My lovely, almost 3 year old is not being quite so lovely at the moment. He has started screaming at the top of his lungs everytime he doesn't get his own way or gets frustrated by something/someone. He is also saying no to absolutely everything. It is very tiring and also wakes up my other babies when they are sleeping and frightens them when they are awake.
I have started putting him in time out for a calm down time whenever he starts screaming but this just seems to esculate the behaviour and he ends up screaming for hours. Sometimes when I am too tired to deal with the time out saga I do my best to ignore him. Neither strategy seems to be working...am I doing the right thing? What would you do?

Hmmm ignoring is not going to work. He'll just try other ways of acting out. Is he all of a sudden jealous of the younger ones?

Maybe find a time out as far a way from them as possible?

You might not like Supernanny & she gets on my wick sometimes but the methods she uses do work. They worked on A. The getting down on their level & talking calmly to them and then putting them in time out, plus a visible clock do actually work.

Could it be part of his development that is causing this? What I mean is that they get to a point where they have such strong emotions but have trouble expressing them and this could be why he screams, because he doesn't know how else to express his frustration at not getting what he wants and he probably wouldn't understand why he can't have it. I have noticed recently that Jack has started using the word "mine", so maybe your son has started to learn he is his own person (like Jack is starting to do) and is trying to push for independence.
Gosh does any of that make sense?!

I think Pinky Mckay is great, I have her Toddler Tactics book and she explains their milestones and deveopment so well. Maybe her website has some pointers for you. Good luck!

Hmmm, Jimmy has recently starting *yell-crying/screaming* at the top of his lungs whenever frustrated or upset about something.  Great timing with his little sister due any day .  At the moment I've managed to deal with it by getting down at his level and holding him gently until he calms down enough to ask him "what's the matter?" and listen to my suggestions for doing something else instead, or show him how to fix the problem himself (if he can't figure out how to make a toy work etc).  Haven't tried time out yet, but I do try to use SKIP strategies when I remember:

SKIP - Strategies with Kids - Information for Parents

SKIP supports parents to bring up their children in a positive way, using love and nurture and limits and boundaries.

I also like Sarah Buckley's article on gentle discipline (see Part 1 & Part 2) - it has some useful tips .

Good luck  - I don't think there's any *right* way of dealing with this, just keep trying different strategies until you find something you're comfortable with.

What about getting down on his level, "you sound like you need a hug?" and offering him a cuddle. All kids are different but I find that this calms my boy down and I can figure out what's bothering him ("I know you want to go outside and I know it's frustrating, but you have to clean up your toys first. Come on, we'll tidy up your toys together and then you can go outside").

That's all great advice thanks. It sounds like it might be a developmental thing. He does do it out of frustration but I know he can express his frustration differently. He used to say "Oh sausages!" (he came up with that all by himself, so cute!) when something wasn't going right. We've also had some toilet training regression with Gabriel's arrival and Isobelle is suddenly into all his toys and his space. It's a lot for a not so big big brother to deal with. We have a sticker chart going for some other behaviours so I think I'll try coming positive reinforcement with the time out strategy. Hopefully I'm still sane by the time he stops Wish me luck!