Kid Noise An Unfamiliar Problem in Cities

"Apartment dwellers in New York City have long endured the trauma of jackhammers, Manolo Blahniks, recycling trucks, sirens, canines and air-conditioning systems.

But, perhaps because the population of children in the city is increasing, the sound of little feet is a complaint being voiced with increasing frequency. And, for reasons ranging from a sense of entitlement to the impossibility of teaching a 3-year-old to glide to the potty like a supermodel, the parents of those little feet are not happy to hear that their children are driving you crazy.

Many, in fact, have heard just about enough of it. They complain that they are being forced to choose between being good neighbors and good parents. "It's nerve-racking to be constantly shushing my kids and not letting them be normal kids in the morning," said Janeen Thompson, who lives in a postwar rental building in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Her two young sons - ages 5 and 2 ½ - have elicited multiple noise complaints from their downstairs neighbor, a 25-year-old woman with no children."