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Original poster

What age could your child enter locked house

33 replies

Ponderingwindow · 11/08/2022 22:52

This is inspired by but absolutely not about another thread. Please stay on just this topic.

what age could your child enter your locked home solo?

for our house it was age 5. We have an electronic lock on one of the doors that you can enter by code. She obviously never went into an empty house, but sometimes preferred to get into the house through that door instead of one of the unlocked doors that weren’t as conveniently located in the moment.

She is 13 now and still doesn’t carry a key since she can just enter with the keypad.

OP posts:
SleepingStandingUp · 11/08/2022 22:54

By that logic, DS sometimes has the front door key off me and unlocks the door. He's 7.

Are you talking about getting in home alone without an adult at home / conscious or just being able to operate a lock, like your example?

Topgub · 11/08/2022 22:56

Do you mean what age can kids work a lock?

Mine could at 3.

Bloody locked me in

SleepingStandingUp · 11/08/2022 22:59

We have to hide the keys from the twins. They know to twist it to open it and now have the hand eye coordination to get the key in the whole. They're 32 months.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Families
Buythebag40 · 11/08/2022 23:00

Not until they were at high school. There was never any reason for them to before that as they wouldn't have gone out or come home alone whilst at primary school.

SleepingStandingUp · 11/08/2022 23:00

We have to hide the keys from the twins. They know to twist it to open it and now have the hand eye coordination to get the key in the whole. They're 32 months.

Jellybean23 · 11/08/2022 23:02

The three year old across the street let himself out of the house and was walking up the main road to his gran's. Luckily, he was spotted by dustmen and sat in the dustcart until the police arrived.

Our daughter had her own key at 11 when she started Year 7

Jellybean23 · 11/08/2022 23:07

Oops, sorry, the three year old's escape was out of the house, and you asked about entering a house. apologies.

Original poster
Ponderingwindow · 12/08/2022 00:18

I guess the question is, what age can the child let themselves into the house without you having to get up to unlock the door.

like if someone is dropping them off. I would go unlock the door so it’s easy for dc to get in, but it wouldn’t really be necessary, because she can get in even if I don’t do that.

so what age can the child arrive home and enter the locked house completely independently, even if they were dropped off by a supervising adult and there will be a supervising adult in the house to receive.

OP posts:
Thesearmsofmine · 12/08/2022 00:23

Mine can unlock from the inside but can’t do it from the outside, ages 11, 9 and 6. It’s really stiff to get in though and I struggle sometimes so not surprised the dc do! If we had a keypad that you put a code into they would have been able to do that from a really young age, same as unlocking iPads etc

Mardyface · 12/08/2022 00:24

Like most things, it depends on the child. My older DD probably 5, my younger one 7ish. Though I tend to like to be friendly and meet them if I'm in anyway.

smileandsing · 12/08/2022 00:57

Well mine doesn't have a key but would be perfectly capable of doing this if he did. He's 9.
I assume most kids don't have keys until they have occasion to let themselves in when no one is home, so generally will be a lot older than 5. Your keypad isn't the normal lock set up for most houses, in the UK at least.

avamiah · 12/08/2022 01:22

My daughter is 12 and I will leave her alone at home for a few hours during the day ( school holidays) if I’m going shopping or to the hair salon and she doesn’t want to come along as she is very busy on her phone at home😬 but I have never let her go into our house alone after school even though she travels home in her travel group on the underground.

Something about her opening the front door and nobody being home doesn't sit well with me and not at 12 years old .

HerRoyalNotness · 12/08/2022 01:35

About 11yo. Has a phone now so I can message if I’m going to be late. Have a spare key hidden as sometimes misplaced theirs. Struggled to physically unlock the door before then tbh. Happy to leave them for 2hrs alone, but any longer older sibling is there with them

ProbablyPossiblyPerhaps · 12/08/2022 01:37

That depends upon both the child and the
lock/ door, obviously some doors need lifting/ pulling slightly to unlock, others are easier or have non key mechanisms (you obviously know that as you're telling us about your keypad, so I'm curious about what you're actually asking... Are you trying to ask what kind of locks people have? Or what skills children have at what age? 🤔 )

I made sure my children could unlock our front door before they started school (which is age 6 where we live) because back when the older ones started school here sometimes randomly sent children home without telling parents, and all school children have door keys (which aren't much use if the child can't use them). So they could all unlock the front door with a key when they were 6 or 5.5.

ShortOfShorts · 12/08/2022 02:37

Both got keys age 9 (Y5) when school would release them home without an adult. Almost always an adult there, but just in case they knew how to open the door. And the adult was granny who’s a bit deaf, she wouldn’t hear the doorbell anyway.

FilePhoto · 12/08/2022 02:44

I don't entirely understand what you're asking.

DC could technically unlock the door from outside from... dunno. 4 maybe.

But they didn't have a key. So I would have to open it to let them in.

They got a key when they started secondary school. So 11 ish.

sashh · 12/08/2022 02:50

I'm curious about what you're actually asking... Are you trying to ask what kind of locks people have? Or what skills children have at what age? 🤔 )

There is another thread about a 9 year old coming home early from a sleep over. She let herself in with her key, half the thread is people asking why a 9 year old has a key.

I had my own key at 7 because I walked to / from school and the door had an automatic lock.

We moved house and I didn't have a key until late teens as my mother was home and the door was unlocked.

User48751490 · 12/08/2022 02:51
icklekid · 12/08/2022 03:10

My 8 year old could reach the door lock and probably do it, my 6 year old isn’t tall enough 🤷‍♀️

avamiah · 12/08/2022 03:20

This thread could go on for weeks to be honest .
I have totally got it wrong to be honest and I apologise as the post is asking “what age could your child enter your locked house alone ?
Not what age you “allowed” your child to enter your locked house alone.

Apologies

POTC · 12/08/2022 03:44

The

POTC · 12/08/2022 03:47

There's a huge difference between the age a child is okay to let themselves in during the day when you're home, or the age its okay for them to let themselves in after school, and the age its okay for them to be dropped off at 2am without prior warning and let themselves in! Your post is too vague to achieve anything

ReeseWitherfork · 12/08/2022 03:51

Yeah I’m a bit confused. The age they can work a lock? The age they can open a door? The age they can let themselves in and find parent in the kitchen? The age they’re allowed to let themselves in and wait for an adult? The age they can come and go as they please? If you’re asking what age a child can use a keypad, I’d say quite early as per PP iPad comparison. I don’t know why I’m even replying as our house isn’t often locked anyway 😅 (I’m just curious what angle you’re looking at this from OP)

Ragwort · 12/08/2022 04:03

You say this is nothing to do with the other thread but it seems a totally bizarre coincidental subject to start a thread about.

Like others say, I am not clear what you asking ... our doors are only ever locked if we are out or at night ... DS didn't have his own key until he was about 12 as DH or I were always at home after school times etc so he would never come home to an empty house and a neighbour had a key if an emergency occurred ... if he was on a sleepover at age 9 he just wouldn't have had a key ... I would assume the other parent/responsible adult would contact us if he needed to come home. He did actually go on sleepovers, residential holidays, Cub Camps etc from quite a young age but never needed to come home early and never had a key.

liveforsummer · 12/08/2022 04:13

Physically around 4. To actually trust with a key probably about 10. I'm not sure either are actually what you're asking though ...