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Once your child is reaching the age where they can turn door knobs or pull lever door knobs, it quickly becomes important for a parent or guardian to secure certain rooms. Perhaps it is the bedroom of your toddler or a basement door, at least in my case those are the two doors that I was most concerned with preventing my daughter from opening when she shouldn’t.
The basement is an obvious choice to secure as I don’t want my daughter falling down the basement steps. If a basement door has a lock on it, generally this door is unlocked from upstairs, and thus could be opened by a child. Additionally, when an adult goes down the basement, the child may have a tendency to try to follow. That said, the lock needs to be able to be locked and unlocked from both sides, and shouldn’t be able to be locked or unlocked by the child.
Adding a child safety lock to bedroom also can have its usefulness. While all cases and all children are different, in my case, my daughter would persistently wake in the middle of the night and try to come into my bed. Locking her door prevented her from coming out of her room at night, which quickly and effectively got her started sleeping through the night in her own bed. Additionally, locking her door ended the risk of her falling down the stairs if she tried to walk around at night. There have even been a couple of times where I have taken her to her room and locked her in when she was misbehaving.
The problem:
- I need to be able to lock the door from either side of the door
- My child should not be able to lock or unlock the lock
- I need to be able to unlock the door from either side
The solution:
- I utilized is the Safety Innovations Child Proof Deluxe Door Top Lock
- I have also found (but I have not tried) a similar product made of metal, rather than plastic Glidelok Child Safety Door Top Lock
Door Top lock Installation
Installing a top door lock proved to be a very simple procedure, which can be completed with a phillips head screw driver. As an added measure to protect the door frame trim, you may also choose to drill a small pilot hole for the screw using a 1/8″ drill bit. Here is a link to the full Safety Innovations Door Top Lock Installation instructions.
How Does Door Top Lock Work
It is very simple, simply slide the plastic piece that sits on the door so that the U shaped portion fits around the peg. This can be done from either side of the door, so you can lock and unlock it from both sides. Read the purchasing information to see how many wands are included, mine only came with enough for one side of the door. However, I personally never use the wand, it is there for adults who may not be able to easily reach the top of the door.
Note: From my experience with this product, it has worked great for my young child. Of course, this is a safety lock, not a security lock, so you can expect that as they get older and stronger they will eventually be able to push hard enough to break it.