What would you do if your two year old regulary screams at an unsually high pitch, just to get attention?

Question

My son screams; just to scream, just to be heard, just to get his way, just to yell at his younger sister, just to say no, for anything, he just screams. He even does this in the middle of the night if he wakes up; I guess just to say, "I'm mad because I woke up, so now I'm gonna scream!"

Sometimes things work; like sometimes, putting him in his room with the door closed works most of the time. Counting to three works, but sometimes not. I just want him to stop. Talking quietly never works, spanking doesn't work. How would you deal with this? He's 29 months, so just about two and a half. He's sensitive and gets frustrated easy.

I'm just looking for other ideas that may work or if anyone else has gone thru this.

I forgot - yes I give him attention before he gets into this. This screaming is out of anger & frustration, but I try to head it off by helping, talking, playing, etc. beforehand... it just doesn't seem to work. For example... we're outside playing, no screaming.... we go inside and do crafts, he's screaming b/c he wants to do it himself (and I'm letting him do it himself) ...

Answer 1

My son was similar...not exactly the same. I would tell you that if you want to effectively make this situation better for you and the rest of your family, you have to be strong and assertive, and FOLLOW THROUGH. Reward him consistently for NOT screaming in a situation when he would normally scream. When he does scream, completely ignore him. Do not give in, even though your desire is to silence him. In the long run he will be silenced. If you are going to speak to him through the screaming, only repeat the same sentence. I would suggest... "You may not scream" - do not address any other behavior he is doing at that time (i.e. throwing things or hitting). Just continually "You may not scream". The rewards for a child that young...I would suggest a jar - and a piece of red paper. Every time he has 10 red pieces of paper saved up, he can pick out a special candy or something like that at the store.
I know its rough, but you have to stick it out and you have to be consistent. Silencing him by giving in is only going to make him louder in the long run.
Good luck!

Answer 2

I have a son that did that also. It was very frustrating. I just ignored him, or I put him in his room and told him if he wanted to scream then he would have to do it in his room and when he was done then he could come out and join the rest of the family. He would scream up until the time I closed the door and started walking away. You can also try telling him that screaming is for outside and that if he chooses to do that then he can go outside in the backyard and scream all he wants. If you find him doing it at the dinner table or while you are doing family things then take him out of the situation and tell him when he's done then he can re-join you. Go back to whatever you were doing and carry on without him. I hope this helps some.
Good luck!

Answer 3

We just went through this with our daughter. We tried everything! Time outs didn't work because she'd just sit and scream in her time out chair. Giving her more time just made her more frustrated. She's two and a half. What worked for us was to take her into her room and tell her she can come out when she's done screaming. We didn't close the door because she is really sensitive. It took a few times, but she got the idea. Works like a charm now. The trick is to stay calm. Once he starts screaming, just calmly take him in his room and tell him he can come out when he's done screaming. If he comes out screaming just put him back.
Good luck! This worked for us because it was simple yet effective. Just keep trying until you find something that works for your son.

Answer 4

this can be hard if you have more then one young child my daughter tried that she started at age 1 happy sad excited she screamed away
everytime she scream I told her in a monatone voice that i could not help her unless she used her words
then if she continued to scream she went in her room that was empty of all funs stuff till she stopped screaming (that can take a awhile sometimes) but if they know you mean business they evetually stop
then i go and sit on her level in a monatone voice and ask her what she was screaming about IE were you angry why? I would then explain she could scream if she wanted but everytime she did it would be a quiet time in her room out in public i would just stop not move tell them I have all day to wait and wait till they stopped I always make her say sorry to who she was screaming at
on the other had my son screamed a lot he had lost his hearing and had no idea that he was so loud
scream=quiet time loss of priveleges and saying sorry
must do this everytime if you let up even once kids know they can get away with it twice

It is hard not easy at all and I hope you have someone to help you relax and take stress off of you good luck and hope this helps

Answer 5

my eldest daughter also 2 1/2 years used to do this on a daily basis the only thing i can suggest which worked for us is to ignore her its awful for me when she did it but she soon learned that when she did that mummy didn't want to know if we were in doors i picked her up no words and placed her in the middle of the room as she used to also bang her head against the walls basically to get my attention more and when we were outdoors i would stop in my tracks and ask her if she had finished when she said no i say carry on then people would glare at me but they would glare more if i were to smack her so you cannot win with other people i have stood in the middle of a street for 5 Min's and longer but soon the message hits home.... like the saying goes ignorance is bliss she still has the occasional doo but not half as much as she used to good luck and my heart is with you know how you feel

Answer 6

I don't want to frighten you, but don't pass off his screaming necessarily as bad behavior. It may be a medical issue. Talk with your pediatrician about the problem and don't wait. This situation is upsetting your entire household. You owe it to him, your daughter and yourself to check into this. If it isn't physical or mental the doctor will still point you in the right direction. Your son doesn't want to feel this way and he shouldn't have to. Good luck.

Answer 7

he's screaming using fact it hurts and there's a few thing incorrect. He needs to circulate to the vet. If that vet would not locate out what's incorrect he needs to circulate to a distinctive one. The cat is in all probability constipated which could be a difficulty along with his nutrition or he must be ill. it incredibly is honestly no longer commonplace.

Answer 8

My daughter started to do this, but thankfully she has stopped. I just put her in time out. I tried everything, ignoring her to screaming with her! But Spanking didnt even work. Time out did. She sits on her time out stool and we set the timer for2 mins. If shes calmed down, we go over to her and say Are you ready to try again? She usually says yes, but occasionally she will just start screaming again, then we just do 2 more minutes and so on and so on.

Answer 9

Bless your heart. That is a hard situation. It sounds like you have tried everything. It sounds like he is seeking out attention. Have you tried just ignoring him? Tell him that you will not talk to him until he quits screaming. I know that would be hard to do. You say you have already spanked him. Has he started talking yet? It sounds like he doesn't know how to express himself. I would also talk to your pediatrician. Good luck to you. Toddlers can be a handful.

Answer 10

Try a reward system. Make faces out of green, yellow, and red paper and hang them on the wall. Put his name on a clothespin and if he screams, make him take his name off green and put it on yellow. If he screams again, make him put it on red. Buy a calendar and have him draw what color face he gets on it everyday. If he gets all green for 1 week or 1 month, give him a small reward like ice cream. If he behaves when he is on yellow or red, then he could have a chance of getting the higher color back. Good luck with everything!