The laughter of children at school

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For most of my life the sound of children laughing and playing was deeply depressing.

It sounded like a child being miserable and tormented to me. I used to hear that sound echoing of buildings and it would make me feel a kind of despair. Later in my 30s I came to understand that most of the laughter was not cruel and that children having a good time were not always victiizing someone. I was surprised to realize that my biography had so distorted my sense of reality.

I wonder if others have had this kind of recognition about the emotional quality of sensory stimuli.

I don't mind the laughter of children in playgrounds or schools. I live next door to a school for students aged 4-11, and although they can be noisy, I still don't mind so much. It brings me back memories of when I was a child in the playground.

I got hurt more at secondary school. Because I'm only very mild AS, the kids at primary schools didn't seem to notice my differences too much, they just thought I was a shy kid with learning difficulties (because I was always on the special ed table). So I never really got teased, and was more accepted. But at secondary school people started to notice my differences more and couldn't tolerate it. That is why I dislike hearing voices of teenagers, and I don't go nowhere near secondary schools.

To me, the laughter of children having a good time, and the sneering laughter of kids who are tormenting others, are quite different.

I experienced lots of the sneering laughter--so I know what it sounds like. It's not pretty. To this day, if I hear it, I feel violence in my heart.

I was an outcast from the start of my school experience until the end of high school. I was tormented (I thought severely--but in retrospect in relation to others' stories, only mildly to moderately).

I only became a "viable person" after I got out of high school, and into the working world (this is why I'm such a strong advocate of people getting jobs, despite their actual or supposed disabilities). As a working adult, I could now speak up for myself if anybody bothered me. I had an income, and my own place. Nobody could mock me then!

I hate it.

When I was 9, I remember kids would often bully me because of Tourettes. I have limited control now, but as a kid, it basically ruled my life. I would basically be teased every day and I cried a lot. My parents got mad and my dad said "Men do not cry. Do you want to be a man?" and I was grounded for the majority of third grade.

My sister didn't know what to do (school didn't teach kids how to stop bullying then) and my brother was totally oblivious to the situation. My only friend was basically a girl with classic autism (in no shape to help me, wanted to learn how to communicate better as a bigger priority) and teachers claimed nobody was bullying anybody and I'm being to sensitive.

That's why I hate it. It means more childhood pain.

My childhood was so traumatic that I can't stand the sound of children...period.

While this is true, I grew up in big cities-New York and London-and the sound of schoolyards is reflected off the tall buildings so all the different emotional qualities merge into one sound. That's the sound that used to just bring me right down.


I totally agree--it took me quite a while before I got myself together to work, but in my second try at college I worked in the library part-time and then full-time, which helped to transition to the ways of working life. But once I finally did really get going with work, it made a big difference. I can now consider that most of those children whose voices I hear reflected off tall buildings are probably happy and not being cruel and I think having some ability to make my own way in the world has a lot to do with that. I cannot help but think of how close I came to failing many times and consider the situation of those who have been unable to work.

First of all, Library Geeks Unite!

I've always had a mixed reaction to children's laughter. When I was young I definitely felt as if I could tell the difference-- mainly because if people were laughing and looking at me, it was derisive. Distant laughter made me feel jealous of others having a good time I knew I couldn't join in.

When I had children, my perception changed. I definitely heard the many different ways children sound when they play vs. when they're taunting others. Of course, my own childrens' laughter made me feel very happy.

Now that my children have grown, it's a bit of a wistful feeling I get. There's an ambient piece of music I love because it musically paints a pleasant picture of some kind of futuristic or alien society where I could perhaps have grown up happy. Part of the song has what sounds like distant childrens' laughter and it gives me that wistfulness of the childhood devoid of the horrors of my own, and with peers who got me even at a young age.