OT: Cabinet locks

ccjones

New member
I am in the market to buy locks or latches for my lower kitchen and bathroom cabinets, particularly the cabinets under the sinks where the cleaners are located. DH bought a 4-pack of Safety 1st cabinet latches, but now that he has installed one on a kitchen cabinet, he decided he doesn't like it. Plus, I think the opening gets too wide before the latch catches, and there could be a remote possiblility that the baby's hand could reach in there and pull something out. I was thinking about trying the magnetic Tot Locks next. But before I do, can anyone give me any recommendations for some good cabinet locks? We have knobs on all of our cabinets as opposed to handles, if that makes a difference.

Thanks!
Colleen
 
ADS

ccjones

New member
See, I kinda agree with you, missyprissy. DH and I haven't really childproofed except for outlet covers, which may be unnecessary because Jeremy has shown zero interest in electical outlets - he's all about the air vents on the floor! LOL I also bought these hideous gray stretchy things that go around the perimter of my coffee and end tables to keep the corners covered. The only reason I did this is because my furniture corners are SHARP - I've banged my calves and thighs into them several times and they're so sharp, they've not only caused huge bruises, but have cut through the skin and drawn blood. :eek:

I really only need to lock the cabinets under the kitchen sink and the bathroom sink, and the drawer with knives. Everything else is either pots, pans, dish rags and towels, or tupperware. And I can always do some cabinet rearranging, if necessary. I think I am going to stop this afternoon and pick up the Tot Loks at BRU and try them out.
 

cantech

New member
Tot Locks Rock! But my children learned how to undo them by the age of about 3 1/2 so you have to hide the magnets too!

Belinda
 

Dreaming_of_Speed

Senior Community Member
Ok i feel like a nut b/c my entire apartment is child proofed for the most part. My parents house has been done too and i'm pushing my MIL to do the same. :eek: I feel safer knowing that if for some reason i'm not able to be watching Ryan or DN i know they arent spraying each other with Windex or eating the dishwasher tabs.

MIL has bleach and other cleaners on a low shelf (about 8 inches off the ground) in her kitchen i want removed before she's 'allowed' to watch Ryan alone, she doesnt watch her as closely as i would like as it is and now that she's more mobile i dont feel safe leaving her there. DN got hurt a few times (falls mostly) while MIL was watching him and that worries me b/c in the months i watched him every day he never got hurt enough to get a bruise (i think he scraped his arm once) My mom the minute she heard ryan was starting to get in the crawl position she got all the baby proofing stuff and put away most of her 'pretties' so they wouldnt get broken (or moved them into 'no-zones' where the grand kids arent allowed to go.)
 

Lea_Ontario

Well-known member
I agree with the teaching aspect for the most part, but it's not always realistic. Depends on the personality of the kids I think, and how much they test limits.
 

skaterbabs

Well-known member
I agree, Kashi. It's unreasonable to expect a child to understand why ___ brightly colored something-or-other is OK to touch but _____ brightly colored something-or-other is not.
 

Dreaming_of_Speed

Senior Community Member
Kashi said:
I agree with the teaching aspect for the most part, but it's not always realistic. Depends on the personality of the kids I think, and how much they test limits.

My nephew at nearly 18 months knows not to do things but does them anyway. How do we know he knows not to? He tells himself "NO!" as he does it! He does it consistently when he's being naughty. :rolleyes: He tells the dogs no all the time too.
 

Simplysomething

New member
I agree that, if possible, it's worth just moving the stuff to a higher cabinet. All lower cabinet locks, my oldest figured out very quickly. Never bothered with my 16 month old, just moved the harmful stuff up. Yet, somehow he manages to find things.

Even though we keep the toxic things out of his reach, and the dangerous stuff way up high, sometimes, people forget.

Ugh. Yesterday, we got to call poison control.

So, yeah, if you can, move the stuff up higher, maybe still lock the cabinets for older climbing children--but at least then you won't have to worry if they get into the kitchen...as much.

