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This will be the local headline: Homeschool family locks kid in closet


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The door to go outside from the kitchen (the door we use mostly) had a bad doorknob on it. Because our house is so old the doorknobs are ancient. And it is difficult to purchase doorknobs that work with the old mechanisms. We tried once and it lasted a month.

 

Dh took the doorknob of the door to our closet and replaced the kitchen doorknob. (Can you see where this is going?)

 

Dd and I were playing (think hide and seek, but not quite) and she ran into my closet and shut the door. Yes, the one without a doorknob.

 

I tried to get her out the window of the closet, onto the roof of the porch and into my bedroom window. I would have met her outside. The closet window has a storm window bolted in place.

 

So I called dh and he plead family emergency. He came home and got her out with a screwdriver. I asked him why he didn't just tell me to try that and he said that he wasn't sure it would work.

 

In between times of trying to think of a way to get her out I shoved books under the door. Trying to keep it light I told her if she was thirsty I'd pour milk on the floor and she could lap it up when if flowed under the door. :D

 

So we can't tell anyone what happened (except here where no one really knows us) for fear that it would get turned all around (think small town) and end up as another homeschool family locking the kid in the closet. :tongue_smilie:

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:lol:

 

Something similar happened in our old house. I could not open the door to my son's bedroom. After struggling for a half hour, I gave up and called the fire department. They did not have any more luck than I did getting the door knob to budge. They ended up breaking down the door. Luckily my son was old enough to listen to directions when he was told to move far away from his door.

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Once I was babysitting my brother (we were probably 7 and 16). He was a little brat. He was doing something obnoxious so, after a warning, I locked him in a bedroom. Upstairs, in our rather tall old house. When I went to let him out, the skeleton key broke in the lock.

 

Hours later, my dad came home and had to climb up an old busted metal lattice to carry my brother down. Dad was NOT amused. (My brother did NOT learn his lesson, either :glare:.)

 

Word to the wise, though. If you have removed an old doorknob and need to open that door, go take a doorknob off another similar door. There should be a long metal piece stuck to one of the knobs and you should be able to stick that in any similar door to open it.

 

For some reason when I was a kid, one of my siblings thought it was a good idea to remove everyone's doorknob. So I remember carrying around a doorknob (with the long piece) in order to open various doors :tongue_smilie:.

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Sounds like something that would happen to my dd! She got stuck in the guinea pig cage. Glad you were able to get her out

:lol:

Geeze! That reminds me of the time my brother got his head stuck under the bed. He went under with his head turned to the side and tried to get out without turning his head again. Then panicked and refused to turn his head.

 

Mom had to come home from work to get him out, but she worked 30 minutes away. By the time she got home he'd calmed enough to figure out what to do. Of course this was back in the day of no cell phones.

 

I don't remember what we were doing for him to think he needed to be under his bed. Probably playing some form of hide and seek then too.

 

Warning to all children everywhere: Do not play any form of hide and seek with Miss Chucki.

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Glad she is out! Those are the kinds of fun things that kids love to reminisce about later.

 

That brings back a memory of when dh and I were first married and living in an apartment and the doorknobs didn't work right and I got locked in the bathroom. He was at work so I was alone. He did come home for lunch so I figured I would get out then at the very least, but I managed to unscrew the knob with a metal nail file that was in a manicure set.

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I called my SIL one day just to chat and found out she was locked in her sons room with all four of her kids. At the time her toddler aged on kept wondering around in the middle of the night and it was dangerous because of the stair layout at the home. They turned the door knob around to keep him safe at night. They were in his room changing his diaper and he ran & locked & closed the door before he could catch him. She lives across the country so all I could do was offer moral support while she waited for the friend she called. The friend got their and unlocked the door for them but they stood talking for a few minutes and he locked them in again. I believe at that point they yelled out the window for the postman to let them out. I'm sure he thinks they are all crazy.

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As a kid I accidentally locked myself in my parents bedroom with a slide type lock thingy (I think I was playing hotel). I managed to slide the lock but couldn't slide it open again. My dad had to come home, get a ladder and climb in a window.

