to expect houseguests to keep meds away from DC?

[snowshoes]

We have the same problem every time a family member visits. We show him a safe place to keep his meds (still in his room) and then he lines them all up on the bedside table anyway. Biggest worry is a giant bottle of sleeping tablets.

We have several little ones and they are in and out of that room all day, not least because it's also where we house bags, shoes, coats etc... DH and I keep moving the bottles up, and he keeps moving them back down. WWYD?

[YellowDinosaur]

Your house should be set up to meet the needs of the people who live there all of the time and not for guests. Especially if there is limited space. If that inconveniences guests they chose not to stay.

[YellowDinosaur]

We are lucky enough to have a guest room y this isn't an issue for us.

But some of you who are suggesting that the op should seriously inconvenience herself or change the layout of her house for an occasional guest are mad. Especially an occasional guest who can't be arsed to put himself out one little bit for her childrens safety.

I fully agree that you should do your best to make guests comfortable. But they should accept it is not a hotel, it is a busy family home, and if they want facilities like a hotel they should stay in one instead.

[YellowDinosaur]

I would still be concerned if the medication is in bottles. Ds1 managed to open a childproof bottle aged about 18 months - its not that difficult.

As others have said - frank chat about it not being open for discussion. Either he keeps the meds out of reach or leaves.

[nightowlmostly]

My house has a spare room that guests can sleep in, and I know it's not ideal for them, but we use it as 'my' room when nobody's here, which is most of the time. It has all my clothes in it, and I'm not going to move everything out just because my parents are staying! It's nice for those of you who have the luxury of a dedicated guest room, but for most people it's not the case.

As for the OP, I agree with the majority of PPs in that you are well within your rights to insist he keeps the meds out of reach, or don't invite him to stay again.

[McHappyPants2012]

He wouldn't be able to stay imo.

If he can not follow a simple rule to keep the children safe then i wouldn't have him staying.

[aMashedUpPhraseWithGravy]

Someone who can't be bothered to move their meds up high will likely not bother to use a lockbox. I agree that the safest solution is to not have him to stay anymore. Is this realistic op or is there some reason why he has to stay with you?

[Eggrules]

All our bedrooms are in use. If guests stay we take out what we need from the room and the room is theirs for the duration so I think you are a little BU. Is there a problem with the guest?

If the medicine is in bottles, I would not be concerned. However, your house, your rules. I would be upset if a guest did something they knew annoyed me (rational or not). When arranging the next visit, I would say again that you expect medication to be kept in x location. If it isn't I would not allow them to stay again and say why.

[halloweeneyqueeney]

YANBU our visitors are always given a box on a high shelf for their meds, I would confiscate any left at child level and move them to the shelf and if they were returned to child level the guest would have to leave - its not worth it!

[purplehouse]

Don't let him stay anymore. You've asked him, you've explained the problem and he has ignored you repeatedly. I wouldn't tolerate that.

[snowshoes]

Swapping rooms is not an option. All the proper bedrooms are clustered together and we have lots of young DC who are up and down all night feeding, toilet-training etc... The guest bed is more private for sleeping. But it is our only storage space in the whole house (we don't have a single closet!) and if someone needs a lock on their door, they need to stay in a hotel, frankly. We are trying to be accommodating but I don't want to put my children at risk because of it.

[Birdsgottafly]

Since when would a guest who is a family member find it to much hassle to put meds out of reach, if it keeps a child safe,to the point that they have to have the host's bed to sleep in?

I bet they manage to keep their credit cards/car keys and money safe and out of the reach of the children.

[Goldmandra]

My children are not allowed to play in my bedroom. I would still never leave meds out on the bedside table. It only takes a moment for them to slip away from you and get them regardless of rules or whose privacy they may be invading.

