How do you feel today?

[Cagliostro]

Frustrated. Will need to get this off my chest at some point, but as it is work related, must do so when I'm not at work.

[Cameraman Jenn]

My day has started off crazy. I got in to work at just past eight and the phone was already ringing when I was punching in the alarm code. I ended up on the phone with one line ringing after another until Igor got here. He sticks his head in the door and bellows for me and I had to yell. I am ON THE PHONE. It's been a madhouse.

[Auleliel]

I feel overwhelmed with busyness. I may have to move back into the dorms a week earlier than anticipated, meaning that I have to spend the next three days getting ready instead of all of next week. I stupidly agreed to be the secretary of RHA (residence hall association), so the busyness will not end until May. My to-do list is so long I cannot remember it all, even though I have it all written down. I need to get an appointment with the optometrist by Saturday because I now can see better without my glasses than with them, and I will probably be stuck at school as of Monday. Kevins Watch is my oasis of calm today.

[CovenantJr]

I want to kick the child who spends all day, every day, screaming over and over and over in the street outside my house. She doesn't scream at anything as far as I can tell. She seems to just enjoy doing it.

[Cagliostro]

Don't kick her. That will just encourage her to scream more. Punch her in the throat. She'll at least be quieter.

[Cameraman Jenn]

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Punch her in the throat. Too funny. We are still going nuts here. Phones and tow trucks and lots of cars. It's a good thing.

[Avatar]

LMAO!

--A

[Auleliel]

I think you should go out there and scream back at her. Then find out where she lives and scream outside her house all night.

[Menolly]

...I can't stand it, I have to ask...

Is she screaming words you can understand, Cj? Or is it simply screeching? Any idea of an approximate age?

(sorry, my advocacy training is rearing its ugly head)

[CovenantJr]

I'd say she's about 5-7 ish, she lives across the street (so her parents know she's doing it), and she just screams. She's not screaming words, just screaming. Like she's been stabbed. Over and over and over. She screams a couple of times a minute between about 10am and 8.30pm, seven days a week. And no, she isn't actually being stabbed. There's a whole clot of kids that play in the street, and she's one of them; the others maintain a normal level of laughing and chattering, with occasional shouts. She screams, piercingly, like a whistle.

I like Cag's idea.

[Cameraman Jenn]

You could hit her in the throat with a brick like the Eagles did to Michael McDonald....

[CovenantJr]

Now you've made me want to go out there and say "Eat. Bat. Prick!"

[Cameraman Jenn]

HAHAHAHAHAHA! Donald Fagen and his dark sarcastic lyrics.

[Seareach]

I officially give up!

[Auleliel]

I think you need to do something about the parents, not the kid. Obviously, if they know about it, they aren't doing anything to teach their kid to behave. While the occasional screech is normal for a child that age, the frequency you are talking about is not. You need to complain to the parents and ask them to do their job in raising their kid to be a decent person. They probably ask their kid to save her "outdoor voice" for outdoors. Screeching is not an outdoor voice and should be reserved for emergencies to alert others to dire need.

[CovenantJr]

I'd rather strike her.

[Auleliel]

I'm sure you can manage to get a swipe in at her while you're slapping the parents silly for not doing their job.

[Wyldewode]

I'd rather strike her.

I like your style.

[Cameraman Jenn]

I say go for it!

[Auleliel]

CovJr, I really think you need to talk to the kid's parents about this. It's possible that the girl has some sort of disability or disorder that makes her do that (or makes it difficult to explain/enforce why it is important not to do that). Or your conversation with the parents could be the enlightenment they need to be more of a guiding force in their daughter's life. The worst that could happen would be the parents ignoring you and the kid continuing to scream, and that's no worse than what is already happening. If the parents do choose to ignore you, I would suggest asking the girl herself why she is screaming so much. It might help her to stop screaming, or at least give you a better understanding for why she does make so much noise.