Locked doors

ClarkEb

We are approaching the point of keeping doors locked. During the day the front door is blocked by a sun screen. The side door is open. I am able to keep an eye on things.

Not sure how to phrase this….i am wondering how peoples LO react when they find the doors locked. Especially t first.

Thank you….

Caro_Lynne

When I first installed slide locks on every door with outside access, my LO would try to constantly open them. I explained that they were broke/stuck and that someone would be in the next day to fix them. I repeated this over and over and over again all day. The next day I would tell him the same thing since he did not remember the day before. This went on for some time until he just stopped trying to open any of the doors. I attribute it to progression.

That's how I handled it and worked for me. Installing the slide locks gave me one less thing to worry about.

FTDCaregiver1

Since DW is incontinent, no longer needs access to the bathroom, so locked that from the inside (has a hole punch in the front for easy access for me though), and blocked the door outside with furniture, she has full run of the finished basement/bedroom areas with sink/fridge so I have everything I need nearby for care. At first, she would turn door handles, grunt, bit frustrated when it wouldn't open, but her attention span is so short she quickly moves on. She does open the microwave on the counter all the time, no biggie, and used to turn the faucet on until I blocked that area as well.

M1

it’s said that slide locks above eye level are effective, apparently PWD aren’t inclined to look up

tigersmom

@ClarkEb , I replaced the turning front door lock with a keyed deadbolt the day after my DH eloped in the middle of the night. I keep the key hidden. All was well for a month or so, then one day he got mad, tried to exit and realized he couldn’t. All hell broke loose. I was able to pacify him only by saying that he had to go out with me, then I took him out. It was 3:30 in the afternoon and about a hundred degrees outside. He has noticed one other time; I repeated that he needed to go out with me. Between angry outbursts,he seems to forget about it. I am not sorry I did it. Job number one is keeping him safe. He has the mental capacity of a 2- to -4-year-old, and you wouldn’t let them walkout the front door by themselves. I do keep the key in the back lock; that is a safe area. But it’s not where he wants to go when he’s mad.