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Original poster

Bloody hell. Dd locked me out of the house and had to call the fire brigade.

61 replies

MustardScreams · 30/12/2019 12:23

Dd is almost 3. I was in the back garden grabbing the washing and dd locked the door (we have a thumb turn on the inside.)

Front door was chained, I live in a terrace with 3 gardens between me and the alley and there’s a locked metal gate on the entrance. Neighbours not answering my knocks.

Lovely, lovely fire brigade came out (4 minutes from when I called!) and took the alley gate down and cut the chain for me so I could get back in.

Just about recovered now but bloody hell!!!!!! Thankfully I have a cat flap so dd was fetching me random things from the sitting room to pass the time. How on EARTH did I let that happen though. Massive parenting fail on my part. Christ.

OP posts:
TaliZorahVasNormandy · 30/12/2019 12:35

My DD got lock in my car with the keys in the boot. She was 3 and took 30 mins to convince her to pull the lock up. Luckily the weather was mild and we in Tesco car park.

Dont know why we never call the Fire Brigade. So, thats my parenting fail. There are more.

DisgraceToTheYChromosome · 30/12/2019 12:59

There's nothing like toddlers for causing chaos. If it's not locking doors, it's eating car park tickets, or throwing things out of the window into the M1, or perhaps swallowing a whole tube of garlic purée so they can't be in confined spaces for a week.

tappitytaptap · 30/12/2019 13:04

@DisgraceToTheYChromosome I’m impressed your toddler managed to eat a whole tube! What did it do to their stomach?!

ICouldHaveTinsillitis · 30/12/2019 13:07

OP, that was nearly me, 20 years ago. DS managed to lock himself inside the house, when he was about the same age, and he hadn't the strength to unlock the door!

It only takes a moment's inattention, don't beat yourself up.

Well done to the Fire Brigade.

SnugglySnerd · 30/12/2019 13:10

When I was old enough to know better I locked the keys in the car outside a pub in the middle of nowhere when it had just closed on Christmas Eve. The AA were very helpful when they eventually arrived. My dad was most unimpressed and has never let me forget it!

Dancingontheedge · 30/12/2019 13:13

My DS did that to me when he was around 3, I was in the garden and he was in the conservatory, he closed the door and shot the bolt. Fortunately he was a greedy little piglet and I had a packet of chocolate biscuits in my bag. So I ate one slowly with him watching, and he bashed open the bolt with James the red engine to get to the biscuits.
Very impressed with your use of the catflap as a way of keeping her safe and occupied, that was ingenious.
It will be one of many exciting adventures as she heads to adulthood!

Papergirl1968 · 30/12/2019 13:16

Dd, 14, was in a strop and kicked her bedroom door so hard it jammed in the frame with her trapped inside. I’m a single mum, hence a late night call to the fire service last year. Couple of burly blokes had it open within a minute.
She has mental health problems, so it wasn’t just naughtiness, but it’s not just toddlers that do daft things!

slavetolife · 30/12/2019 13:21

I can remember locking myself in the bathroom when I was about 3 - I then promptly fell into the loo (I used it without the little child seat and my bum fell into the water - think feet up round my ears!), my dad had to drill his way in from the outside!

Somanysocks · 30/12/2019 14:01

Years ago me and my then boyfriend both went shopping thinking the other one had the front doorkey, obviously came back and had to call fire brigade to get us in. Very embarrassing but they were fine about it.

Anyway a few hours later we were in the kitchen cooking dinner and we saw a figure looming outside our back door, it was a fireman who was checking up that they had let the owners into the flat and not some random chancers. Grin

Aquamarine1029 · 30/12/2019 14:06

I locked my mother out of the house when I was two. She said she nearly panicked but was able to keep me near the letterbox, and luckily my dad was due home in just a couple of minutes. The fire brigade didn't need to be called. Grin

VeraPamil · 30/12/2019 14:10

My husband is a firefighter and I’d say about once a month he goes to a toddler who’s locked in a car, bathroom or somewhere else. Not uncommon at all OP Grin Feels awful at the time though, I locked my son in the car once and had to phone said husband to come with the spare key, the whole crew and fire engine came on the way back from a job Blush I cried my eyes out, I was distraught, my son ate a whole packet of ginger nut biscuits and waved at me through the window...

Gibbonsgibbonsgibbons · 30/12/2019 14:11

Oh that must have been a fright for you Flowers you did well to keep her calm & hurrah for the fire brigade!

If you don’t already have it get her “Alfie gets in first” as a late Christmas present Grin

moodolph · 30/12/2019 14:15

My dog locked me out the farm land rover by standing on the middle central lock thing and keys were in it.

