Becoming a parent isn’t always a walk in the park.
While it’s a joyous occasion welcoming a baby into the world, it can also be an incredibly stressful and tiring time – and it seems it’s not just the new mum and dad who are left feeling drained by the experience.
The childless neighbour of a couple with a toddler has penned an open letter to the family, criticising them for the amount of noise their little one made as a baby.
Published in The Guardian, the piece was described as “the letter you always wanted to write” and has come under fire from social media users who thought the writer was being incredibly “selfish”.
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In the letter, the unnamed man explains how he and his wife are childless “through choice” and says they have never judged anyone’s decision to become parents.
However their patience was “tested” when they moved in next door to a couple expecting a little girl.
“Now my wife and I have some experience of what it would be like to be a new parents,” he writes. “We know how it feels to be woken several times a night by what, at that hour, has the effect on the nerves of a fire alarm.
“Her protracted wailing cost us dozens of hours of sleep at a time when our careers were stressful and demanding. It placed an unwelcome strain on our own relationship and soured our enjoyment of our new home.”
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The writer goes on to complain that in three years the parents never once “apologised” for the noise or tried to “mitigate” it by moving the child to another room.
He concedes that parenting is “difficult and frustrating” but this does little to resolve the situation.
“As callous as this may sound,” he adds, “The world doesn’t stop just because you’ve had a child. The people around you have their own lives to cope with, their own problems that they don’t inflict on others. To expect them to share your discomfort is deeply selfish.”
The letter ends with the man revealing that the couple are going to have a second baby and he’s hoping this one will be quieter.
People on Facebook were appalled by the man’s words and branded him “entitled”.
One user commented: “What entitled BS is this? If it was so bad why not seek friendly communication rather than expecting the new parents to keep you at the forefront of their minds?”
Another said: “Blows my mind this type of selfishness, what happened to compassion, empathy and understanding.
“Buy a detached house from the proceeds of your highly stressful job if you don’t want disturbance.”
A third added: “God I hope that kid grows into a popular teenage and throws the most raucous parties!”
A different user replied: “Buy some ear plugs and get over yourselves.”
However not everyone thought the writer was in the wrong.
Someone else wrote: “They chose to have the child. Inflicting your child on someone else is very selfish.”
What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.
