Dear Abby,
I am writing you today to ask for your advice about a child of mine. I have a 3-year old who seems to a be a "night-wanderer". I know she has slept walked before, but I'm pretty sure she's not always sleep walking when she gets up at night. Also because it night time, and of course I'm sleeping, I'm not really sure how much she really gets up. I'm guessing she gets up about every other night. I'm pretty sure it's quite often. I wouldn't be worried accept for the fact that she normally ends up in the kitchen and there are all kinds of dangers she could get into in there. But, this morning we woke up to an open back door; she had opened it to, what I'm guessing and what she told us, "to check on the car", but then proceeded to leave it open. It remained open for 3 hours until my husband was headed to work and found it open - like, wide open. That is our most severe and dangerous problem, but it can easily be fixed, we plan to install a flip-latch on the top of the door today, but my question is, how do I keep her from wandering? Especially into the kitchen where there is plenty of trouble to get into. And why do you think she's getting up in the first place? Please help me and my vagrant child.
Sincerely,
The Wondering Mother of the Wanderer
4 comments:
I was serious about reversing a locking doorknob so it locks her inside. Just don't use it all the time.
Whoever "Model Father in Vancouver" is, I agree with. My sister reversed the doorknob on their son's door and only used it in instances where timeout was needed or I would think a cituation like this. That is really scary for her to waunder around. But at least if you reverse the doorknob now, when she is a teenager, she can't lock you out of the room! :)
One more thing, it's very important to make sure to hide a key inside the room so you don't get locked in by an opportunistic toddler.
Oooh, yeah, locks! That was my second thought. My first thought was to keep your baby monitor in the kitchen and get on her case when you find her in there. (I think I'd sneak up on my 3 year old, but I'm mean...) I've seen the supernanny on TV cut a door in half and lock it, so you can see in the room but have your kid secure. Just locking the door sounds easiest, though!
Love, Christine
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