Do you lock your doors when you're home?

[kiana2015]

My husband has a habit of not locking the door behind him when he leaves for work if I'm up, this morning I was in the kitchen washing DD's bottles when he left, I spent a good 30 minutes in the kitchen before I came out and realised the door was unlocked whilst DD was upstairs asleep, I panicked and was rather annoyed with him. It got me thinking, when you're home do you lock your doors? Since DD came I've had this awful anxiety about the door being locked and someone comes strolling in, the way the world is now it wouldn't surprise me if this happens, does anyone else have the same fears?

Most modern doors can be secured or locked from the inside or the outside to help stop children letting themselves out. If someone is leaving the house while everyone else is in bed then locking the door from the outside is common sense. Why would you not? If no one is in, likewise.

In a street of Victorian houses hereabouts, you won't find many doors with the lift the door handle method of locking up. Whilst they aren't forbidden in conservation areas, they don't look right, so most houses have a locking system that looks more like a Yale but is more sophisticated. Prior to this, we all had 1 or 2 mortice locks on our front doors in addition to the Yale type. I also recall frame locks installed on older doors that were effective at preventing the kids just letting themselves out.

Again, what I don't recall is people not locking doors or making adequate safety and security provisions.

We've always had the kind of door that locks when it's shut. It's a nightmare for me as I'm really good at locking myself out.

I've never considered someone would walk in, although one of my mine would definitely have wandered out given the chance.
The fear of my children being abducted has always been low for me. I have friends who won't have their children's bedroom windows open at night in case someone climbs in.
I do however have really bad anxiety about them being in a car accident which my friends find bizarre but to me is way more likely to happen.

I'm not middle class, don't live in London, I live in a village in Sussex, fairly close to the sea. I'm not nd either..my youngest DD is on MN, she doesn't fit that criteria either. Trust me, you do get disoriented very quickly in a fire. Unless you are rare, first thing is.... panic. When my DKs Were young,smoke alarm went off upstairs right by the bedrooms. I got up, felt handle and door, checked, opened carefully,no one else even heard it! When you're working in a hospital or nursing home and the fire doors slam as you're rushing down the corridor,it's quite unpleasant.. and the smoke extractor fans come on

Yes of course. We have small kids and live near a fast road. Its more for the kids than potential burglars, but I do get annoyed when my parents are over that they don't lock it. I managed to come in, make quite a bit of noise and eventually found them asleep on the sofa, so if I had been a burglar I could've been away with a load of stuff!

Yes. Always have - but where I live at the moment there's a bit of a trend for kids to go down the road trying house and car doors. I don't know if they're just messing, or what they'd do if they opened one, but they scared me trying the door handle once so I won't be leaving it unlocked.

Always. Read an article by a former burglar who said early evening- 8pm was best time to burgle as parents running around after DCs at bath/bedtime, chaos and noise, so easy to nip in and steal

A child young enough to "escape" is surely a child young enough that you'd know where they were in the house at all times and immediately notice if they weren't there? DD is 4 and way beyond the stage where she'd just wander off out of the house, but I still always know where she is and would notice if she suddenly headed for the front door.

Erm sort of (front door yes, back door no) But this is one of those things which is very dependent on where you live. I have lived in places where I would always lock the door, and other places when it's safe to leave it wide open (rural France, although I stopped leaving it wide open when I discovered a garter snake just over the threshold!).