Hi, moms. My son just figured out how to unlock the front door at my parents' house. Can anyone recommend any products or special tot-proof locks that we can purchase and install to prevent our son from escaping? Thanks!
K.
You can get a simple slide type or chain type lock and install it at adult reach height. That's what the police suggested to me when my then 3 year old decided to see what was going on outside at 4 o'clock in the morning one day.
Do you have the door knob covers? My toddler hasn't figured those out yet.
I agree with kelley e about the deadbolt. not only will it keep a child from escaping but in some cases may lower home owner insurance premiums
I agree with the others...we installed one of those sliding locks that is only on the inside, up at the top of the door. We did this after I woke up to my front door slaming (we have four locks - two on door, two on security door) and found my 2 year old in the front yard. Good luck keeping him inside.
This is the lock that I can swear by from personal experience. Not only is it effective, but it's a snap to install and extremely subtle in appearance (mine is white) so nobody's door has to get all uglied up, lol.
http://www.amazon.com/Door-Flip-Child-Safety-Colors/dp/B0...
*You can also pick this up at your local Home Depot or any hardware store. Probably even Walmart.*
The trick is to train yourself (and your parents) to flip that lock whenever the kids are there. We have one in our home and after just a couple of days, it honestly became second nature. Be sure to install it as high up on the door as the shortest adult in the house can reach, because kids learn pretty early how to move and stack things. Mine did, anyway.
The cool thing about the this lock, though, is that you have to lift it slightly to get it to flip to the side and unlock. So there's no accidental unlocking and, hopefully, even if a kid could reach it (unlikely), they wouldn't be able to figure it out. It's surprisingly sturdy as well. It won't keep a determined burglar out, but neither will a deadbolt, really. It's shockingly easy to kick a door down, locks and all. If you want security, a metal "screen" door is really the way to go. Not to mention an alarm system...which, of course, serves the double purpose of letting you know when your kid escapes, lol.
No matter what, though, make sure your parents install something satisfactory before your son is left there again. When my daughter was two (almost three), my dad was babysitting her at their house while my hubby and I went Christmas shopping. He got distracted for a couple of minutes and she walked right out the front door. At 8:30PM...in December. She walked to the end of the street, around the corner, and halfway down the street behind my dad's before a woman taking her kids to look at Christmas lights saw her and stopped.
It ended well, but to this day, I shudder to think of what might have been. So....yeah. Lock those doors and lock them good.
I personally installed a dead bolt high up on the door, nothing worked better than that, pluss burglers do not look that high either. Or a chain lock up high too.
All you have to do is: get an eye and hook latch or chain latch... and install it up HIGH on your doors.... like 5 feet and higher, up the door.
That is what my friend did, who has THREE boys... very active rascal boys.
all the best,
Susan
We have flip down locks that we got at Home Depot on each of our doors.
There's whole section for it, so you can go an decide what exactly you want to install.
