Noisy Neighborhoods
Berkeley Parents Network >
Advice >
Parenting, Families, & the Community >
Noisy Neighborhoods
Fireworks all year round?
August 2003
Tonight (a Thursday in August) as I sit reading email, there are
fireworks booming for the 2nd time this week off in the
distance...I think it's at Jack London Square this time, last
weekend it was in SF. We just got our 2 yr old to bed but she's
likely to wake with the booming (again). Aside from the fact that
I can't do anything about the increasing number of fireworks
events (why!?), I'm feeling at a loss as to how to explain this
stuff to our toddler, who becomes frightened. It made sense
around Independence Day, and was even a little fun to try to
explain for the 1st time about our country and the celebration.
But I honestly don't know why the other shows are happening, what
they celebrate, or how to explain them to my
daughter...especially when we can't see the colored displays
through the fog. It just sounds ominous. Has anyone else found a
way to deal with this creatively?
anonymous
The fireworks are coming from the baseball games in Oakland and
San Francisco. They used to wake my 3 month old daughter
also. They will last as long as the baseball season in the
area lasts (and that depends on how the teams do, right?). I
play classical music at a quiet volume, but loud enough to
block out other noise for the first few hours that my baby is
asleep (the CD player goes through 3 or 4 CDS each night). It
blocks out noise in the house also.
M.
I don't have any great advice to give but I wanted to
sympathize - I think all these fireworks are RIDICULOUS. Bad for
the environment, noisy and just plain obnoxious. Once a year is
plenty. So what if there is a baseball game - does that mean
that the rest of the Bay Area has to stay awake? I don't
understand why it's legal, frankly. I have often thought of
writing someone to complain, so I'm glad I get to complain about
here, at least. My child sleeps through it without any problem,
but I've often wondered how other parents (who might live closer
to the source than I do) are dealing.
Fran
I am another person bothered by the excessive number of fireworks
throughout the summer. I have two ideas - one is to contact
politicians - local and state and ask about instituting a law
limiting fireworks displays (perhaps allow a certain number
outside of July 4th and they must apply to do it) and writing to
the Chronicle and asking them to do an article about it. I
suspect there are a lot of us feeling the same way and if we
could generate a groundswell of support for limits we could get
something done. I am motivated now to take those steps myself.
Thanks for writing.
Susan W.
I don't think you can blame the fireworks on baseball. I know
the A's only have a fireworks show twice a year and I believe
the same goes for the Giants. Then other thing is that my
husband and I have often heard those sounds at night that sound
like fireworks, and both teams have been on the road, so back to
the original question, where are all those fireworks coming
from? or more importanly, are they really fireworks at all?
anon
this page was last updated: Sep 23, 2003
The opinions and statements expressed on this website
are those of parents who subscribe to the
Berkeley Parents Network.
Please see
Disclaimer & Usage for
information about using content on this website.
Copyright © 1996-2013 Berkeley Parents Network