Recently said child discovered how to open her door with the child safety knob on it. (Smart girl). This morning I was woken up about 5:00, by the sound of her door opening, and I could tell it was her. I figured I should go make sure she wasn't getting into anything. I find her standing at the door looking angelic. I asked her if it is light outside yet. She told me yes, nope still dark time to still be sleeping, back in bed you go. I do have a different room lock "called a door monkey" that I can put out of reach so she can't open it. The problem is, it keeps the door open about 2 inches. This let's in light and sound. And if it is too high for Bunny to reach, Angel can't reach it either. And I don't like the idea of locking a potty trained 5 year old, who mostly can stay out of trouble in a room. The only reason I lock in the 2 year old is for safety, and admittedly a little bit of sanity. Anyway I digress. I put the door monkey on the door, and went to turn the light off in the kitchen. In there I find, the pantry open (sometimes we lock it at night, not sure if we did last night or not). A chair is pulled up to the counter and there I find, a container of honey is openwith a butter knife sticking in it. Next to the knife are the keys to the pantry. (There is a cupboard that we keep the keys in, there is a chair near it, and the door to it is wide open. This cupboard does have a magnetic lock on it, however it is broken). There is an open bag of bread, and over at the table I find the sugar bowl with a spoon in it, and some gritty texture on the floor under my feet. It is still dark in the dining room, and I don't have my glasses on. I figure there was probably sugar on the floor. But as I look closer at the table, I find that one of the objects on it is a container of ground black pepper. Except now it is empty and all over the floor, chair and table.
Now what I found isn't that uncommon of a scene to find after discovering an unsupervised 2 year old. The thing is, how do I keep a child safe who does what ever she wants, and finds a way to get around whatever safety measures I try to employ? She is so smart she can figure out things like buckled, and child safety locks, but otherwise has the normal reasoning of a two year old, and five year old independence.
How can I foster the good, while keeping her safe? I can't sleep outside her door every night just to keep her from roaming the house unsupervised.
