Child Proofing - Oak Park,IL

I did have a cabinet lock on the 2 cabinets that I did not want my child to get into because there were glass items. However, I never saw the need for a toilet seat lock, seems ridiculous to me.

Ya know, I never childproofed my house and not one of my kids every drowned in the toilet, not even close. We did have a phase at around three where one of them was flushing toys. Granted he was potty trained so not sure how one would lock the toilet at that point anyway.

It is not a matter of an eight month old's safety not being important it is just if it is important to you then watch and teach the child safety. Don't make your husband pee his pants! :p

Hi Chicago mom My mom once told me instead of baby proofing our house, to house proof our children. Now we kept plugs and cords hidden. Instead of locks on the toilet and cabinets just kerep the bathroom door closed problems solved, by the time your 8 month old can open the door he should be well trained on what he can touch and what he cant. We didn't have to latch and lock anything, as soon as our little ones could crawl the training of what they can touch and what they can't started. Our kids were so well taught that at the age of 2 when they went to go potty I could tell them moms curling iron is on so be careful, and I was always close by watching for just in cases, never had any cases. It;s all in how you train your children, I think locks on the toilet is a bit out there. J.

My first child never got in to cabinets, electrical sockets or toilets, however my second is the exact opposite. I don't think I have done anything different, he is just a curious child - whether he be getting in the cupboard to try and "help" me get something else or exploring whether the toilet water feels any different from other water. I didn't go to the extreme and put a lock on the toilet, but merely close the door and reinforce it is off limits. He has got the idea. We no longer have a problem. I do have electrical outlet plug covers - but they are easy enough for an adult to prise off with a fingernail. I do have to watch him because I caught him trying to plug in an electrical item when I forgot to replace the cover. On my cabinets which do not have handles I merely bought the sticky type lock - a sticky piece with plastic on either side, with an almost rubberband-like feature fastening them. It just takes a quick pop for adults to get off. If he willed he could probably pull the whole thing off, but is more a deterrent so I don't find my nice dishes taken from the cupboard and smashed. One day he was carrying one around - I quickly got to him without alarming him, the dish is still in one piece. He lets me know now when I don't have the locks on now - bless him! I also have a safety shield for the stove top - a removable set of angled "perspex" so he can't reach on to the stove top and pull a pot on to him, and it stops food spattering down if he is in the kitchen. The last item I have is a battery alarm which tells me if a door is opened. An alarm sounds if the magnets are separated - one is on the door and the other part is on the door sill. I only got this as we live in an tall apartment building - he knows how to open the doors and I'd hate to loose him if he got in to an elevator. I do keep the doors locked and the high latch across but the little mite drags chairs around now - so the alarm is for my own piece of mind. I never expect he will trigger it. I don't think my husband would cope well on a daily basis with things like a toilet latch or those plastic door handle covers that you have to squeeze and turn! Even with college degrees he would be challenged!!!

I wouldn't want those things in my house either.
Poisons and sharp items should be kept up high, out of reach.
What's the purpose of a toilet lock anyway?
Just close the door to the bathroom. Can your eight month old open doors?
Sorry, gotta side with hubby on this one :)

Yeah, it's rough being inconvenienced and having to unlock and lift the lid or open a cabinet...perhaps he would prefer something tragic happened? I think not!

It's the duty and responsibility of every parent to protect their children, good for you, mom!

I'm guessing this is your first child, so I totally get the caution alarm that constantly goes off in your head. But at the same time, you need to do the child proofing in a way that makes sense.

Toilet locks are a pain, and not necessary at this time. Just close the bathroom doors. You don't need toilet locks till your child is mobile enough to get to the toilet, climb up and potentially fall in. Same with cabinets - if you have poisonous/breakable stuff, switch it to high cabinets. We only locked 2 cabinets in our kitchen cause nothing was breakable or poisonous. It's a lot less annoying.

Have hubby help you figure out where you want things to go so both your stuff is where it's easier for you to get to.

Good luck!

