This may seem like a silly question, but how can I child proof the water dispenser on my refrigerator? The dispenser does not come with a lock. My toddler can reach it now and is filling up any toy that he can with water. The floor is always wet and so is he.Anyone solve this problem?
Why don't you just disconnect it until he is a little older? Just a thought.
M.
That's so funny, my son is 33 months and recently discovered it too!!! I don't have a lock but some of the newer refrigerators actually have a lock on/off feature. Go figure a woman must have invented that, lol! Not sure you want to go that route and spend $1000 on a new fridge so I would work on training them to ask you first. good luck.
C.~
I'm sorry, but I laughed at this because my daughter has just figured out the same thing (she's 21 months). Fortunately, she hasn't done it as much because she doesn't like to get her head wet. It's not a stupid question, though. I don't have an answer, and I don't know if they make anything. Maybe gate off the kitchen or put him in time out when he does it? I mean, other than being wet and possibly slipping it's not a dangerous thing, so maybe this is a good opportunity to start setting and enforcing limits. I've had a lot of success with timeouts with my daughter.
PS DON'T DO THE "TAP ON THE HAND" THING!
I agree, I think this is a good time to introduce discipline and just teach him not to do it. Discipline doesn't even have to mean time outs -- depending on his temperament, you might be able to just gently guide him away from the dispenser when he comes to it. Try offering a different toy or give him a little dish full of water to let him play with outside, or even stick him in the bathtub. Sometimes redirecting their attention elsewhere is just as effective at teaching them not to do something as punishment after the fact (maybe even more so for a very young child). Kids love water, so don't be afraid to let him experiment with it in a way that you approve of. You can even try filling up the kitchen sink with water and dish soap and let him go wild with filling up dishes or whatever -- just be prepared to clean up lots of water!
Also, I think we tend to get carried away with child-proofing. Try to see it as a way to keep them safe (locks on cupboards where you store chemicals, gates on stairs) and to protect your property (toilet lid locks so they can't flush anything away!) rather than a way to keep them away from everything you don't want them to have. Leave some room for communication; you are your child's first teacher!
If you can gate off your kitchen, that's an option. If not it might be the best time to implement time-outs for playing with the refrigerator water. What I found with my son is that making it harder for him to get to something only made him work harder at finding a way to get to it. By the time he was 3 he could get past any child proofing device and then I had to do the inevitable "I said no <insert behavior>, now you have to go to time out". It's a good idea to start implementing boundaries and consequences at this age so you don't have to do it later because it takes more effort the older they get before they begin to comply. I know you have 2 older ones but since you have 3 children I am sure that you know that no child is the same as another and some kids need clearer boundaries than others. I'm sure you have told him not to play with the refrigerator water but he feels no reason to comply with that direction and that means he is going to challenge you a lot. Kids like this tend to be super smart and it's the super smart ones that keep you on your toes. Best of luck...the final option is to detach the water line from the back of the refrigerator until he is old enough to use it properly.
Hi C., most people put up a guard gate, to block off the kitchen, but if you can't do thst, then you are going to have to be firm with your child about don't touch, and a little tap on the hand with eventually teach that, that's how I taught my kids not to touch anuthing in the house that was not theirs, and it worked, youcsn go crazt trying to chgild proof your house, my mother told me to house proff my children and thats what I did. J.
