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When you live in an apartment building, you have to expect that your neighbors will make some normal noise, and that is just part of life.

What would you do if your neighbors were always complaining about the noise that your kids made, but you felt like it was just normal noise, and you did your best to keep them quiet at night?

That is what was happening to the family in this story, and they are growing resentful of the neighbors because of the constant complaints.

Personally, I think she needs to be more aware of the noise since kids really can be loud. Read through the full story below and see what you think.

AITAH for hating my neighbors?

My husband (23M, two kids (4M & 2F), and I (23F) live in an upstairs apartment.

You can’t expect silence when living in an apartment.

We recently had new neighbors move in downstairs (72F & 36F).  With us having our young children, it’s expected that there’s going to be some noise.

And with them knowing that our children are young, I assumed they know how full of energy they can be. My son especially likes to jump around pretending to be a ninja and attempts to do handstands leading to a sizable thump when he fails.

It isn’t easy to keep kids quiet.

We’ve tried to keep the rough play, running, and stomping/hitting tantrums to a minimum, but obviously that can’t work 100% of the time and there’s still a bit of ruckus.

We also do our best to abide by the designated quiet hours (10pm-6am), even with both of us returning from work around midnight.

It is easy to see why the neighbors are frustrated, but that is just part of apartment living.

Any time our neighbors think we’re being too loud they’ll bang on their walls/ceiling (I’m not sure which) to get our attention to “keep it down”.

The most recent instance was maybe twenty minutes ago (8:25pm) while trying to get screaming children to bed. We’re stressed enough as it is trying to manage our children in a way that keeps everyone happy, and having such acts causes more stress, and especially anxiety on my end.

If multiple neighbors are complaining, maybe they are being louder than they realize.

Despite our best attempts to keep the noise down and be respectful, we’ve had several noise complaints filed against us, to a point where the apartment manager informed the entire apartment community that if any more noise complaints are going to be filed, it needs to include times and video proof of said noises in order for it to be looked into.

We’ve received several notices, and now warnings threatening action against our lease, from the apartment manager, as well as letters from our neighbors expressing their frustration.

Honestly, the issues with the neighbors shouldn’t really factor into it.

In these letters, they did mention they both have PTSD and one of them has an autoimmune disorder making her lethargic throughout the day. However, they also have stated they’ve heard noise during “all hours of the day and night” which I know to be untrue.

My husband and I are settled in bed no later than 1:30am (after getting the kids to bed from picking them up from a babysitter and decompressing after work) and we are as quiet as possible.

Teaching kids to be quieter isn’t a bad thing.

We also try to keep the kids in bed until 8am with our son still waking up around 6:30am and even then, he is also quiet since he knows he’s supposed to still be in bed.

I’m becoming increasingly frustrated with our situation as we want our kids to be able to have fun and play, but also don’t want to be terrible neighbors.

They want to do what is best.

Personally, I get easily frustrated and annoyed as it is with my kids, and become more so when the neighbors continue to bang their walls/ceiling. (Let the record show that they have never had to do this during quiet hours.)

I don’t want to punish my kids for being kids, upset my neighbors, or have our lease be terminated. We are truly doing our best and it seems everyone else is set against us.

They need to keep trying to comply with the rules as well as possible.

I’m growing to strongly resent both our neighbors and the apartment manager as no one has been able to come up with an actual solution to this problem except “be mindful of the quiet hours”.

But I’m curious to know if I’m in the wrong here.

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AITA?

If multiple neighbors and the landlord have all made comments or complaints about their noise, it is likely that they are being louder than they realize.

Let’s see what the people in the comments have to say.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a HOA who says that “no weekend renovations” means no repairing a storm-damaged shed, either.

Here is someone who says the neighbors might be too sensitive.

This is a good question.

Keep the kids as quiet as possible and learn to ignore the neighbors.

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Author

Michael Levanduski

Senior Contributing Editor, Workplace & Community

Michael Levanduski is a veteran journalist and digital culture specialist with over 15 years of professional writing and research experience. While his background spans emerging technology and complex technical subjects, Michael specializes in analyzing workplace ethics, property disputes, and viral interpersonal dynamics across modern digital forums.

Since joining TwistedSifter in 2024, Michael has authored some of the publication’s most widely read coverage on corporate policy, malicious compliance, and neighborhood relations. Rather than simply aggregating online debates, he brings rigorous research, organizational context, and an empathetic editorial voice to everyday human dilemmas—transforming raw forum discussions into insightful, highly engaging narratives.

When he isn’t covering internet culture, Michael enjoys traveling, keeping up with tech trends, and spending time with his family. Connect with Michael on LinkedIn and Facebook.