My dog is called parsnip. I spent nearly forty minutes in tesco car park saying parsnip sit, parsnip back, parsnip jump. So many strange looks from Christmas shoppers.....she got it eventually

Witchend · 30/12/2019 14:21

DD2 slammed the door on me when I was putting the bins out when she was 2yo. She had a lovely time playing until my neighbour with the spare keys came.
Frustrating thing was I could see the keys, she could see the keys, but was about 3" too small to reach.

Original poster
MustardScreams · 30/12/2019 14:25

All your stories are making me feel a lot better. It’s funny how toddlers learn to do something the second they’re not meant to!!

Dd hasn’t talked about anything else all day, so at least she had a good time Grin I’m never doing laundry again!

OP posts:
GodolphianArabian · 30/12/2019 14:44

I had similar happen to me. DS1 aged 3 locked me out on the balcony. To make it worse he reached the lock by standing on his baby brother who had conveniently crawled near the door. Fortunately DS2 was a very solid baby and didn't even cry. I think I spent a panicked 5 minutes out there before he decided to let me back in by unlocking the door.

MsAdorabelleDearheartVonLipwig · 30/12/2019 15:04

I have a spare key hidden in the garden, not for emergencies but for when I invariably lock myself out. We have a Yale lock too, once it’s shut, it’s shut. Grin

Hoppinggreen · 30/12/2019 15:10

Our dog locked us out of the car when I was a child, it was Christmas Eve in a pub carpark
Dint think it was The AA but a local garage eventually got it open

Loopylou6 · 30/12/2019 15:28

I remember when my dd was a toddler, we'd got up in the morning leaving dh to a lie in, I went out into the garden (can't remember what for) and slipped on a rock that had been left by the door, badly sprained my ankle, couldn't get up. Dd was merrily running round the garden in a vest and no nappy, completely refusing to go and get dh, there was no way I was shouting him and letting my horrible twat of a neighbor know I'd hurt myself.

Bitofnamechanging · 30/12/2019 15:36

My one year old and two year old locked the back door when I was out hanging up the washing. Thankfully dh was working from home that day

Deckthehallswith · 30/12/2019 15:45

O dear, glad it got sorted quickly for you though!

When my ds was 3, his dad had just bought a new van and ds was in the front of it. Ds was pretending to drive and locked the doors with only him inside it. The keys were in the ignition!!! We had to shout through the closed windows to get ds to press the unlock button on the key, (hoping he wouldn't turn the key and start the engine) he was so young he didn't understand what was going on but luckily he managed to unlock the doors

progesterworry · 30/12/2019 15:51

When we first moved here ds was 3 and dd newborn we had a door with a bolt at then bottom And v awkward steps to the door
I let ds go in ahead and went to lift the pram just as ds kicked the door shut and bolted it in about 3 seconds I was begging him through the letterbox he found it hilarious
After 10 mins he undid the bolt
My brother can straight round and took the bolt off for me and put it at the top instead

seven201 · 30/12/2019 15:53

My dd2 managed to lock herself in the downstairs loo and was going through a phase of loving to play with loo brushes. My dh had to chisel the lock off and ruin the doorframe. We were sure it was one of those door locks where you can open it in an emergency, but no, it needed a key.

She also opened the car door as I was turning a corner and her favourite sock has been lost since. She'd never tried to open the door before but we've now found out how to work the child lock.

SproutinducingFarti · 30/12/2019 15:58

But we're you dressed op? This happened to my mum when my sister was a toddler. She had nipped out to the bin and accidentally didn't set the snib on the Yale lock.
She spent a long time pushing bits of stick under the back door to my sister while saying " Mummy is pushing a bit of stick to you. Can you push the back door key to Mummy".
My sister kept pushing the sticks back again and saying "Cry Mummy. are you crying Mummy?".
Once my mum suggested that if she had the key she could come in and get my sister some chocolate, the key was shoved under the door immediately!

GetTheGoodLookingGuy · 30/12/2019 16:21

I did similar at the same sort of age (my mum still tells this story with horror). My mum was seeing some friends out, and had left my baby brother on the sofa (too young to roll). I followed her down (we lived in an upstairs flat) and helpfully shut the door behind her - it was one which locked automatically when closed and could be opened from the inside without a key, but not from the outside.

My mum says her biggest worry was that I would try and be helpful and bring my brother downstairs. Luckily, some friends were passing and managed to talk to me through the letterbox and get me to climb on a chair to retrieve the keys from the top of the piano and post them through the letter box!