Child Screams Because of Cousin

My daughter was a "screamer" when she was little- ear piercing, she could shatter crystal.I put her in singing and plays. She is now a high school cheerleader- and sings and dances for musicals (good use of her voice)!
However, my little guy started shrieking (@18 months), i told him him it was okay if he wanted to scream, but he would have to do it in his room with the door closed. It worked for him. It has been my experience as a Mom of 4 (3 boys), and a daycare provider that boys don't typically keep it up.
Hope this helps.....

I started using this trick on my daughter, who will be 3 in Jan. Anytime she does something annoying, whine, splash in the bathtub something like that, I start poking her. And saying it, poke poke poke. Very softly, not in the least bit hard, and with a smile on my face, like I'm playing a game. At first she laughed liked it tickled but when I kept doing it, it was obvious she was getting annoyed. Stop poking me, why are you poking me? To which I reply, because you're whining. you stop whining (splashing, screaming, whatever) and i'll stop poking. I know it sounds wacky but it works for me.

Hi, J.. I don't have any advice, I just have to respond! You're my type of person! I love the quiet, and I can't stand screaming in my ears. My older son was born with what I think is an unnatural lung capacity (lol) and he got my husband's "need to shout to get it out" gene. It has nothing to do with violent personalities -- I just have loud voices in my house. In my house growing up, people weren't generally loud unless they were going to get violent, usually verbally so. So I tend to react negatively to lots of noise, as you can imagine. When my second son was born, I was relieved at how different he was than my first. He loves to have fun, and he's all boy, don't get me wrong, but he has a naturally softer voice. And I can tell that my daughter, born 12 weeks ago, is much the same way. But now with three young, energetic voices in the house (the first two often playing loud and screaming at one another), I sometimes wonder what in the world a quiet-type like me has gotten herself into! I've attempted to keep the house at a reasonable decibel level many different ways, but I find myself "shushing" them at every turn and that doesn't seem right. I think I may just have to develop tougher ears and a few more nerves. My husband keeps having to remind me that they are just children, after all. There'll be plenty of time for them to learn to lower the volume. ;)

I can't believe it--the same thing is happening with my 18 month son and his 2.5 year old cousin. We don't get to see them very often, but when we do, my son starts to sound just like her! The only difference is that she was screaming when she was mad or wanted something--my son started do the same thing. He also picked up "no!" and "mine!" He is still yelling a lot, but what really seemed to help was to teach him words to use instead of screaming. Maybe you could teach your child to say a word when excited instead of screaming, it is worth a try! Good luck.