December 18, 2008
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A request to parents…
If you have children and are lucky enough to live in a house, please make certain to teach them about being considerate of others when they are in an apartment or condo.
Here are a few things that people in houses forget about:
1. You can hear people stomp up and down stairs or jumping around on the floors. Teach them about how in apartments/condos, there are other people who share ceilings and walls – most apartments/condos do NOT have 2 foot thick walls that would lessen the vibration and noise from tromping around like an elephant.
2. Don’t run with all your force across the floor or walk on your heels or jump off of furniture when you are in an upper unit. Again, shared floor/ceiling…makes it sound like the people above will end up on top of the people below.
3. You can hear and feel it when a door is slammed shut. Teach them about the proper way to open and close a door without slamming it off the hinges. What kind of long term damage may occur to the hinges and the door frame after years of abuse.
4. Use your inside voice while travelling to and from a unit. Because people live in close proximity to each other, talking as if you are screaming to each other across a house outside or in a hallway to an apartment/condo can be very jarring and especially annoying if you have a grating voice.
5. Turn down the bass on the surround sound or stereo. Better yet, teach them about how to place a woofer on a small stand directly off of the floor. That way, the booming sound won’t travel through the floor or even the wall next door when watching a movie.
Having been raised in apartments all my life, I learned at an early age to be considerate of others people living nearby, but notice how many folks have no clue. Just something to teach kids that will benefit them in situations OTHER than just visiting an apartment / condo. It works in hotels/motels too.
If I can teach my nieces, nephews and friends children these little things and have them respect and remember to be courteous, I think that others might be able to as well. Nuff said.
