Do they exist? The boys' closet has sliding doors. All of their shirts are hung in their and all three dressers are inside the closet. I need to be able to start locking their closet doors so they can't get in. They (or more likely, my 3 year old) continue to pull all the shirts off the hangers and empty the drawers. They aren't capable to putting everything away the right way (divided by sizes and in the correct drawers, or even folding things.. and they can't get the shirts on the hangers). So while I do make them clean up the mess, I have to go back in and reorganize so I can find things. I can't keep doing this. And it's a once a week, at least, occurance. No amount or type of punishment seems to prevent it. I've gotten to the point that I'm putting their clothes in baskets once they're washed and not bothering to put them away, but again, it's not conducive to finding anything. Back to the solution: I can't seem to think of any lock that I could put on the doors that wouldn't interfere with them opening. I'd like something beyond a hook and eye because I think even my 3 year old could pop that open. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. (and yes, I realize that I'm avoiding dealing with the actual issue of the disobedience, but I already have enough going on that I just don't have the energy to keep fighting this particular battle)
Do a google "locks for sliding closet doors". There are a couple that look ok. The one from the Hardware Hut looks more permanent and stable than the Kidco lock.
lol, my hubby when he was growing up had to lock his closet door so his brother would not steal his socks, shirts, and underware of all things! Maybe installing a pad lock type thing, not pretty to look at but it does the job.
Thanks! I don't know why I didn't think of that. Oh, wait, yeah I do. Because I was up all night and currently suffering from cold-medicine head.
Well, just being a mom is reason enough not to think at all sometimes. Adding illness and coma inducing medication gives you more of a wonderful excuse to be "absent" for a few. Hope you find something that works. I need one for bifold doors and dresser drawers as my girls, who are way old enough to know better, are always changing clothes. It obscene the amount of unnecessary washing I end up doing.
I had to lock my kids out of their closets years ago and the ONLY thing I found that worked was pressure mounted curtain rods. I know it sounds weird, but I stretched 1 between the wall and the side of the door that ran behind the other one, and then I did the same things for the front. When I needed in, I took down the rod that was pushing on the door in front and then opened the door. The rod that secured the door behind never got moved unless I needed in that side of the closet. Does that make sense?? I can draw a diagram, take a picture and upload it if you want me too.
Oddly enough, that made perfect sense. lol. And I'm glad someone else has had to do this. Comments from family members (and some friends) have made me feel pretty stupid over this. They keep asking how I could possibly not know that they're pulling all the clothes down. Like I should be able to cook dinner three rooms away and still know exactly what they're doing. Matter of fact, one friend said, "I always know what my children are doing. They'd never be able to get away with that." I'd love to know her secret. My mom seems to think that I should be able to punish them in such a way that they never do it again. Perhaps that's true, but as I said, I'm taking the lazy way out. lol. I'd rather just eliminate the fight. Anyhow, thank you ladies for your ideas and not judging my inability to parent properly in this case.:wink:
You said that you have them help pick them up? Once the clothes are already down, have the boys pick them up and place into the baskets. Let them go to another area to play, and throw the clothes around the room. Wait a little bit, then go back to the room, call the boys and have them pick them up again... and again... and again... Resist the urge to fold or put them away for a few days (at least 3). Wrinkles won't hurt. You can always put a few changes of clothes in your closet for them, in case you have to go somewhere. At the end put it all away like you want it, Let them know that they will have to do this again if they throw things around anymore, but that you will add a day each time. It won't be so much fun to toss it around if they have the chore to pick it up. If only one is doing it, the other boys will watch for it and help stop it so they don't have the extra work to do as well. I know this sounds like a lot of extra work, but consider it an investment in time. Do it now and you won't have to keep fixing the mess. Good luck.
You may want to check your local laws. It's illegal to put locks on outside of interior doors around here because of stupid people locking their kids in closets and such. Dumb law, but I understand why they did it.
Um... wow. Either way, if I wanted to lock my children in a closet, this one would not be it. They can, with only minor effort, pull both doors down off the track (meaning they could easily escape). The lock would not be a failproof, but it would be a deterrent to pulling the clothes down. I'm not sure if I mentioned this in my OP, but the other issue is that one of them (or all of them) are tearing apart their dressers. I could take the suggestion for punishment on the clothes, and I might, but it wouldn't stop them from destroying the dressers further. Yeah, I know, they (or again, just my 3 yo) have issues with destructiveness.
My kids are all the same way as yours. I have a 5 yo ds who has recently broken 2 drawers in his dresser. *sigh* I don't know what to do with him. He didn't do it becasue he tried to...he was just being a boy. I guess I am glad I only paid $5 for the dresser. I totally get the breaking the doors off the tracks. We ended up having to take the doors off completely and they only get shoes and shirts (hung up) in the closet. After having the doors off for awhile I was tired of looking at the mess in the bottom of the closet and I finally got around to hanging up curtains for closet doors. It works so much better and my kids think they are so cool that they have stopped making such a mess out of everything in their closet. I have tried what was suggested...the throwing their clothes back on the floor and making them pick it up again and again and again...it didn't work for my kids...they just became more angry and defient with me. What I did is limit them to 8 shirts, 8 pants, 8 underwear, 8 pairs of socks, 2 jackets and 1 nice church outfit. I told them this is all the clothes they get. They were upset when I got rid of some of their clothes but I explained that since they didn't take care of them, they weren't going to keep them. I also made them do their own laundry. Every time they pulled everything down I made them wash it, dry it and put it away. After awhile they finally understood how naughty it was and how much hard work went into taking care of their clothes. Your kids are not too young to learn to do laundry. My 4 yo dd is a pro and has been doing her laundry for over a year. Making them do the work related to their clothes was the only thing that got it through to them. Hope some of this helps.
