Just moved into my new apartment, trying to get some peace and quiet and a bunch of little kids are running back and forth in the hallways and shouting, laughing loudly and their parents are not doing anything about it for the past hour. The kids are under 5. Is this normal and what’s a good way to get them to stop? Why don’t they play in their room or outside? Why are they running around in the apartment hallways?
A grumpy foreigner hiding in his apartment
Is it normal that kids play? Yes. In the halls? Yes.
Legally? 
Put on a bear suit and scream at them.
As a parent of a toddler, this is normal, yeah.
So don’t blame the kid. But what you can do is politely ask the parents to keep the noise down when they’re out of the apartment. The hallway isn’t a playground.
The problem is with young kids is if you speak to the parents or make any effort to try to prevent it, it will only make things worse. The kids will grow up and ring your doorbell and run away etc. whereas if you just leave it, eventually they’ll grow out of the screaming.
I have a problem where I live that the neighbourhood kids enjoy smacking the living daylight out of my car with plastic swords and various other toys. A couple of them were sitting on the bonnet a while ago, even when I go outside they are unfazed. I sought advice from a lot of people about it and basically advised to let it go - the parents aren’t going to do anything about it as the time spent smacking the crap out of my car is time that isn’t spent screaming standing next to them.
Or you get nuts, whatever comes first.
Good luck. My wife has alot of friends with kids who visit us at our “farm house” in the countryside. My God…the stories are endless about how little control parents have over their kids while visiting us. Some will tell the kids to behave (which is completely ignored) while others take the “give them freedom” stance. Out of the 100 kids visiting us less than 10 were tolerable…not a good percentage.
At my apartment complex, the kids are left with their grandmothers, who take them outside to scream and shout. And it’s right outside my window. Apparently, bending to the will of toddlers is acceptable behavior in Taiwan. Even kids between five and ten get to sit on the dark blue geriatric seats on the MRT. I don’t know what’s up with that. In my youth, you stood up for an adult.
I do feel for the parents though, too slow on the withdrawal, now they’re burdened for life. 
They spend the first 12 years of their lives being molly-coddled. Then they get to junior high and get slapped around and told to shut the fuck up. By the time they reach tertiary level, they’re like quivering robots.
You’re being generous. I see poorly raised highschoolers take those seats. And then keep their eyes fixed on their phones when a pregnant or elderly person is standing in front of them.
Put a remote wireless speaker in a discrete hidden location and scare the shit out of them from the comfort of your apartment with ghost noises, if you speak mandarin it makes it even more convincing. You know the Taiwanese are very superstitious.
On Taipei’s MRT—or in Kaohsiung?
If that happens in Taipei, you’re dealing with some serious gangster punk(s). Almost always these types prefer their own scooters anyways.
Guy
Kaohsiung. I’m sure it happens everywhere. I hate to sound like a “boomer”, but kids are getting worse behaved by the year.
I assure you that it’s not “normal” on Taipei’s MRT.
If it does, STFA.
Guy
What’s that mean? Sound the fucking alarm?
I’m not good with acronyms.
I was invoking the less dramatic “Stay the [f-bomb] away.” 
Guy
Tell the brats to kindly keep the noise down then buy the parents a simple gift and describe that your ears are very sensitive and you have a condition… hope then they will understand
If it doesnt work when then just tell the kids they are too loud , i foreigner saying something to them may grant more respect than they give parents obviously the parents think its acceptable .
Tw kids are golden,
My gf kids started yelling in our stairwell with friends its got so loud i yelled louder than them “” HEY “”
Then they all shut up.
It was bothering me and im sure Tentants hate it also, my gf is ok with it as a tw parent and lets kids do whatever they want , im a stupid foreigner that wants to teach them respect… some …, most tw kids dont know what it is…
Guy
Before my wife gave birth, when she was 38 weeks pregnant and very obviously ready to burst, we took the MRT from Xinzhuang to Zhongshan, and nobody offered my wife a seat. I just stood there holding the rail talking really loudly to my wife in Chinese about how rude people are nowadays. People will pretend to be asleep when they see old or pregnant people get on the train, so it doesn’t look like they are being selfish. We were travelling at rush hour, so other passengers were likely tired, but I don’t think that’s an excuse to be fair.