Back then I used lots of tricks for keeping children focused and quiet. I was the teacher, I figured it was my job. Not that we were never noisy. I had a couple chaotic games we would play, the kids loved them, but most of the time, there was peace and quiet.
I read an article once about a study showing people do not like the sound of children playing. And in fact often would prefer many other unpleasant things to live near. I can't find it online (It was in a book) but I did find these few articles about parents being cited for the noise their children were making. One in a pool, one for basketball.
Sometime after I had my own kids I realized the sounds are not always that bad. And in many ways children should have the opportunity to make noises. Noises not only help them test their abilities, they allow them a free simple outlet for creativity. And so long as they keep the decibel level down it isn't too bad.
Sometime in my adult life, I started making silly noises. From the goofy 'zoop' sound effects for changing a diaper, to odd 'bbbbrrrruupp' s just to see what a baby thinks of it I make odd noises. (sometimes even without the baby around....) Making a sound is just a way to fill space while doing other work. For some reason a part of my brain likes to have noise, preferably noise I am participating in. Which is why the best songs are the ones you know the words too.
Fortunately my husband and kids don't mind. They of course make more than enough noises to keep up.
Princess is always making sound. Semi toneless humming or crooning. Rarely does she follow any particular song or pattern, just the sound over and over and over and over and ...It can get a bit irritating.
Baby Girl has settled into a singing habit recently. She constantly sings a snippet of a song. Generally the tune is easy enough to understand, though her actual words are often wrong, or out of order. Plus she will sing that snippet over and over (and over and over....).
Little Man constantly has a 'stunt' to pull. Not the prank kind, the movie action scene kind. He will set up a whole scene, plan out the amazing fight sequence, then act it out. Then repeat with a variation. I would get so bored doing the same 'slash, tuck roll' over and over, but he gets into it with relish. Of course they are all accompanied by the typical boy 'psht, shhhhoop, jeroummm' noises. (yes this is a noisy house).
Dude on the other hand talks, and paces constantly. Every imaginary story of his is full of walking back and forth and talking it out every step of the way. He tends to be the quietest of them all, mostly whispering, so most of his stories I miss out on. Though the snatches I hear tend to run like this: "no wait, first he does this, no wait then he can, no wait ..." . Dude can't make up his mind which beginning, middle and ending is most amazing. That and most of his play involves 'cost to benefit'. IE: "You can get an orc for 50, but a cave troll is only 80 and it does 3 times as much damage." (really Orc isn't in the spell check?)
Little One is still young enough that her sounds consist of 'a', /o/, and occasionally a combination like 'dadadadada'.
It isn't all fun and noise here though. I have spent a lot of time insisting the kids avoid things that are too high pitched. So I still wont listen to shrieks or screams. Giggle fests are even paused while the kids get back in control and deepen their giggles (yes I know that is terrible, but nothing worse than going from giggles to cranky because you hurt Mommy's ears!)
Most of the research I did find in my quick googling today related to how noise in the classroom needs to be kept down. (so my quiet teacher years might have been good) I think there is a big difference between children making noise in groups of 2 or 5 at home, and crowds of 20 or 30 (or more) at school. For one thing, my living room is 'soft' it absorbs sound. A classroom tends to be 'harsh'. While it is great fun to be the only one in a classroom and play with the echo, it is dreadful to have 30 kids all yakking at once. If you must have the crowd of 20, please let it be outside with lots of space.
This is one more reason why mass education makes no sense. At the early ages, when children are just plain noisy, they should not be in an institution that makes sound echo.
Little One is making sounds - have to run.
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