 

There were no long term effects that I know of *twitch* *twitch*

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My neighbor once called me because one of her day care kids had locked himself in the bathroom.

 

Boy was she glad to see me show up with my tools. :)

 

Thanks for laugh everyone.

 

my ds19 "locked" himself in the bathroom. He went into the bathroom, closed the door, opened all the drawers in the vanity, which closed him in, then turned off the light. He was SO panicked that he couldn't even turn the light back on. I tried and tried to calm him through the door, there was no use. He was a mess. He was only 1 at the time and I wasn't going to wait for dh to drive home! I called the fire department. They came into our place and immediately heard my screaming, hysterical kid. They were going to remove the door but they finally talked him into closing the drawers. :lol::lol::lol:n Poor kid! I was just reminding him about this over the weekend.

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my ds19 "locked" himself in the bathroom. He went into the bathroom, closed the door, opened all the drawers in the vanity, which closed him in, then turned off the light. He was SO panicked that he couldn't even turn the light back on. I tried and tried to calm him through the door, there was no use. He was a mess. He was only 1 at the time and I wasn't going to wait for dh to drive home! I called the fire department. They came into our place and immediately heard my screaming, hysterical kid. They were going to remove the door but they finally talked him into closing the drawers. :lol::lol::lol:n Poor kid! I was just reminding him about this over the weekend.

Close the drawers! Ha! That is like db with me yelling "turn your head!"

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Word to the wise, though. If you have removed an old doorknob and need to open that door, go take a doorknob off another similar door. There should be a long metal piece stuck to one of the knobs and you should be able to stick that in any similar door to open it.

 

For some reason when I was a kid, one of my siblings thought it was a good idea to remove everyone's doorknob. So I remember carrying around a doorknob (with the long piece) in order to open various doors :tongue_smilie:.

 

We have old door knobs here and the kids are always locking themselves in their bedroom closet because the knob falls off. I can open it with another door knob, or my van keys.;)

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We lived in a big old New England farmhouse as a kid. The knobs that were there were suspicious. Once, as a kid, I got locked in the bathroom. I screamed, I cried, I fell asleep. The family finallly missed me and came and found me asleep on the floor.

 

 

I still hate them for it.

 

 

 

Just kidding! The kid all have a fun story as an adult. :-)

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My youngest ds locked himself in a bedroom that had an actual lock on it (that needed a key). He was really young (one or two years old). I kept begging him to come unlock the door and I would hear him walk over and wiggle the knob and then go back to playing in there. This went on for 20 minutes! I was about to call for help, but I decided to try one more time first. I said, "Please come and unlock the door, Michael. Just turn the lock the other way." Right when I was thinking there is no way he understands what I am telling him to do, he did it!

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This is a huge fear of mine bordering on phobia!

 

I was "doorknob locked" in a bathroom once, 9 months pregnant, 2 yr old by my side, 2 children under 6 unsupervised on the other side of the door-- in a house where the water had been shut off (and I'd just used the last flush). No cell phone, and it was the middle of summer in 90F heat. I was checking in on a friend's cat while she was on vacation.

 

By some miracle I got the old knob working and escaped. To this day I don't like closing doors completely, after this incident.

 

We have lots of old doorknobs/ missing doorknobs in our house... we hang towels over the tops of undependable doors so that they never shut completely.

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Thanks for the laugh!

 

When dd was two, she locked herself in our bedroom. It had one of those locks that couldn't be unlocked from the outside. She was screaming hysterically while I tried to tell her how to unlock the little knob within the knob (if you know what I mean). I was about to the point of taking the door off the hinges when I saw that my neighbor was outside working on his ladder. It was easier to ask him to move his ladder over to our house and climb through the bedroom window so that he could unlock the door for her. She screamed even louder when she was a "strange" man coming through the window! When dh came home he replaced the doorknob to one that locks but can be unlocked from the other side with a pushpin.

