I was wondering if anyone out there knows of a good quality vacuum that is also quieter than most? My DS is terrified of the vacuum! Seriously, terrified. Therefore, I only vacuum now when my hubby can take him outside. That is not very often. I am the type that would love to vacuum every day. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

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Liz-Proud wife of a US Airman and stay-at-home-mommy to two beautiful boys!

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I don't know of a quiet vacuum, but I have the same problem with my kids. What I do is make a safe spot for them while I am vacuuming. Set up an area that you both agree on is safe from the vacuum. I usually make it in another room so that they aren't right on top of the vacuum. This has help so much because I have to vacuum every day because of our dog.

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They say the Dyson is quieter than others (the Oreck is loud! and doesn't work), but I haven't tried mine yet.

I had the same problem with diva. So much that even seeing the vacuum made her shake and cry. So, we had daddy do some vacuuming, while I sat in the bedroom with her and had the stereo on - not really loud, but loud enough to distract from the hum. It worked! Then I was able to have her stay in the room alone w/the music while I vacuumed. Good. Then one day while her leg was broken, she had a fig newton on the couch, which left crumbs everywhere. She begged me to clean them up and I told her I needed to use the hand vac. She hated the crumb feeling so much she asked me to do it, but she asked for headphones, which we use for races or DH uses for her screaming fits. I gave her the headphones and she did great, even laughing when the Dirt Devil was tickling her. Ever since, she tells me she's not afraid of vacuums anymore, but wants the headphones, and I don't blame her. She's even saying she'll do the vacuuming soon. Hey, worked for us. Probably an mp3 player with those noise canceling in-ear buds would work well.

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Thanks for the suggestions. Maybe I will give that a try. My poor little DS is only 2 and he screams, cries, shakes, and runs away just at the sight of the vacuum. He won't even walk past it if he sees it. If feel so bad for him, and I really don't understand where the fear came from. The only explanation is that I never vacuumed when he was younger because in our previous house we did not have carpet, so I swept/mopped the whole house.

I do have to get a new vacuum though. Ours started smoking the other day when I was using it. I'm pretty sure it's on its last leg.

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Liz-Proud wife of a US Airman and stay-at-home-mommy to two beautiful boys!

Visit our blog: In The Harvest

Uh yeah. Smoking's not good. It's outlawed in many public places. It may be a belt frying (happened to me) or something w/the motor. If it's a decent vac, a local servicing store can help. I'd found that the Oreck stores service other models.

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Make someone's heart smile today.

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LOL! That cracked me up.

It isn't a high-qualiity vacuum. I don't think it would be worth fixing.

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Liz-Proud wife of a US Airman and stay-at-home-mommy to two beautiful boys!

Visit our blog: In The Harvest