That yelling; that’s mine.
Those belly-laughs; they are mine too.
That unruly cackling; yep, you guessed it — mine, as well.
That noise — it’s mine — all mine, and I will never ever apologize for it.
The noise that comes from my three joyful, often messy, surely snotty-nosed children.
Be it inside of our home or when we visit yours. Out at a grocery store or inside a restaurant.
We mean no disrespect; we just can’t contain our noise. And, why should we?
We shouldn’t, you’re right.
Because our noise is a sign of life; a happy life that we are carefully curating as a team.
Because our noise is a sign of learning; my children and my husband and I — all learning from and about each other and ourselves.
Because our noise is a sign of courage; and my goodness, I surely hope and pray that my children will always have the courage to ensure their noise and their voice is heard on any dang topic they feel passionate about.
You see to outsiders, our noise is disruptive and is often perceived as bordering on disrespectful.
Well, let me assure you of this —
There is absolutely nothing disrespectful about love. And love, well, that’s all you’re hearing. You are hearing me love my kids. You are hearing my kids love each other. You are hearing them love their environment. You are hearing me teach them about showing love to strangers.
You are hearing noise because children are meant to be heard. All of their noise — their happy noises, their curious noises, their range of noises that express the gamut of emotions they feel daily.
I will never apologize for the noise and, if you have kids, you shouldn’t either.
To those that are bothered by my family’s noise, I say to you this: Start making some noise of your own and it’ll drown out what you hear from us. Plus, you’ll be much happier.
**This article originally appeared on Scary Mommy. See more from Nicole Merritt at JThreenme.com or connect with her on Facebook.
