Locked bedrooms
Ok. Apparently I'm on crack. I can live with that, but I wonder just how much of a bubble I live in.
3 questions:
1. If you have a 'baby proof' cover on a door knob of a child's room so that they can't open it, and you close the door with them inside the room, have you locked them in or not? What if you don't, but they can't reach the knob?
2. Under what conditions do you think it's appropriate to have a child in a room in a manner that prevent them egress from the room? Ages?
3. Is it unsafe to have a child locked in? Just a little, a lot, criminally? Does it make a difference if the parent's bedroom shares a wall with the child's room?
1. I say the "spirit" of the definition of locking someone in a room is that if they can't open the door, they're effectively locked in. I don't care that you haven't actually put a lock on it. If you intend for them to not be able to open the door when they want to, they're locked in. Which means, yes, putting a small toddler in any room alone and shutting the door means you've locked them in the room.
2. I don't think it's ever appropriate to lock a child in a room, at any age. My only exceptions to this are a. for sleepwalkers (and I still think it's very dangerous - I think it would be far better to think about rearranging bedrooms and making the environment safe, etc... and outer doors MUST be locked if you have a sleepwalker) and b. for a short moment of time if you've got too many children/issues to handle and one is being very destructive and harmful, I can see that you might get to the point where putting them in a room they can't get out of while you calm everyone else down might feel like the last ditch available option. I still think it'd be a horrible thing to do, but sometimes you have to do horrible things. and c. in a situation where there is a dangerous environment and you can't physically keep the child safe, putting them in a room they can't get out of while you deal with whatever you have to deal with. If locking a kid in a room is a discipline technique, you need to find a better way to discipline. I don't think it's appropriate to lock them in a room at night for their own safety on a regular basis. If it's that unsafe, there are reasonably priced motion detectors, or you can put a gate at the stairs, or you can lock or gate off the unsafe rooms, or you can have them in a room with you and the door closed.
3. I think locking a kid in a room is incredibly unsafe. I don't care if the parent is sleeping at the threshhold. I can, at the drop of a hat, come up with at least three scenarios where even if I was in the room next to my kid's, that I couldn't help them, and they'd need to get out of the room. I'm a worrywart, so give me fifteen minutes and I can probably have a dozen more.
3 questions:
1. If you have a 'baby proof' cover on a door knob of a child's room so that they can't open it, and you close the door with them inside the room, have you locked them in or not? What if you don't, but they can't reach the knob?
2. Under what conditions do you think it's appropriate to have a child in a room in a manner that prevent them egress from the room? Ages?
3. Is it unsafe to have a child locked in? Just a little, a lot, criminally? Does it make a difference if the parent's bedroom shares a wall with the child's room?
1. I say the "spirit" of the definition of locking someone in a room is that if they can't open the door, they're effectively locked in. I don't care that you haven't actually put a lock on it. If you intend for them to not be able to open the door when they want to, they're locked in. Which means, yes, putting a small toddler in any room alone and shutting the door means you've locked them in the room.
2. I don't think it's ever appropriate to lock a child in a room, at any age. My only exceptions to this are a. for sleepwalkers (and I still think it's very dangerous - I think it would be far better to think about rearranging bedrooms and making the environment safe, etc... and outer doors MUST be locked if you have a sleepwalker) and b. for a short moment of time if you've got too many children/issues to handle and one is being very destructive and harmful, I can see that you might get to the point where putting them in a room they can't get out of while you calm everyone else down might feel like the last ditch available option. I still think it'd be a horrible thing to do, but sometimes you have to do horrible things. and c. in a situation where there is a dangerous environment and you can't physically keep the child safe, putting them in a room they can't get out of while you deal with whatever you have to deal with. If locking a kid in a room is a discipline technique, you need to find a better way to discipline. I don't think it's appropriate to lock them in a room at night for their own safety on a regular basis. If it's that unsafe, there are reasonably priced motion detectors, or you can put a gate at the stairs, or you can lock or gate off the unsafe rooms, or you can have them in a room with you and the door closed.
3. I think locking a kid in a room is incredibly unsafe. I don't care if the parent is sleeping at the threshhold. I can, at the drop of a hat, come up with at least three scenarios where even if I was in the room next to my kid's, that I couldn't help them, and they'd need to get out of the room. I'm a worrywart, so give me fifteen minutes and I can probably have a dozen more.