Front door question

[beela]

This is probably a daft question so please bear with me, but...

(How) do you stop your DC getting out of the front door?

DS is 2.3 and not yet tall enough to reach the door handle, but in a few months he will be. We have a modern door with a lever handle at waist height, which is also the lock, i.e. we need a key to open it from the outside but not the inside.

Will we need to fit a lock or bolt higher up to stop him getting out? Or by the time he his tall enough to open it will he have developed enough common sense to not wander off into the street? (I appreciate that it depends on the child!)

I suspect I may be over-thinking this, but I spotted him reaching up to the doorhandle as we were on our way out the other day and it made me realise that it won't be too long before he can reach it (eek).

What about fitting a chain onto the door? We can lock our door from the inside, but often just put the chain across.

neither of mine (age 9 and 6) tried to go out the front door when they were small so it's never been an issue. It's left unlocked when we're in the house during the day and only locked when we are out or in bed.

put a latch on higher up if you can. He might not be tall enough yet but could drag something over to stand on in order to reach.

Keep the chain on.

I keep mine locked.

Use the chain! My ds has opened to door so that's what I do.

I use a chain too. Ds2 (4) is a bolter so it's safer.