Rainbow caused a minor panic when she managed to accidentally lock herself into the bathroom today.
I was upstairs getting the baby ready for bed when I heard some muffled thumps followed by her yelling “Mom, mom!! Help the door is stuck.” I stood at the top of the stairs holding the baby and watched as her father headed down the hallway to Rainbow’s rescue. “You’ve got this, right?” I asked.
My husband tried the handle to open the bathroom door and it wouldn’t turn. “Oh crap, I think she’s locked herself in”. I headed downstairs with Rocket in my arms to find my husband in a bit of a panic. “What do we do now? We need to call a locksmith!”
“We just need a slot-headed screwdriver.” I assured him. “Like that’s going to help!” he said, going off in a huff to find the tool box.
While he was in the basement finding the screwdriver I was able to talk Rainbow through unlocking the door.
“See the button on the door? You just need to turn that.”
“But I already turned that button when I closed the door!”
“Yeah kiddo, that’s why it’s locked. You need to turn it again.”
After about half a dozen attempts she managed to turn the button and I was able to open the door. Disaster averted.
I told her that she should Never Ever turn the button that locks the door. To which she replied, “You mean I should only turn it if I want to lock myself in?” Argh. Given that earlier today she caught hell for shutting the bathroom door so that she could play with the Soft Soap, the answer to that was a “No. Definitely no.” and “Only if you want a time out.”
In the meantime my husband returned with the screwdriver in hand. He tested it on the lock and was surprised to find that yep, inserting a slot-headed screwdriver into the outside and turning it does do the trick.
I’m having flashbacks to my childhood, when my brother and I would lock ourselves into the bathroom and get up to mischief. My mom always used the slot-headed screwdriver to break us out. That screw driver ended up finding a permanent home in the hall closet, near the bathroom. Which would be why I know how to jimmy an interior lock. If you’re ever shy a screwdriver a nice long (think two inches) nail does the trick as well.
So yeah it occurred to me that “How To Pick a Lock” should be included in Mom 101. That parenting class I took when I was expecting my first child? It totally over-looked these and other much needed topics. You know, the things you never realized you’d need to know; like “How To Remove Objects From a Child’s Nose“, and “Where to Hide the Treats“.
What oddball Mom tricks do you have? Or wish someone had thought to pass along?
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Haha – that reminds me of the time the firemen came to our house to rescue my brother out of the bathroom. Only they had to knock down the door because he had used a chain lock (like in hotel rooms) and hooked the thing in place. He was wearing a superman shirt and thought that because he was superman he could break out of anywhere – obviously not! It is common sense – but remove those types of locks from your bathroom doors if you have kids!
I remember my brother being locked in the bathroom when he was only 2 or 3. He couldn't reach the doorknob, and the door was jimmy-able from the outside. My mom had to get a ladder (2nd floor bathroom obviously) and climb up in the window. Not fun for him. Or my mom.
LOL Been there done that. We've actually had to keep the bathroom locked for a while because my girls wouldn't stop playing in the bathroom. We have a butter knife with a handle that has a small hole in it (because it hangs on a rack) so we tied string through that and hung it on a hook that hangs over bathroom door so adults could lock and unlock bathroom but kids couldn't. I've had to use said knife to free kids before though too.
Haha! We kids thought we were sonsmart locking ourselves into our bathrooms but Mom was always ten steps ahead with her screwdriver 😉
I've had the same thing happen with my little one. Locking the door and then leaving the bathroom, closing it and the bathroom is now locked with no one inside.
We only have a slide lock on the inside of the door. I put it up high so the kids hopefully wouldn't mess with it but my oldest can now reach it. So worried they'll lock themselves in when hubby's not home. I stumbled this post
Lol that is funny. We always get a butter knife to ours. I was always told to keep spare keys in my purse and never have. Maybe I should?
HA! Valuable knowledge 🙂
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Thanks for the advice:) It's so funny that when we need the help of daddy's the just get so nervous that they can't help us. Happy that everything ended so well. A new follower.