Is there anything i can do about my toddler?

[kimberleyrobx]

So my eldest is two and a half. She is very tall, and can now climb over her baby gate. No point getting the taller baby gates because she will also soon be able to climb them too. She gets up very early in the mornings. She is unpredictable and so so quiet! She doesnt make a peep when she's coming out of her room so OH or i never wake up!

She always goes downstairs. In the pitch black darkness. Weirdo!
But OH and i were talking about the taller baby gates, no point. We cant put locks on all the doors because the door frame wouldnt support them at all. I think it'd be cruel to put a lock on her bedroom door?

She doesnt really do anything. She comes downstairs and lets the rabbits out their cage, and she goes into the cutlery drawer for all her plastic colourful cutlery and she plays with them, or she sits at her table and draws (in the dark!)
But im scared in case she starts bringing out knives etc from the kitchen. She never has... yet.
Is there anything i can do? Would it be so cruel as to put a lock on her bedroom door?

What did you all do when your toddlers could climb over the baby gates? xx

 

[Amygdala]

Personally, I'd "toddlerproof" the house as best as possible and hope that it's a phase that blows over. Keep knives out of reach, lock away cleaning stuff if you haven't already etc.
If you can't make the house safe, you could install a bell over the door, so you hear when she comes out. A bell outside the room and I little hook on the door to ring it should do the trick. An "alarmed" doormat or a door chimes like the ones you get for shop doors would also work.

 

[sparkle_1979]

Have you seen the dog gates. They are very high I doubt she could get over one of those x

 

[kimberleyrobx]

Personally, I'd "toddlerproof" the house as best as possible and hope that it's a phase that blows over. Keep knives out of reach, lock away cleaning stuff if you haven't already etc.
If you can't make the house safe, you could install a bell over the door, so you hear when she comes out. A bell outside the room and I little hook on the door to ring it should do the trick. An "alarmed" doormat or a door chimes like the ones you get for shop doors would also work.

I never thought of any of that, the house is totally toddler proof, but she also poops and doesnt come into the bedroom to tell anyone! xx

 

[InHisHands]

I totally agree with the Bell idea.

Another idea is to get a groclock or similar invention and teach her to stay in bed or at least in her room till the light goes off.

 

[RainbowDrop_x]

Toddler proof the house?

Our DD recently started opening her gate and letting herself downstairs. Like your LO she's very quiet and generally only makes noise if she needs help with something, for example this morning she couldn't find the wipes to wipe her bum after she'd been for a wee so she came in to ask for help. Other than she doesn't come in to our room at all.

We started leaving different activities out for her, pencils & paper/colouring books, her toy horses etc so that she has something to occupy her for a little while. We get up early for work commitments anyway so she's never on her own for too long (I don't think)

 

[scoobydrlp]

You could try a dog gate like previous poster said. They are made with verticle bars so I don't see how she could climb over. But if she tried I guess she could possibly knock it over and get hurt.

I like the bell idea, and also the groclock. Maybe use a combination of the two. Groclock as method 1, and bell as your back up in case she doesn't pay attention to the groclock.

 

[kimberleyrobx]

Thanks for the replies girls, think we may try buying one of the high dog gates, see if it works! xx

 

[cait]

I'd leave a little light on, and make sure knives and bleach etc were locked away.

 

[Incubus]

You could try a magnetic window alarm on the door like these? https://www.completecareshop.co.uk/...-view-large/?gclid=CIOArs6_o70CFZShtAod-HMAXg

 

[jd83]

My older son started doing the same around that age. We tried the gro-clock thing. It didn't really work as I don't think he really understood. I repeatedly tried explaining it when he'd get up early, but yeah...didn't really work in the long run. I ended up putting some nightlights in the hallway and downstairs because I didn't want him hurting himself in the dark if he went down without us. The house is already baby-proofed so we didn't have to do too much. I bought him a Sony Kids remote that only has like 5 channels that he can pick from, so I preset the channels to his Disney Junior and Nick junior channels, and preset the volume on the remote, so sometimes he just goes down and watches a cartoon until we wake up. Other times he plays quietly with toys in the living room.

