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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

..to pick a 5/6 your old in room at night

65 replies

Adarajames · 30/07/2015 15:11

So they can't wake adults, with thumping and climbing on them / shouting at them, early
It's been suggested to someone as a valid way to deal with the issue, do you think they are making a reasonable suggestion?

OP posts:

MammaTJ · 30/07/2015 19:35

MadamArcadiaAgain, when we moved in to our rented house there were locks on the childrens doors too. There was also one on the back kitchen door, which leads to the stairs. That one was allowed to stay, as it stopped DC going upstairs and trashing their bedrooms when they were little. Saved getting a stair gate.

taxi4ballet · 30/07/2015 19:55

Our house too had marks on the doors of children's rooms where locks had been. I mentioned it to our next-door neighbour who put our minds at rest. It seemed that it used to be a shared house and each lodger would have had a lock on their own door.

Paperthin · 30/07/2015 20:05

Locks on the outside of the children's rooms when we moved here too. They had 3 kids and all rooms had bolts high up on the outside . They were the first things we removed on the day we moved in, I thought it was awful, very chilling.

Keeptrudging · 30/07/2015 20:10

I put snib locks at the top of my kitchen and living room doors when my DS was younger (he has ADHD), but never on his! He used to wake me up by dropping large toys on my head/prising my eyelids open, but he learned not to (eventually) ????!

BlueBananas · 30/07/2015 20:32

If the issue is the kids shouting in the morning I'm unsure as to how locking then in their rooms would help? If my kids found they were locked in their rooms they would scream blue murder!

FuryFowler · 30/07/2015 20:56

Wtf

craftysewer · 30/07/2015 22:33

I'm sure the people who bought our last house would be appalled to see small locks on all the bedroom doors, but they weren't for keeping dc in, they were to keep our dog out!

SolasEile · 31/07/2015 04:37

Interesting to read the reactions on here are universally negative to locking children in their rooms. My instinct tells me that it would be absolutely wrong but the weird thing is that I have friends who lock their 4 year old in his room.

It has never sat well with me when she has mentioned it but I don't know how to challenge it. They used to have baby gates when he was a toddler but since he was 2+ he has been able to get past them. A few times he woke up very early or in the middle of the night and went downstairs on his own and made a mess in the kitchen so they decided to start locking his door. They have a camera mounted on his wall so they can see / hear him and they open the door as soon as he wakes up. It has always worried me though as it's such a no-no to lock children in.

Is there a safe way to handle a child who goes wandering in the night that I could suggest to her? He can get past baby gates.

CheerfulYank · 31/07/2015 05:18

DH is right now (as in I can hear him running the table saw) building very tall gates Solas. Would that work? They're solid wood and can't be climbed over but they are shorter than doors so can still be shouted over, and the room can be seen into at a glance.

They're to keep my toddler from tumbling down the stairs and also to keep the puppy from going upstairs to poo as he likes to if not watched.

zazzie · 31/07/2015 06:08

She could put bolts on the doors of rooms she doesn't want him to go into.

SolasEile · 31/07/2015 15:15

Their downstairs area is open plan so as soon as you get down the stairs you're into the kitchen-living area. She could maybe try the high gates. They have a dog too so that is part of the problem.

CheerfulYank · 31/07/2015 16:20

They look like this Solas. Not the best decor wise but they'll keep everyone safe. I'm going to paint them this weekend

..to pick a 5/6 your old in room at night

Original poster

Adarajames · 31/07/2015 21:08

You can get what they call dog gates, which are basically much taller baby gates, co we about 2/3rds of the door height.

OP posts:

WomanScorned · 31/07/2015 21:22

My parents used to tie my door handle to my brother's with one of my dad's old kipper ties, to stop us going downstairs before them. (We once set fire to the radiogram while they were still in bed).
So we climbed out of the (upstairs) windows. Which, these days, would likely cause them more hassle than just getting up in the mornings :/

SnapesCapes · 31/07/2015 21:28

Both DCs are early risers, DS1 has Aspergers and we had to teach him with a Gro clock what sort of times were appropriate for getting up versus staying in bed and reading quietly.

DS2 is a bit of a plonker and gets up at the asscrack of dawn most days. He flatly refuses to acknowledge the Groclock and prefers to upset us with tonka trucks up and down our faces. We've seen 4am on a regular basis since his arrival. Friends have suggested putting a lock on the outside of his door, I would rather get through the next few years and not punish him for something that is entirely natural.

It's something I simply couldn't consider.

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