered was when our next door neighbor went on vacation and their dog barked all night long. We went on vacation the next day, so I have no idea if it went on for days. Other than that, our neighborhood is pleasant.

 

[Hrhpd]

We live in a townhouse development so neighbors are pretty close to one another . I remember when dd was little not letting her out to play until 9 on the weekends unless I saw that neighbors were out and about.

Anyway, I was out a bit a ago (about 7am) walking the dog. No other neighbors were out but I kept hearing a loud frequent banging noise down the street. I took a peak and there was a young kid shooting hoops on the driveway. I figured he got up early and his parents sleep like the dead. Then I saw his dad standing in the garage and thought WTH. Glad they aren't near us.

So what do you think? Too early?

Nope, don't think 7 is too early. But we live in an area where early morning starts are the norm. Our area has had the dubious distinction of being voted one the healthiest in the country for several years now, and with that comes about 75% of the neighborhood up early for a dog walk, run, a bike ride, kids out playing, etc. It is busy at 7 am. Actually around 6 am is when the neighborhood starts getting up and going. Garage doors start going up and you see your neighbor in full bike gear head off on his road bike to meet up with 20 other neighbors for a 50 mile bike ride. You want to meet your neighbors -go outside between 6 and 7 am.

The swim team practices at 6 am in the neighborhood pool, so pretty loud for the neighbors. We can hear the kids 5 blocks away. The tennis lessons start at 7 am, again, thumping balls and the noise of children.

I would much rather hear the sound of a bouncing ball, knowing the neighborhood kids are outside playing a pickup game of basketball than knowing the children are being forced to stay inside till some set time, perhaps entertaining themselves with video games.

Kids play outside till late too. Still ok with me. One neighbor once rudely told the neighborhood kids they couldn't play basketball after 6pm because their toddler went to bed then. That went over like a lead balloon with the neighbors. Maybe if they had asked nicely, but I still think it would have gone over like a lead balloon.

I may be weird, but I love the sounds of kids playing outside, even if it can be annoying at times.

 

[stargazer2892]

Personally 7am is way to early for me. But I understand my household gets up later then the average house, we also go to bed later. I would rather the kid be playing basketball then the landscapers who came at 630am a few weeks ago..