"On The Other Claw...."

"You need to be quiet now" counts as "attention".

So does, "we are going home right now if you keep that up."

And, while it may have fallen out of favor, so does **SMACK!!**

Any of these options count as better parenting than simply ignoring your caterwauling crotch dropping and the effect they have on the people around you.

I'd like to apply that last one to whatever genius came up with "just let them scream and scream and scream and scream, because paying attention just gives them what they want."

It doesn't work.

Clarifying abit:

Human children are hardwired to want attention -- acknowledgement -- from the adults in their lives. Providing that attention and acknowledgement is the appropriate role of the parent, and part of that attention is, in fact, notifying your children when their behavior has stepped outside the bounds of what is appropriate. If you do not acknowledge them when they scream, you are a) condoning public screaming as appropriate behavior and b) encouraging them to scream even more loudly in an attempt to wring some affection out of Wire Mother.