My 20 month old keeps screaming in public for fun, laughs when I tell him off, help! :(

[ceriberi]

I don't know how to stop him from screaming like this, I've told him off, he laughs, I've tried ignoring it, he just ups the volume and distracting him can work sometimes but not always. Today I actually ended up crying at the Tesco's checkout because the woman behind the till had her hand over her ear and wasn't very nice about it. Some shoppers gave me sympathetic looks but others were obviously irritated by it. I am 19 weeks pregnant and don't need this. I am starting to get nervous about going out. Any tips from anyone who has successfully stopped this sort of thing? Thanks.

[FattipuffsandThinnifers]

Well, I haven't completely mastered this one yet! But just to say, when my ds was about your ds's age he was very similar. Like a lot of things, ignoring was the most effective way of dealing with it. If he doesn't get the reaction from you, he'll start to get bored with it.

I'm 21 weeks pg too so know how you feel, but god, don't worry about what other people think - I've gone long past that point, tbh if I worried about that now I wouldn't go out till my children were grown-up .

The checkout woman sounds like an idiot, if I was there I would have encouraged ds to shout even louder [evil cackle].

[BigusBumus]

My DS (2.5) likes to roar like a dinosaur whe sitting in a trolly. Its really really loud. At first its amusing, "Oh Harry, are you being a dinosaur again"? etc, but after 10 minutes i just think, shut up FFS. He gets worse if i laugh or say Shhhh and even worse when other shoppers smile or comment. By the time i get to the till about 30 mins later, i am also extremely irritated and embarassed. Not sure what to do about it, but wanted to let you know you're not alone!

Ignoring is perhaps best, as even negative attention (telling off, shhhh etc)is rewarding as its attention all the same.

[gingertoo]

Agree with the others - ignoring might help...

DC3 (23m) hates shopping and will try whatever tactics he can (including screaming)to get my attention when I'm trying to concentrate on what I'm buying.
I find he's much better if I let him 'help' me with the shopping. He holds the list and a pencil, I pass him things to drop into the trolley and he scribbles on the list. At the checkout I let him put things onto the belt and drop big things like loo roll and nappies back into the trolley. He seems to quite enjoy it! Only trouble is the shopping trip takes twice as long and he expects the same performance even if we're only popping in for some bread and milk!
The other thing that sometimes works is taking a little pot with raisins / grapes (anything small that he likes to eat) He needs both hands and a bit of concentration to get them out of the pot and eat them so it gives me a few minutes to nip round!

Or you could always order online and get it delivered

[hobbgoblin]

Do this face. Every time. Do nothing else except have an air of supreme confidence whilst carrying on as normal. It will work.

[rolledhedgehog]

My #3 iw doing this at the moment. He is 16 months and sounds like a small and very loud dinosaur. An old man in the queue behind me at Sainsburys huffed and puffed and tutted this morning and then told the cashier he did not know how she put-up with it....arse! He wants to try living with him!

Agree with everyone else that ignoring him is the only way regardless of others' reactions.

[ceriberi]

Thank you for all your suggestions. I will try to be more confident and ignore it. Whenever I have done, I always feel like other people think I should be stopping him. Good to know I'm not alone! It's good to have some tactics to try. I'll go armed with snacks next time and try to get him more involved too, I think he'll enjoy that. If all that fails I'll go for ordering online, good idea!