How often do you or a family member accidentally leave the front door open when going out?

[chinupluv]

My son (17yo) does this 3-4 times a year - he will be rushing out somewhere, will pull the door closed behind him, but not check to see if it clicked shut. He did it this morning when he went out for the day, which freaked me out because I would normally have been in the office on a Tuesday. The house would have been empty until at least 5pm, with an open door.

Obviously I'll be speaking to him (again) but I'm wondering if it's a common problem.

Never.

Never, but no kids.

Me never. I have a bit of a complex and usually go back three times to make sure it's locked.

DH a couple of times but I am getting very concerned more generally about his memory. He's also managed to leave the car door open and the car keys in it overnight when parked outside our house on the street. How the hell the car was not stolen is beyond me!

Never, although I do frequently leave my keys in the outside of the lock when coming in with the kids 🤦‍♀️

Never

If you keep your door locked at all times you will have your keys in your hand from unlocking it and this is a prompt to turnaround and lock the door behind you.

Once the Amazon driver sent me a text telling me I had left my keys in the front door. 😳

Our door needs locking from the outside . However as a teenager my DS would often leave it unlocked when taking the dog round the block (no-one else in the house) and also not check it was closed properly when he came home . In fact he still leaves it open half the time when he visits - although we don't lock it when we are in during the day anyway .

I’ve probably left it unlocked far more frequently than I’d care to imagine. Nobody trying their luck would get past the dog, though.

DP has only actually left it open (not clicked shut) once before, as I discovered when our cats, who were still being kept indoors as we’d only recently moved in, were all sitting in the driveway waiting for me after a night shift! It had only been open for around 15 minutes between him leaving and me arriving home, thankfully.

Never.

Both DH and myself have forgotten to lock the door, oddly in the last month.

OP, forgot to say, one way of making him think is to hide something he's likely to want tonight and don't be in a rush to tell him - when you do give it back, just point out that leaving the front door open means that and many others things belonging to him could be taken.

I've done it occasionally, completely open (it's a yale type and we normally double lock it EVERY time we leave the house). When I've done it it has been because I have been taking stuff out to the car with my hands full and then needing to go back to close/lock it and have just forgotten and driven off (I reverse onto the drive so am not looking at the door once I'm in the car, but it tends to blow across so you might not notice that it wasn't completely shut). Have left the keys in occasionally too, as a PP said, when carrying lots of stuff in. Our hooks are deliberately further inside to stop the thing of fishing them out through the letterbox.

I always forget to lock it and I'm an adult 🤣

We did this when going away for the weekend. The door was left open, well ajar, for at least a day before a neighbour saw and closed it. It was unusual to do this as it was a heavy wooden door and had a Yale lock on it which automatically locked the door.
We have left our current house door unlocked when going on a dog walk, but our dd was in so got her to lock it.

Hide all his stuff and tell him a burglar took it. Might shock him into remembering.

Never.

even my 3yo knew that every door had to be closed every time

Plus the front door has to be locked with a key

Never!

However my relatives came to stay with us for a month and they left the front door unlocked a couple of times. In the end I said to them that if someone came, got in and took the car keys and then the cars, that as the insurance wouldn’t pay out then we would expect them to cough up the cost of a replacement car. That soon stopped them in their tracks and the door was never left unlocked after that!

But is your child still 3?

My children know that the door needs to be closed.

In our case it doesn't stop an 8 year old running out to play with friends without giving the door a second thought, or sort of vaguely pushing it behind them but not stopping properly to see if it's actually shut (like the OP's 17 year old).

Of course this wasn't an issue when they were 3 and they never went out the front door by themselves anyway! Now they are in a rush, people to see, places to be, no time to stop and listen to mum shouting 'Don't forget to shut the door!' 😆

I'm sure many children are more conscientious than mine, though.

My ex used to do it all the time.

I do suspect some form of ND as both our kids are autistic and he is very similar to then.

If someone wants a in the house they lock the door behind the leaver. If not the leaver locks the door. Walking out and just shutting it has never been an option here so none of the teens ever did it.

I've done it twice . Once the police called me to tell me and once my neighbour noticed and closed door for me. My excuse is rushing out door with kids etc early in the morning.

Never. My DH is obsessed with checking doors and windows are locked. This is because he disturbed a burglar when he was renting a place with a faulty door lock. He goes back and checks even after I’ve locked it!

Never.
My front door opens on to a well used pavement, plus it has a yale lock so I'm more likely to forget my key. Said key is now hung on the back if the door with a sunflower lanyard attached to it

Every now and again - it’s easy done. I think most families do occasionally. DH actually left it wide open once (neighbour spotted it and locked up for us). Thankfully we’ve never been burgled (yet).

I’m the teen who leaves the door open! So yes it must be common. I was here to see if anyone else does this or it’s just me.

Our door swells in the summer so you really have to tug it to shut it! Often forget when the heat hits until I am in the habit again.

Quite often leave keys in the door after unlocking too. Postman often alerts me.

I am being assessed for ADHD which explains an awful lot. I often loose the keys in my house then panic before leaving trying to find them!