2.5yr old opens the safety gate

[Mum8515]

So we have a safety gate for the kitchen which he can now open. Is a right pain & he constantly goes into the kitchen. Can anyone suggest what I can do? He also has managed to figure the little feet at the bottom of the gate.

DH thinks we should put a bloody bike lock/chain with a code lock on it! Actually quiet a stupid idea I think! I'm mainly at home and he doesn't understand how annoying that's going to get going in & out of the kitchen every time!

Any suggestions?

Cable tie it closed and you climb over.
What we did!!

I'm afraid you just have to tell him that he's not allowed in when you're cooking and/or when the gate is shut.

Set out rules and enforce them. He's old enough to get it, as long as you are consistent. Sorry, that's probably not what you want to hear!

Make sure the kitchen is safe for him. you won't be able to keep him out forever.

We added these to our baby gates when our Houdini toddler started opening them. It took her about another 6 months to work out how to open them, and they need quite a bit of grip (my Mum couldn't open them!). Relies on there being a flat space big enough at the top of the gate, and the bit it joins to (we had pressure fit gates, not sure if the screwed in ones are different).

https://www.kiddicare.com/product/Lindam-Xtra-Guard-Multi-Purpose-Latch-276101?product-id=561562&utmsource=pla&affiliate=KC-google-shopping&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIwcDRp-T72gIVCrHtCh3IJw1BEAQYASABEgKdlPDD_BwE

I tied mine and just stepped over it

Can you just make the kitchen safe? We have moved all the under the sink stuff to a high cupboard and hidden the biscuits so the children come in and out.

I just close the kitchen door and tell them to keep if opening oven or something I don't want them under my feet for.

DS1 was a climber and very quickly fathomed how to use his feet braced against the bars to shimmy up and over our stair gate . In the end the only option was to just make the kitchen as safe as possible. Cupboard and drawers locks/catches, fridge lock, sharp things stored high up on top of cabinets) and a hob guard thing.

He even figured out how to climb onto the counter (upturned the bin and climbed on it) to fetch a pack of biscuits from the top cupboard, aged about 18m. Couldn't leave him unwatched for a second!

From a slightly different POV, I don’t have any child gates, and all my children have survived having unlimited access to the kitchen.
I have no locks on any of the doors although poisonous liquids are kept out of reach.
For example, they have open access to the drawer where the knives etc are kept,, although the sharp stuff are kept to the back of the drawer, where they are harder to reach.
To be fair, the cupboards they are allowed to root through are a mess, the tuppurwear and pots take a literal hammering.
At 2.5 I’m surprised you don’t just teach him how to be in the kitchen, he’s obviously a bright wee thing if he can open a stair gate.

Oh my gosh @Roomba !!! And I thought my youngest was a climber. Your lo takes it to another level (excuse the pun!)

Yes OP, I agree with others. You may as well get rid of the gate, make the kitchen as safe as possible and grit your teeth. Once the novelty wears off it won't be so hard!