As for getting hurt. My oldest, rarely got hurt. The 16 month old, he looks for ways to hurt himself, I think. lol
 

vamom

New member
Yaeh we did the regular cabinet locks, even though I moved all the worrisome items up high (got tired of picking up the cabinets) . DS could still get his hands in and actually hurt himself on the cabinet locks before he figured out how to work them (in just a few days), so we went with the tot locks on some of the cabinets - they were great (we left him his own cabinet with kitchen stuff in it,which he really loved to play hide and seek in!). I cannot tell you how much I love those door knob covers. I have them on several doors and they are still keeping my nearly 4 year old safe (we share a room in my parents attic and I have them on the inside doors to keep him from leaving the room if he somehow did not wake me, and on my parents and gm's room since they have trouble staying on top of things). The outlet covers never caught his attention, but we did end up buying a special one to keep a lamp plugged in, since he kept trying to unplug it. I totally child proofed my home so that my child could freely explore the house. My child is a "spirited" guy and I wanted to avoid unnecessary conflicts. When we moved in with my folks (ds was 22 months) I had to change, since my parents did not want to move any of their things. Supposedly my mother "taught" me to leave things alone, but I would far rather avoid silly battles over stuff. The space that we share now is totally safe for ds - I tend to look at the situation this way - how would you feel if you moved in with someone with all kinds of neat stuff, but had all these seemingly arbritary rules? Shouldn't your child get to be just as comfortable in their home as you are? We have found a compromise - lr left alone but gate to keep ds out, dr safe, den safe, kitchen (not allowed to place locks on) anything questioable moved up high), other rooms door knob cover, our room safe, bathroom has one of those annoying push both sides lock. We talk about respecting property/gentle touching, but he is watched/redirected when he is in the other rooms instead of being "taught" not to touch because he is just a curious little guy, who sometimes acts before he thinks.
 

skaterbabs

Well-known member
Dreaming_of_Speed said:
My nephew at nearly 18 months knows not to do things but does them anyway. How do we know he knows not to? He tells himself "NO!" as he does it! He does it consistently when he's being naughty. :rolleyes: He tells the dogs no all the time too.

He's not being naughty - he's being an toddler. Sure he knows that you (or his parents) tell him "no" when he does these things, but he has no clue as to why, and (even if he did) at 18 mos he has NO impulse control to speak of. That doesn't develop until much later, like around age 4.
 

ccjones

New member
OK, I stopped by BRU last night and bought an 8-pack of Tot Loks. Unfortunately, they will not work on my kitchen cabinets. It seems that on the inside of my cabinet doors, the middle of the door is indented starting about 2 inches in on all 4 sides. I wonder if it is because of the style of the cabinet (Roman Veneers). I don't know if that makes sense, but DH showed me why they wouldn't work. They will work on the bathroom under-the-sink cabinets, so I may use them there. Ultimately, I'm going to use the original cabinet latches for the knife drawer and the other under-the-sink cabinet in the kitchen, but I'm going to move my cleaners and stuff either to a higher cabinet or into the laundry room in the basement.

As for trying to teach him to stay away from stuff, I've had mixed results. I have a little pedestal table in his room next to the rocker, and he used to make a beeline for it to use to pull himself up. I would say to him in a firm voice, "Jeremy doesn't climb on tables" and move him away and distract him with something. Sometimes I would have to do this 5-10 times in a row, but after a couple of weeks, he started to ignore the table. I dunno, I think you have to compromise and move some stuff out of their reach (and hopefully out of sight) but then there is some stuff that can't be moved and you have to try to teach them not to touch, even if you risk sounding like a broken record.
 

LEAW

New member
We have the same cabinets, adn you can install them, you just do it backward - put the latch on the door in the part where it's not indented, and the locking part either above the door or on the middle bar between the doors. They supply you with little magnet extenders to go on the end of the metal rod so you just drill a deeper hole on the frame of the cabinet instead of the door... works great!

We only lock the cabinet under the kitchen sink, where there is dishwasher detergent, plastic bags, and ew, bacon grease. Everything else lives on the wall going down to the basement - we bought a wire rack that people use as extra pantry space (5" deep, 6 shelves) and screwed it to the basement wall at adult height, a few steps down the stairs. The basement is across from the bathroom so all the bathroom cleaners are up there, all the extra stuff that was in the kitchen (windex, wood polish, etc) are up there, and a few other randomly toxic things that we're trying to get rid of and not buy any more.

Bleach is kept in the laundry room on a shelf above the utility sink, so it's way out of reach, batteries and paint are in a locked cabinet in the basement, etc.

But we LOVE the tot locks. And the key sticks to anything, ours lives above the sink out of all reach, or you can magnet it to the top of the fridge, etc.
 

ccjones

New member
Well, DH was able to jerry-rig the Tot Loks on the under-the-sink kitchen cabinets and two kitchen drawers. I really like how they work! We agreed to keep the magnetic key stuck to the top corner of the fridge. I think today DH is going to use the last four Tot Loks on the under-the-sink cabinets in the bathroom off of our master bedroom, and the first-floor bathroom off the kitchen. I don't keep anything in the cabinets in the other three bathrooms, especially the bathroom off of Jeremy's room. I think I'm going to buy a 2nd "key" for our bathroom, since it's on the 2nd floor.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions!

Colleen
 

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