HELP! My two year old son is trying to sneak out of the house late at night. He hasn’t successfully escaped so far because he can’t quite get the dead bolt unlocked. Does anyone know how to keep a toddler safe in bed? He is a good climber. He would climb out of his crib so we switched him to a bed just before he turned two. He climbs over baby gates, so those are of no use now. He knows how to turn door knobs. He can barely touch the dead bolt but can’t switch it. He has tried putting keys to the dead bolt, thinking that will open it. I have a monitor in his room so I can hear him getting up. He doesn’t know about the monitor but I think he recently realized that we can hear him because he started sneaking. I was standing in the dining room watching him sneak out of his room. He was looking at his feet and slowly walking over the board on the floor that creaks. When he saw me he gasped and ran back to his bed. His bedroom door rubs on the carpet and requires a push to open. Sometimes I close it because he cannot open it. It seems like a good way to keep him safe inside. It also terrifies him. He will scream and cry and sounds so scared if I close his door. I feel bad about doing it. Should I keep it open and hope he doesn’t try to sneak out? Should I wait til he’s asleep and then close it? I’m pretty sure he will be strong enough to open it very shortly. Then what do I do? I put door knob covers on the doors leading outside. Hopefully that will help. I feel paranoid when I’m going to bed. Nothing would scare me more than to wake up and find my child is gone. Our neighborhood is safe but there’s quite a distance between our house and our neighbor’s. The road is dangerous, there’s wild animals out at night, and he could get lost in the woods. Yet to him, there’s nothing that would make him happier or that gets his attention more than “outside”. He loves to be outside. He can be outside all of the time and be completely happy with that. We play outside everyday for about an hour (more or less depending on my allergies). Even when it’s raining we will play out on the porch. But when it’s time to come inside it’s a sad time for him. He wants control of his own life and sneak outside and play in the middle of the night. To some kids it’s the cookie jar but for my toddler it’s going outside that’s the biggest temptation. I hope that my husband and I can keep him from breaking out and that he quickly learns that it is dangerous to go outside alone.
July 29th, 2010 at 3:48 pm
Obedience is the key to holding him back, not devices. The devices can be used as back up, in the event he might not obey. We’ve had the same problem with our boy getting out of bed. You can explain that if he stays in bed you will leave the door open. If he gets out of bed you will close it. If he gets out of bed he will have to face that consequence and be scared in his room by himself. If it is a CONSISTENT consequence, he will begin to stay in bed. If he learns to open the door, you can change the consequence to a spanking or something else that he doesn’t like.
July 29th, 2010 at 5:02 pm
That is very true that obedience is the key. However, it’s the parents responsibility to create the safest environment for the child until they are mature enough to handle situations responsibly.