Getting out of the house

Tonight, me and Stephan are off to the German Club to play table-tennis with our group their. Tomorrow, hopefully, we go to Banff since a Thunderstorm cancelled our plans last weekend. Hopefully the weather stays good for tomorrow!

I think its a good idea we are getting out of the house for the next 36 hours, because I could scream right now. The people who rent above us have a 5 year old boy. But really, if you only heard him and didn't see him, you would think he was 2. Because that's what he acts like. Only, like the worst 2 year old that has lived on the planet EVER. I don't understand, he has an older sister who is perfectly well behaved.

This brat (and I like kids) does nothing but scream and cry like a 2 year old, run around the house, stomp, kick the floor/walls/chairs/anything for hours on end, on and off from the MOMENT he gets home from school or day care or whatever. He has fits of hysterical screaming and crying, like bloody murder. For HOURS. It's really annoying. And don't tell me its a stage, because THIS is not. Once, he screamed on and off for 6 hours. He sometimes screams when we are trying to go to bed (since we both get up at 5AM), or in the middle of the night. Luckily, if he starts in the middle of the night I sleep like the dead and don't hear it, but Stephan gets woken up.

Currently, he's screaming and crying right now. He has been for the last 30 minutes.

It's not abuse or anything like that, there's no hitting or parents yelling (except when they yell out of frustration), you only ever hear JUST HIM. So something is wrong with the kid.

It got so bad one night (and it happens almost EVERY night, at least 5 out of 7 days), that we had to write our landlord asking what to do about the situation. He talked to the tenants upstairs, who came down the next day, with their bratty child, to apologize. They were nice about it.

They explained he's going through a stage, FOR THE PAST YEAR (A year!!!) because he has issues with brushing his teeth. He had a bad experience at the dentist with a cavity when he was younger apparently. They assured us he was really a very nice boy, it was just when he had to brush his teeth. And that they are at their wits ends, they have tried everything, and that they have a hands-off approach with their children (no spanking), because its just not their style. Fair enough.

But still, it doesn't add up. And it still seems like something is wrong with this child, because here's our thoughts:

1.) HOW MANY TIMES a day are they going to brush his teeth?!!!! Because from the sounds of it, 12 is a little excessive per day.

2.) HOW LONG are they going to brush his teeth each time?! I mean, last time I checked brushing your teeth didn't take 30-45 minutes of screaming and kicking down the house.

3.) He's been doing this for A YEAR ALREADY?! How much longer is this "stage" going to last?! This is not normal.

4.) They have a hands-off approach, ok fine. That's their right. But CLEARLY whatever they are doing is NOT working if they have not been able to stop the screaming over the course of a YEAR.

5.) We think that what happened is they tried the "lets ignore him and he'll stop" routine once, and gave in....and now the kid knows if he keeps screaming (for however long it takes), that he will win.

6.) This kid just needs a good spanking or two, in my opinion, and he would stop his act quick.

7.) He better stop soon, because I LOVE my apartment, other then this child.

Sometimes I feel like I'm being unfair. But I don't think I am, I think I'm being reasonable. I know kids will make noise and scream and have fits, they're kids. Its what they do. But this is not normal, this is excessive.

Am I being silly or unfair about this?