 

[Special Agent]

When we took the sides of lo's cot, we put his angelcare movement monitor back on so the alarm would go off if he got out of bed.

If you had one of those when your lo was a baby you could put it back on for a while so you would know when she gets up?

 

[Rachel_C]

How is her understanding and communication? My 2.5 year old can leave her room and go downstairs, I assume she could climb up in the kitchen and grab knives etc but she wouldn't because she knows it's dangerous. She never tried climbing over the stair gate because she knows what it's for and it was never used unnecessarily. She knew that until fairly recently she had to let us know when she was using the stairs. I don't know if that's unusual - I don't think it is - so I would just keep reinforcing what your rules are and why they exist. Perhaps try saying that if she wants to go downstairs in the morning she must come and wake you up so you can put on the light and help her get some toys out? Make it something positive for her, but if she goes down alone talk to her about how it's not safe and you're sad that she didn't wait for you etc. I wouldn't worry about going in the kitchen if it's reasonably child-proof and she knows what she's not allowed to do.

I find it a bit scary that people's first responses to a 2.5 year old wandering the house is 'get a taller gate' or 'install an alarm'. Why not just teach her what is safe for her to do? I think a 2.5 year old is perfectly capable of understanding basic safety rules.

 

[TryinFor1]

I don't think you should find the responses scary. I can't subjectively answer this because I have a 14 month old. But, as far as I do know, children can't just be taught something once and they know it. It must be repeated, modeled, and reinforced. Meanwhile, while teaching about safety, if she doesn't feel safe about letting her child roam the house while everyone else is asleep, what's wrong with a door alarm to alert the parents when she opens her door? I think it would put my mind at ease while teaching the rules of safety. I don't.know if I would get a gate, but that is because that just wouldn't work for us. But I guess I just see nothing scary about it..

PS. Because things are often misconstrued, there is no attitude behind this post. Just genuine curiosity.

 

[suzib76]

I would just set an alarm for before the time she normally gets up and make sure you are there. I also find it strange that people think further proofing the house is the answer, and at your lo age is the time where physical boundaries are usually starting to disappear because mental ones are sufficient. That said at 2.5 mine were never alone to wander the house, they always had parental supervision, I have no idea how parents can sleep when their kids are awake. Even when my dh is up before everyone I still wake up as soon as they move

 

[emyandpotato]

I'd teach her to make her own breakfast and let her get on with it, Matilda style.

Otherwise everything Amygdala said.

 

[kimberleyrobx]

She understands what is safe to do and what isnt, but it sill scares me knowing that she could possibly hurt herself with knives etc! I'll maybe see about trying to find locks to put onto the cupboards and drawers, not much else i can do! xx

 

[cat_reversing]

it's up to you and what you're comfortable with, it's your child and you have to deal with the consequences.
I'm not one for locking kids in but what about fitting a simple lock on the outside of the doors downstairs ie kitchen door etc so she can't go into the rooms themselves. then she'll probably go back to her room until you wake up as she can't access the other rooms.
also make sure any windows she could access and open are locked so she can't open them and get out on her own.

 

[suzib76]

Sorry but I still don't get why you can't just get up. I'm amazed at the amount of people who would get door locks rather than get out of bed

 

[kimberleyrobx]

Sorry but I still don't get why you can't just get up. I'm amazed at the amount of people who would get door locks rather than get out of bed

We dont hear her! Sometimes she sleeps in until my alarm goes off, some times she gets up 10 minutes before i do, and sometimes she gets up at like 4-5am but because she is so quiet OH nor i hear her walking around, so we never wake up! We are trying to ask her to come into our bedroom when she is awake so one of us can get up with her, but she usually just sneaks downstairs and will occasionally turn the tele on xx