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My 4 year old has this thing about wrapping things around her fingers. Last month she crawled up on her sisters dresser and reached over to the wall hangings that were above the crib. She then proceeded to entwine her fingers in the ribbon holding the wall hangings up. She couldn't get her fingers unhooked from the ribbon and the ribbons were still stuck to the nail on the wall. She couldn't get off the dresser because her arm was stuck to the wall because of the ribbons on her fingers. So I come into the room and she's sobbing. One foot on top of the dresser (that she shouldn't have been standing on. One foot in midair over the crib because she can't actually reach the mattress because the arm on that side is stuck way above her head with the fingers twisted in to ribbons on the wall hanging and the 4th arm pressed against the wall for balance. She reminded me of rock climber trying to scale the wall.

 

I had quite the time trying to get her down. Because with the crib in the way, I couldn't reach the wall to free her fingers and I couldn't move the crib because of the way she was stretched across it. So I had to leave her precariously perched there until I could get the ladder from the basement.

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I rented a really old house with doors like yours.

 

My then 3 year old daughter got locked in her room and there was no way for me to get in.

 

I had to call 911 and two police officers had to take the door off the hinges (no easy feat).

 

Then there was the time my son locked himself and the car keys in the minivan.

 

Such good memories.....

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my ds19 "locked" himself in the bathroom. He went into the bathroom, closed the door, opened all the drawers in the vanity, which closed him in, then turned off the light. He was SO panicked that he couldn't even turn the light back on. I tried and tried to calm him through the door, there was no use. He was a mess. He was only 1 at the time and I wasn't going to wait for dh to drive home! I called the fire department. They came into our place and immediately heard my screaming, hysterical kid. They were going to remove the door but they finally talked him into closing the drawers. :lol::lol::lol:n Poor kid! I was just reminding him about this over the weekend.

 

Oh gosh - you just reminded me of my incident.

 

We had a toilet that was seperate from the bathroom and right beside the bathroom sink. I went into the toilet and closed the door (stupid) and my 1 year old opened all the drawers on the sink and I couldn't open the door to the toilet to get out :001_huh:

 

I spent 15 minutes shouting through the door trying to get the 1 yo to close the drawers (yeah right) before 2 yo wandered along to find out what was going on and I managed to successfully get 2yo to shut the drawers with bribes of candy :lol:

 

Lesson learned -there is a reason mothers should never shut the toilet door when they have kids under 5 :D

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One foot in midair over the crib because she can't actually reach the mattress because the arm on that side is stuck way above her head with the fingers twisted in to ribbons on the wall hanging and the 4th arm pressed against the wall for balance. She reminded me of rock climber trying to scale the wall.

 

Wow!!! Four arms! :D I'm impressed! :lol:

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My 2 year old at the time decided it would be a good idea to lock the bolt of our back door while I took out the trash. I was 9 months pregnant and could not get back in the house. My ds could not figure out how to unlock the bolt since it was his first time even being successful locking it. The scene of me trying to talk him through unlocking the door is funny now but not at the time. I was freaking out inside but trying to remain calm as my 2 yr old hasn't realized yet he's locked inside alone. I run next door to use my neighbors phone to call my husband who was 20 mins away. As I'm waiting, my ds realizes he can't get out and starts running around the house screaming. Then I start running to all the windows trying to keep him calm. It was by the way 102 degrees that day! That was the longest 20 mins of my pregnant life! Now my ds who is 8 just loves to hear that story! Little Stinker!!

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Thanks for the laugh!

 

When dd was two, she locked herself in our bedroom. It had one of those locks that couldn't be unlocked from the outside. She was screaming hysterically while I tried to tell her how to unlock the little knob within the knob (if you know what I mean). I was about to the point of taking the door off the hinges when I saw that my neighbor was outside working on his ladder. It was easier to ask him to move his ladder over to our house and climb through the bedroom window so that he could unlock the door for her. She screamed even louder when she was a "strange" man coming through the window! When dh came home he replaced the doorknob to one that locks but can be unlocked from the other side with a pushpin.

 

:lol: These stories are all hysterical!!!!! :lol:

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