Toddlers & shrieking

[humpforfree]

So.... Toddlers and shrieking/screaming, especially in public. What do you do? If I acknowledge it and ask him to be quiet it continues louder and longer. If I ignore it he keeps going until he decides he's done. I have about a 50% success rate of distracting him by asking what various animals say. Otherwise... he is just loud.
At home & in the car I do ignore since it seems to stop it quicker, but an old in Walmart today got pissy even though I was trying to distract him. Am I missing any tricks?

[oswin]

It may just be a short phase, DD sometimes shrieks for a bit and it seems like as much as anything she may be exploring her vocal chords. But we did get this book, which may or may not help: www.amazon.com/Voices-Are-Yelling-Best-Behavior/dp/1575425009 We got most of the books in the "Best Behavior" series for DD a couple of months ago, since at the time "Hands are not for Hitting", "Feet are not for kicking", and "Teeth are not for Biting" were particularly relevant to her.

[kdubs923]

I have no fucking clue, so I'm watching this thread... DS has seemed to increase his volume lately which makes the ignoring thing even more difficult.

[humpforfree]

Sept 3, 2015 10:48:32 GMT -5 oswin said:

It may just be a short phase, DD sometimes shrieks for a bit and it seems like as much as anything she may be exploring her vocal chords. But we did get this book, which may or may not help: www.amazon.com/Voices-Are-Yelling-Best-Behavior/dp/1575425009 We got most of the books in the "Best Behavior" series for DD a couple of months ago, since at the time "Hands are not for Hitting", "Feet are not for kicking", and "Teeth are not for Biting" were particularly relevant to her.

Well... We will be needing the hitting and kicking books as well. He has really started being toddler-y the last few weeks and he doesn't listen to me... at all. He stops right away when H says something to him, but laughs at me and keeps going. H puts him in timeout and he gets sad and stops- I do and he laughs and climbs around in the chair. I'm going crazy and so freaking nervous about adding a newborn to this mess.
Thanks for the book ideas!

[arch01]

1-2-3 TO or take away a privilege. we do that for basically everything.

[mlt]

If DS1 was shrieking in public and kept doing it after a warning we left wherever we were. Only took two or three times and he stopped.

[humpforfree]

Sept 3, 2015 11:09:17 GMT -5 mlt said:

If DS1 was shrieking in public and kept doing it after a warning we left wherever we were. Only took two or three times and he stopped.

Am I supposed to ditch my cart of stuff in Walmart though? Never go out? I don't know that this would work for him- it's not like leaving Walmart would bother him enough to make him stop screaming in the future. Plus, he then continued shrieking in the car on the way home.

[mlt]

Sept 3, 2015 11:17:28 GMT -5 humpforfree said:

Sept 3, 2015 11:09:17 GMT -5 mlt said:

If DS1 was shrieking in public and kept doing it after a warning we left wherever we were. Only took two or three times and he stopped.

Am I supposed to ditch my cart of stuff in Walmart though? Never go out? I don't know that this would work for him- it's not like leaving Walmart would bother him enough to make him stop screaming in the future. Plus, he then continued shrieking in the car on the way home.

I did abandon my cart once. He was very surprised. Like I said, we only had to leave places a few times before he learned that shrieking meant we were leaving. He liked restaurants so leaving breakfast once I think was the last time. I waited with him outside while MH got our food to go and paid.

[arch01]

Sept 3, 2015 11:17:28 GMT -5 humpforfree said:

Sept 3, 2015 11:09:17 GMT -5 mlt said:

If DS1 was shrieking in public and kept doing it after a warning we left wherever we were. Only took two or three times and he stopped.

Am I supposed to ditch my cart of stuff in Walmart though? Never go out? I don't know that this would work for him- it's not like leaving Walmart would bother him enough to make him stop screaming in the future. Plus, he then continued shrieking in the car on the way home.

DS was a little over 3 the first time I ditched a cart (but not the first time I'd thought about it). We marched out to the car, he sat in there while I sat outside on the bumper (it was early spring, so not hot) and I told him that he could shriek, scream, throw a tantrum, alone in the car and when he was through to yell for me. He was floored when I buckled him into his car seat and shut the door. He's an attention seeker though, positive or negative, it doesn't matter. Thankfully it hasn't happened since. 

[humpforfree]

Sept 3, 2015 12:58:48 GMT -5 arch01 said:

Sept 3, 2015 11:17:28 GMT -5 humpforfree said:

Am I supposed to ditch my cart of stuff in Walmart though? Never go out? I don't know that this would work for him- it's not like leaving Walmart would bother him enough to make him stop screaming in the future. Plus, he then continued shrieking in the car on the way home.

DS was a little over 3 the first time I ditched a cart (but not the first time I'd thought about it). We marched out to the car, he sat in there while I sat outside on the bumper (it was early spring, so not hot) and I told him that he could shriek, scream, throw a tantrum, alone in the car and when he was through to yell for me. He was floored when I buckled him into his car seat and shut the door. He's an attention seeker though, positive or negative, it doesn't matter. Thankfully it hasn't happened since. 

Yeah, L is only 18 months and I doubt he would "get" it and it would just punish me, not him..