Okay, so literally I have the happiest toddler ever unless of course she is sleepy or hungry! But...she is a very vocal little girl (she gets it from her dad :P lol) and she likes to scream!! Not a mad scream, but a happy scream. How do I handle this?
Thank you so much ladies! It's so crazy because I'm naturally really quiet and my hubs is the loud one of the house (well one of the loud ones now..). And he has been gone for most of this last year training (military) and I guess she just gets it from her daddy! Haha! And I can already tell she loves debate! I tell her no and she points her finger and talks like she is telling me why she needs to do a certain bad thing! Haha! Again thank you ladies!
My youngest was a screamer - and now he's in Debate. I do think there's a correlation.
It's a phase. My 3 y/o is really loud to this day, but the screeching, screaming (especially in the middle of the grocery store!) has stopped. It's so hard to ignore, but ignore it when you can. Just not in the grocery store. For those "moments" I would give her something to munch on to keep her quiet.
I played "voice games" with my toddler. We'd change pitch, volume, timbre. That way when kiddo would squeel at an inappropriate time/place I could say "Looooooooooooooowwwwww voice" and he'd start doing low stuff. ((Kudos to my mum for these games, btw, she's the one who showed me how to play them when kiddo first started making my eyeballs burst along with nearby glass objects.)) SAME token, I really wanted his voice to develop, so when there WAS an appropriate time/place I'd tell him "EEEEE voice!" (different from high voice.)
I also kept a watch on MY excitement. Women in particular tend to go "high" when excited (just listen to women exicted in another language... it's ear splitting... but we almost don't hear the pitch or tone change in English because we're so used to it). So when I was excited I started working on other ways to express it (body motions, lower tones) then "OMG OMG OMG Eeeeeee." that tends to be a typical female vocalization.
No advise...I'm waiting to see your responses because my little one does the same thing except hers isn't a scream...it's a REALLY loud laugh...like she's trying to get attention! Good luck!
I'd say something like, "I'm so happy you are a happy girl, but when your voice gets that loud in the house it hurts my ears!" With a big grin I'd say something like that and then put my fingers to my lips and say "shhhhh, a little softer voice please."
Just show her how to use a smaller voice when inside and remind her constantly to use her "inside voice" or "little voice". Don't scold her about it though. And don't worry about it when she's outside. She'll soon figure out the difference. And don't forget, some people have naturally loud voices and it takes a lot of conscious control to keep them lower. I know, I'm one of them! LOL So just keep that in mind as you teach her her little voice.
My oldest daughter is naturally loud but as soon as I remind her about her little voice, she'll stop, take a deep breath and start over in a quieter voice. So it does work. Just not for long with my Deedee. :D
We had a little neighbor, who we adore that would do that, we could hear her in our house when she was inside their house.. Her mother did not believe us till one day she was over here and heard her daughters tremendous laugh and peel of her screech in our living room..
Each time she screeches, just in a quiet voice with a plain expression tell her, "inside voice please".
Do it every time.
I absolutely cannot take that high pitch scream or laugh, so I always reminded the kids," Ms. L. cannot drive, play, shop.. (whatever the situation was) when she hears loud screeching.."
