A Little Peace and Noise

A little peace and quiet is a good thing. Usually.


People without kids think that the more a child is be quiet, the better behaved that child is. And that’s true, to a point. In public, if you can keep your child from screaming and throwing food everywhere, you’re good. There are times, though, when silence is not good.


I’m not sure if every new parent goes through this, but my husband and I certainly did. Our oldest daughter slept in our bedroom until she was two. It was nice, because we always knew if she needed something, even if she didn’t cry for it. Our bedroom was very quiet, so every time we woke in the night, we would listen for the sound of her tiny breathing. I can’t count the number of times one or both of us got up during the night when she was a newborn to poke her in the nose and make her wiggle, just to reassure ourselves that she was all right.


Screaming isn’t the ideal state of being for any child. But normal playing noise is all right. As long as my daughter is singing a song about “Daddy’s at work, Gwama’s at work, Pappy’s at work,” I know that she is playing nicely and not, say, getting into any power tools or trying to leap off of any furniture onto any couch cushions. The second it gets mysteriously quiet, Mommy has got to stop working and investigate.


So a little peace and quiet is nice if you’re trying to sleep or see a movie or eat at a restaurant, but for me, the peace comes in the noise of a toy, the sound of a song, and the squeak of breath through a tiny nose.