How do I get a 2 year old boy to stay in his room at bedtime? I've tried gates. I even bought the "extra tall" gate, but he can open it. My son is up and around the house sometimes until 10:30 or 11pm. The other more serious aspect of this problem is that I cannot lock my doors from the inside. I live in an apartment attached to a dormitory and because of fire rules, we can't lock our doors like we could if we were in a "normal" house. So, my 2 year old can get up anytime he likes and leave my house and end up in the forest. (yes, at least he can't end up in the street because we have a pedestrian campus so there are no cars right outside my house). I have considered putting a bell on his ankle, but I would like to avoid that if I can since I have other children he'd likely wake up with that sound. Any ideas?
UPDATE: The handles on our doors are the lever kind and he got through the lock I bought to put on the handle on his door.
Also, we live on a boarding school campus, so we don't worry about people breaking in so much since there is a 10 foot fence around the entire campus and armed guards at the gate.
In addition, our door frames are metal and we are not allowed to drill holes...
Should've put all this info in the original request!
Thank you for all of your responses. I returned the extra tall gate and asked the maintenence department if they would reverse the lock on his door. They still haven't gotten back to me. I've also begun reading lengthier stories to my boys at night. It hasn't worked yet, but I'm trying my best! Basically, I just camp out in the hallway after I put them to bed now and read a magazine after their lights are out. Everytime the 2 year old gets up he sees that I'm there. Hopefully this will calm him down and get him to stay in bed!
Locking him in his room is prbably the worst thing you could do, it'll scare him and make him NEVER want to stay in his room. If you just keep putting him back in his bed at night when he wanders out, he'll finally get tired and realize he needs to be in bed. It may take a while, but once he learns it's not likely he'll start it up again.
Okay. You have a lot of obstacles! I am not very familiar with the lever-type handles, but do they have a lock on the inside? If so, you could reverse the handle so that the lock was on the outside. It may sound harsh to lock him in his room, but you could check on him often and use baby monitors. It could save him from getting hurt.
Have you tried rewards? Maybe let him watch a little tv before bedtime and let him wind down a little.
I am having the same problem. While in FL we used the hook and eye locks with a chain attached so I could lock her in her room when I needed to. Here we can't do it, and I don't know if you can either but you might want to ask. I know several people who have done it for safety reasons, so their kids would not get into the kitchen at night or hurt themselves walking around at all hours.
So if you can't lock your doors from the inside how do you avoid people breaking in? That sounds odd. How would they know if you locked your door? Could you put a hook/eye lock on your front door just to keep him from walking out?
J. my mom used a gate on my bed room door and i would get out ended up sitting on the stove that I had turned on and had 2nd degree burns on my butt, and then turned the faucet around turn the water on and flooded the kitchen with about 3 inches of water, so gates don't work for some kids. However locking a door does, and that is what she had to resort to, she put a pin lock on the door, it was secure enough to keep me in, and said that it only took about 2 weeks of me getting up and pulling on the door and not opening for her to not have to lock it anymore I just quite trying and she just had to close the door. I don't know if this will work for you, but it is worth a try.
They make childproof doorknobs and that should do the trick for a 2 yr old..
Have you tried those door knob covers that you have to squeese and turn to open on the inside of his door? Put one on the front door too and hang bells on the front door if it is away from the other kids and put a baby monitor by the door so you can hear the bells ring loud by your bed.
S.
My Mother-in-law had this problem with her daughter when she was small. My Mom-in-law did place a bell on her ankle to assure that she would be able to hear her-well-she figured out how to remove it so that idea didn't last long! My children used to do that quite a bit,esp my daughter. She is 2 and a half now and has finally gotten away from the wandering. You could get a bed strap that attaches with Velcro, or you could gat a Angel baby monitor that lays under his sheet and if he gets out of bed and the monitor no longer senses his breathing-it will alert you in your room.( it is actually a SIDS monitor) you can get them from several online sellers as well as used through ebay. Hope this helps you out some. Take care and good luck!!!
My son just turned 2 last month and he just got his first toddler bed in August. What I didn't realize was how fast he would learn to open the door. I never wanted to lock him in his room, but after he managed to get out of the house one morning, I realized that it was for his own good. Fortunately for me the baby gate still works for me. I know at bedtime I had to gradually spend less and less time at his bedside each night to get him to stay in it and not pitch a fit. As far as reversing the doorknob, it's really not that hard. You shouldn't have to wait on somebody else. All you need to do is unscrew it and switch it around. Simple as that. Good Luck!