Take the meds and with a cheery smile tell him you're putting them somewhere high up so the DCs can't reach them. Just say you can't possibly allow them to be left within reach for even a moment any more so if he wants them he needs to get them from XXXX place and put them back immediately. Add that if he insists on leaving them where the DCs can reach them you will have to ask him to leave.

It is not worth taking this very real risk of serious harm to your DCs.

[differentnameforthis]

In that case, I would give the guest the privacy of my room & I would stay in the high traffic area. Stands to reason that a guest should be afforded some privacy & that your children should learn to respect that!

[differentnameforthis]

Buy a lock box

Keep kids out of that room & store bags etc elsewhere until guest leaves. He can't be happy about having his privacy disturbed constantly.

[BitOutOfPractice]

My exMiL did this once. She was staying with us while her heating was done. She was in the spare room which then 1yo dd1 used as a playroom too. I followed her in there (about 30 seconds behind her) and found her shaking a bottle of pink tablets like a rattle and with pink colouring round her mouth. Bottle had no label

Dd1 ended up at a&e very close to having her stomach pumped until we managed to get hold of bat shit crazy mil who was able to tell us how many of the bright pink smarty looking tablets has been left out on the bedside table and what the actual fuck they were.

No harm done in this case but I'll never forget our panic

Mil's reaction. Cross that we were cross with her and adamant that dd should know better than to touch stuff. Did I mention that she was about 18 months old?

[chibi]

she was one of those who knew best and couldn't be told, so i just had to watch the kids like a hawk when she came to stay

[chibi]

my Mil used to do this - when my two were babies/toddlers, she would leave her meds (codeine etc) on the bookcase next to the couch, at toddler height, in blister packs

i asked her once nicely to please keep them somewhere out of reach, she got really angry and put them in her handbag. On the floor

[WMittens]

Keep moving the bottles, keep reminding him. The prescription labels should remind him anyway, tell him to read them.

Is there are prescription or non-prescription drug that doesn't say, "Keep out of reach of children"???

[HecateLarpo]

Get a lockable medicine cabinet and keep them in there? Always a good idea to have a lockable medicine cabinet in a house with small children anyway, and if they're in there, he can take out his pills as needed and keep the bottles safe.

[Arithmeticulous]

Put the meds in a lockable box (loads on ebay/Amazon)

Is there anything else he does that stinks of "I know better than you" ?

[Theas18]

Lockable box? Would be the safest and probably easiest option.

Also watch hearing aid batteries.

My dad is v old,demented,deaf and has poor vision. I didn't know, but you have to open a hearing aid at night to save the battery. He often drops them and either can't find it, our forgets it was dropped... We find them with the Hoover some time later.

Not a problem when your youngest is 13. But a small child could easily swallow one and that would be as bad as many tablets

[Goldenjubilee10]

I would explain to him that unfortunately, you are not able to have him as a house guest anymore and if he wants to visit he will have to stay in a hotel. This is just too serious. In most cases where children are poisoned by other people's medication it belongs to grandparents.

I nursed a little boy who took his grannies tablets. He is now in long term care as his needs are so great he can't be cared for at home. My friends ds took his grannies pills (on the bedside cabinet when she was visiting) and ended up in hospital. Fortunately he was ok. It is just too big a risk to take.

[snowshoes]

The guest's room is not The Guest's Room. It's part of our small house, and we have a lot of people living here, most of whom are very young. We have a bed and a dresser for guests to use if they choose to stay here; the rest of the room needs to be accessible as it not only serves as storage but all of DH's stuff is in there, too.

[echt]

How old are the children? Not getting how a guest's room is open for access. I don't keep things in a guest's room if I need them regularly, such things would stay in my room and the children could run in and out of there.

At the same time, if, as seems to be implied by this post, the visitor is regular, then why can't an open conversation be had?

[NellyBluth]

I was going to say you might be a little unreasonable - there are some things you just don't think properly about until you have kids and it might not have crossed your guest's mind but... you've told him. So YANBU. I've move them every day until they get the hint.