The ugliest and most unsettling sound in the world....

[fpb]

...is the sound of a child screaming, a woman yelling, and occasional muffled thumps, from a neighbouring flat.

Comments

[thefish30.livejournal.com]

Lord have mercy.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

As I told elegant_bonfire below, I do not think that the child is actually being tortured or beaten violently - it is more a matter of a young single mother being unable to cope and thinking that screaming at a weeping one-year-old will do anything. I have been paying attention, and my judgment so far is that it would be excessive and possibly damaging to involve the police. I do wonder, though, whether I ought to have a word with social services.

[mentalguy.livejournal.com]

:(

[elegant-bonfire.livejournal.com]

Oh dear. Can you call the police if it goes on, or are the police not in charge of such things over there?

[fpb.livejournal.com]

It's my judgment call, and from what I hear, I don't think that the woman is actually abusing the child, in the sense of torturing her. She screams a lot and tries to silence the child by raising her voice, and I think that is very bad childcare - she is a young single mother, and in my view quite unsuited - but I do not think it goes far enough to involve the police. I am, however, wondering whether I should not drop an information to the social services. At the very least, the girl needs some parenting help.

[elegant-bonfire.livejournal.com]

Yeah, if she's not abusive it sounds like she's pretty strained emotionally--it'd probably be good for her to have some help or counseling.

[elise-the-great.livejournal.com]

There are few worse things to overhear through one's walls than screaming. Obviously, violence wins out, but around here we can't tell the difference between fights and sex except by the slapping noises. Heaven help us if they ever get around to physical violence.