Perhaps your husband is having a tough time in another unrelated area and this is where he has transferred his feelings to. I can't imagine any parent feeling his convenience is more important than his own child's well being. In addition, the safety radar for your husband may be different than yours; my husband seems to miss the mark on safety when he leaves the dishwasher wide open walk away and their are knives in it, all too tempting for our 20 month old. He also sees no safety risk with leaving the ironing board out with a hot iron plugged in. I've been with my husband 19+ years and he is not insensitive, just absent minded sometimes. I have to try and beat him to putting the dishes away and putting the ironing board away. I don't mind at all, it's for our children's safety. I hope he gets over it soon. Good Luck.

Oh this is soo much fun!!!

I loved putting something new on and then hearing it...The toilet lock was the best.

You know who it drove the most nuts...Grandpa. Threatened not to babysit again!

Tell him to cry about it and move on...It only get tougher as they get bigger....just wait until you have a pressure gate...and he has to install and figure it out!!!!

Did you tell him/ask him ahead of time? I always laughed about toilet locks and have never used one. They sound like a pain to me. We just keep the bathroom door shut (then have a knob cover on once the kids started opening it themselves). You have to admit, tripping over gates and having to undo latches to get into things IS a pain. :) I can't wait until my kids are old enough that we won't need all that stuff. (We have our refrigerator latched, microwave latched, we've even had our dining chairs tied to the table legs for a year until the kids learned to drag the table with the chairs--maybe put it in context for him as a "it could be worse" kind of thing.)

we moved all dangerous stuff out of reach and left our cabinets alone. I only put locks on the ones under the sink. My daughter explored a little but once the fun of it was over she stopped. Also for things that we did not want her in like glass doors by TV, we from the start made boundries and that was off limits. good luck.

When my oldest started crawling we seriously had just two lower sets of cabinets. I had my husband install locks and not only did he pitch a fit about what a pain the locks were, he went bananas about opening them! lol Thank God they were old cabinets because he could not get the inside part to line up with the door part and he was a nut bag! Then a couple of months later we had our kitchen gutted and expanded. When we were talking to potential contractors one of the biggest things for him was having them install the baby locks. It was such a pain, for him, to do two, he could not even imagin doing a dozen! lol The contractor we picked "threw it in" at no cost. His worker that had to install them, well lets just say he was not a happy camper. He swore he would never do that again! lol They have been on for 7 years now, none of my kids need them but I have not taken them off. You really do get use to them and it becomes second nature to undo them and open the cabinet with one hand. I remember when we first got them, it took two hands! lol They loosen up a bit and it becomes much easier. I have to say when my kids have playdates and younger siblings show up....it's very nice to sit back and not worry about them getting in to things. I never did toilet locks and I did in-home daycare. I never really had a problem. Would every once in a while a younger one walk in on a toddler that was in there and try to play with the water...sure I guess but I was always right there to stop it. I had the door knob thing on the bathroom door, so when no one was in there the door was shut. Good luck...by Christmas he won't even notice them anymore. :)

oh, poor guy. I feel sorry for him. LOL....he will get over it. Men are such babies.
You did the right thing.
:-)

Ignore it. In a day or two he won't even think about it. If he starts up, just walk out of the room. Not worth any marital strain at all.

Just read the other responses, and about the toilet locks: CHILDREN DO DROWN IN TOILETS!!! They fall head-first in and can't get back out and they can drown. http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml02/02169.html

We had a door knob protector on the doorknobs of the bathrooms and the closets. They are very easy for an adult to press the rubber knobs and turn where the toilet seats locks take much more effort.

When my daughter was born I went back to work a few weeks later, the child care center would't let me come back until 6 weeks so I went to work at C. R. Anthony's wrapping Christmas presents.

One day I was coming in and a woman stopped me. I didn't recognize her but she had on a name tag. She has a rather wild look in her eye and I was very intimidated. She started telling me a story. She had an 18 month old child that drowned in her toilet. She made me promise several times that I would keep the door closed on the bathrooms. I have always done that. I prefer the doorknob protectors due to the ease of opening them for adults in the impossibility of the kids opening them. Our granddaughter was 4-5 years old before she figured them out. Our 4 1/2 yr. old grandson figured them out around 4. A cruiser or toddler has little chance of figuring them out much less reaching them.
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Have hubby go to the local hardware store and buy a couple different sizes of L brackets. The bigger ones go on top of bookshelves to fasten the bookcase to the studs. The smaller ones go under each shelf to attach them shelves to sides. This is required in child care centers so it is a habit we got into early on.