A mother in Victoria has vented her frustrations after receiving an anonymous note from her neighbours complaining about the noise that her children make in the backyard.
The woman shared the note in a private Facebook group, which led to hundreds of people saying that the letter was “passive aggressive” and “unfair”.
“As if life isn’t hard enough at the moment with work and home schooling,” the mother wrote.
“But now I can’t let my kids in the back yard because they will make noise.”
The letter was addressed to “residents at this address” and was signed by “your neighbours”.
“Due to the current climate of COVID-19, I and a few other family members have been working from home,” the note reads.
“This involves multiple phone calls, Zoom meetings and corresponding with colleagues in the day.”
“We (myself and other neighbours) have found it difficult to be able to conduct our workday as per usual, due to the screaming and noise that your children make in the yard throughout the course of the day,” the letter said.
“I know that it is great for children to be outside, and we praise you for the time that yours do spend outside, but it is extremely difficult when my colleagues on the other side of the screen are asking me to mute my microphone as they can hear your children in the background.
“There is no need for the screaming to be so loud.”
The mother quickly clarified in the post that her children get 15 minutes outside for recess and half a hour for lunch when they learn from home.
The letter asks if the noise can be avoided between the hours of nine to five so that the neighbours can “continue to be productive”.
“We are all living together in this space and it is best if it works for all of us.”
“Our kids can’t be held prisoners in their own homes more than they already are,” one woman said, pointing out the sun has usually set by 5 pm and most kids aren’t out of bed by 9am.
“That is very unfair of them!” another person wrote.
“If they are asking you to understand their current situation, then they should understand yours! I'd write back telling them to refrain from having conferences during recess and lunch time.”
One woman wrote: “Full passive aggressive bulls**t excuse for communication”.
“So sorry you’ve had to deal with this. Regardless of what you do, it must be so uncomfortable knowing that there is someone out there who would write this.”
One woman explained that she was in a similar situation to the neighbours who wrote the note, saying that she can hear children “houses away” screaming.
“Sorry, but it’s annoying,” she said.
“I agree, it’s great that kids are outside, and I understand noise, but screaming continually is just not necessary.”
Another woman added: “You can let you kids in the backyard, just teach them some common courtesy and keep the noise down”.
Photo credits: Yahoo! News
This article originally appeared on Over60.