toddlerToddlers, can't live with them, can't live underneath them. That's what just about any apartment-dwelling neighbor living downstairs from a three-year-old will tell you. But is the noise bad enough to evict the parents?

Parents Nicola Baylis and Tim Richold are facing eviction from their rental property management company thanks to the "excessive" noise of their 2 1/2-year-old daughter, Skye. I've no doubt that living below this household is challenging, but I just don't think an eviction is in order here.

I've been on both ends of this problem. Once upon a time our son was an energetic little toddler who ran amok all over the apartment. We have padded rugs everywhere and no one wears shoes indoors -- and yeah, we took him outdoors every day. He's even small for his age. But it still drove my downstairs neighbor bonkers. Meanwhile, our neighbor upstairs had an active, athletic daughter who seemed to run from one end to the other non-stop all day long. So we had a pretty good idea of what we sounded like.

We had some heated exchanges with our downstairs neighbor. And then, because we're both homeowners who are clearly not going anywhere, we decided we needed to compromise. Our neighbor finally realized out kid "doesn't have an off button." And we agreed to get our wild man off to bed promptly at a set time every evening -- so at least there would be a predictable cut-off time for the noise.

And then the inevitable happened: Our son grew older and got quieter. So did our upstairs neighbor's daughter.

That's why this eviction business is so unnecessary. Part of living in a city with other people around you is learning the art of diplomacy and compromise. This is what being civilized means. What's more, the problem eventually takes care of itself when the kids grow older. I think Skye's neighbors are being too uptight.

Do you think it's fair to evict a family because their child is too noisy?

 

Image via efleming/Flickr