Child-proof Doors

They're not.  They're designed to keep your small child from opening them, but a motivated toddler is a successful toddler.  The door locks we have are from my cousin.  They work by taking two large plastic halves that snap together over the door knob.  They rattle around on the door knob and the only way you can get out is to put pressure with your thumb and opposing finger in two soft spots so that you can grip and then turn the knob. 

It's tricky for an adult to do at first.   Children don't have the fine motor skills or the strength to do it, so you can feel safe in knowing they're kept out or in, just as you'd like them to be.  Only wait, did you say it was two halves you snapped together?  Enter the design fault, because all you need to figure out to best these so-called-safety knobs is the ability to unsnap them.   And that's just what my son did.

But not to worry.   There is such a thing as white duct tape that will go right over those white little tabs and you can gain several months of time with this trick.   But now my daughter, small in hands and tiny in size, has discovered how to open the door, just as an adult would, with some sort of finger manipulation.  

I haven't seen it in action, but it's happened enough times that I know she can do it if she sets her mind to it.  At least we can still keep her brother locked in, because he hasn't bothered to pay attention when she's been busy escaping.

The Big Boy Update:  A friend in enthusiasm.  We have a neighbor who has a daughter and son, both older than my son.  My son is very physically energetic.  Sometimes his physicality is too much for other children.  These two neighbors are all right by it.  I talked to their mother today and told her how happy I was that they liked playing with my son in the same, very physical, way.  She said they have had the same discussions with both children about how not everyone is as boisterous and physical as they are. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  She got the pacifiers.  She can open the child-proof doors, thus making them not child-proof.  Her older brother can't.  She got their pacifiers inside the child-proof closet, up four shelves.   I found her in her bed with her pacifier.  When I asked her, she showed me she had put her brother's pacifier on his mattress for when he came to bed later.  How thoughtful!