When we first got these cabinets, our two oldest kids were toddlers. They knew not to get into things that were off-limits, but we have two identical cabinets. One is used for adult things (like electronics that we'd rather not have to look at every day) and the other holds kids' things (like puzzles). It was very confusing for two little girls when the forbidden cabinet looked so much like the accessible one. Our simple solution was an elastic ponytail band wrapped twice around the handles of the forbidden cabinet. They couldn't get it open even if they tried!We recently (hmm, about 18 months ago) returned to using this "lock". The difference is that now both cabinets are locked -- one with those same electronics, and the other is now full of big kid puzzles, with all those fascinating, brightly colored pieces of cardboard. The girls are all capable of opening these simple locks, and it takes very little effort to replace them when they're done doing puzzles.
We've only had two only issues with these locks. On occasion, I have been summoned to open a cabinet door...for my husband, who couldn't get the elastic band off by himself! The other issue is that when Mr. Adorable, who is 18 months old, finds one of his sisters' ponytail bands laying around the house, he brings it to one of us and wants us to put it on a cabinet handle.
Those kinds of issues I can deal with. :)
1 comment:
Oh, when L was a toddler (9 to 12 months) we house sat for a woman who was traveling. ALL the cabinets were filled with HER things. I let L play with pots and pans in the kitchen when I cooked and cleaned, but everything else was off limits. There was a huge set of cupboards in the hallway full of linens and I found that the easiest thing was for L never to see me open them. To her, it was just a different kind of wall. If I had to get anything out or put anything away, I did it when L was asleep!! I don't think it ever occurred to her that those were cabinets with anything in them!!
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