I am in shock right now and cant stop shaking! I put the boys down for a nap around 4pm this afternoon and I went in and laid down with them around 5pm. Dh's friend picked him up to go to softball. At around 6pm the boys woke me up and asked where daddy was and I told them he went to softball. Nothing more was said about it. I was still in the back bedroom changing Tyler when Brandon came to the room and asked if he could play with the boy that lived behind us. I said not right now why? He informs me hes at the door. Freaked out by this I come out of the room and sure enough my front door was open. The part that happens next is what has rocked my world. Dylan goes on to tell me that he and Brandon were OUTSIDE looking for Daddy! WHAT OMG!!! I said while I was sleeping. He tells me YES. They went to the neighbors house behind us looking for Daddy. Im having a heart attack right now bc here I am thinking Im taking a nap with my kids and they are OUTSIDE... ALONE!!!!!!! OMG!!!!!!!!! I know they can unlock the door and the deadbolt themselves but they have NEVER gone outside alone before. For heavens sake they are only almost 4! Anything could have happened to them. I have no idea what to do or think right now. What can I do to ensure this NEVER happens again. I can only guess they thought he was back there because both our cars are here but daddy was not so they went to where he usually is. I have talked to them and told them NEVER again but I dont think I will ever sleep again until i know they cant get that door open. OMG!!!!!!!!! I cant beleive I let me kids do this. What type of horrible mother am I!!!!!
First of all: this has happened to a lot of people. You are not a terrible mother. Focus on the fact that they are all right! Then, install a chain lock up high on the doors to the outside so they can't get out by themselves.
:hug: boy do I know that scary feeling!!! You're not alone and not a horrible mother at all!! I second the chain lock up high or another deadbolt type lock up high.
OMgoodness! How scary! You are not the first parent that this has happened to. Everyone is now safe and sound. Try not to be too hard on yourself. And I'll third, fourth and fifth a lock in a higher position which is what I did after Michael opened the front screen door to talk to the door-to-door Verizon salesperson! (please excuse the run on sentence! :blush: )
Thanks ladies. We are walking out the door now to get a chain lock. I thank the lord my kids are ok. We dont have fences on our sub and we are only 3 street away from a major mile road. There ia a park on the other side of that Mile road that we go to all the time. Fromwhat I'm understanding they did not leave the yard but who really knows. They are safe! However I still cant breathe...
:hug: So sorry they gave you such a scare, and VERY glad that they are okay. I hope the chain lock does the trick for you guys. We went through a phase where we had to put locks up high on lots of our indoor doors just to keep the kids safe and out of non-babyproofed rooms. I know my heart would be aching terribly if my kids got outside. I'm just so glad they are okay. :grouphug:
Yup, my 9 yo did this when she was 2 and we lived right on a VERY busy 4 lane road. She got out of her crib, her crib tent, her locked room and the gate at the base of the stairs. She closed my door so I wouldn't her her and went out. That was the day we installed hook and eye latches on her door. Sometimes I think it's amazing they survive at all!
:hug: :hug: Uugh! I hate those moments, when you realize you have more to worry about! Glad you have a solution!
I am glad that they are okay. My son did this the other day. DH was outside working on the lawn and he opened the deadbolt and went outside. I had no clue he knew how to do that. DH picked up a really cheap alarm at a hardware store that we installed on the door. One piece sticks to the edge of the door and the other piece is on the door jamb and when the connection between the two pieces is broken this horrible alarm goes off. You can turn it off, so you can open the door without the alarm, but I am glad he picked this up awhile ago. It is scary how quickly kids figure things out!
We put chains on all our doors the minute we put the kids in toddler/twin beds. Glad they are ok! My SIL & her family had to put an additional door knob up high so that you have to turn both knobs to open the door which meant that it could be 'locked' after one left for work.
Well we hit walmart and Meijer and neither store had the chain locks for a metal door. I did pick up the Safety first knob covers. I put them on and told them to open the door and they could NOT. Hopefully this will work until we mind the lock for the metal door. I think aslong as they dont take the cover off we are good. Fingerscrossed. We had a long talk with the boys today so hopefully we got threw to them.
Keep looking for the chain locks! Glad they are OK! You are not a bad mom...this could happen to anyone!!
we put chain locks on our doors (steel doors) when we moved in....we got them at Lowe's oh and you are SO not a bad mom!
Thanks Amy!!! We stopped at Walmart and Meijer first bc we were trying to save some cash with DH not working. By the time we went to both stores Lowes and Home depot were closed. We are headed up there this afternoon. Thanks for the tip.
This is what we had to do, too. The girls can get out of our house at will unless we have the chains on. Scary! But you're so not bad!!
Well we went to lowes and home depot and were given the same answer at both places. Putting a chain lock on a metal door will not work. He said we could put it on but said it would not last very long because the metal is very thin and the door is hallow so there would be nothing for the screws to grab on to. We thought about replacing the door with a wood one but decided that ba the house ( mobile home) is not level it would probably not be a good idea. Note to self*** Next house must have a wood door.
We just bought some flip locks bc we have metal doors too. They're really easy to install and inexpensive too.
You are not a horrible mother!! That kind of thing happens! When my 15yr old was 3, I was in the shower - ds#2 was asleep in the bassinet in the living room (he was 5 days old) and someone rang the doorbell. My son lets the man IN! I came out of the bathroom with only a towel on to see a big man standing in my kitchen! I did the same thing you did- rushed out and got those knob covers! they worked GREAT! It was YEARS before he could open the door with those on the knobs! the man worked with the tree service that was trimming the tree branches for the power company he was there to tell me what they were doing!
hey how exactly do those work?? Do you screw the flat part into the door frame and then it flips over the door??
I'm more amazed that we survive, given the number of chances for strokes and heart attacks that seem to happen for parents of this age group.
Our door is metal and we've had no problems. Sure, it's not going to stop a full grown adult from coming into our house, but our girls can't pull hard enough to cause it to come loose. We've had ours for 6 months and it's held fine.
This is good know. I did see that they made them for metal doors but i have not been able to find them at our local stores I thought it we used an anchor of some sort we would be fine but the anchors for hollow doors are to big to fit in the holes of the lock. Another problem we are having is there is a frame around our door thats not held in very good bc it nailed into a hollow part of the wall. So we would have to have a chain long enough to go over the frame. Who knew that two small kids could cause so many problems..LOL IM going to look into the flip locks but Im also leaving the knob cover on bc so far its working.
My 4-year olds aren't stopped by knob covers. It took them about a day to figure them out. We use flip locks and I highly recommend them. They screw into the door frame (and not the trim... the actual frame where it's hidden when the door is closed) so they're fine for metal doors or pretty doors you don't want to mar with a lock that might be temporary. Home Depot should have them and shame on the employee who didn't suggest that as an alternative!
