Locking things up for safety?

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My 8 year old son (PDD-NOS and MR) has grown to be tall enough to reach higher cabinets and smart enough to undo latches so that he can now reach things to make big messes and possibly cause himself harm. In our case, he's gotten into the pantry where all his favorite goodies are and into the cabinets where we keep the spices and baking goods (such as sprinkles and food colorings.) I've already put them in a plastic bin that fits on a shelf in the pantry and am going to purchase a new latch and padlock but the real issue is that right above the spices are all the medicines (aspiring, cough & cold, etc.) that he really shouldn't get into so now I have to find a new place to put them. Where did you all end up putting these things so that they were safe and out of reach to your bigger children who still don't know any better?

I keep all that stuff (medicines, etc) on a high shelf in my linen closet.

We have been lucky in that there are not too many things we have to put up: mainly breakables. We have some high, stable furniture we put those things on.

When my kids were small I purchased an inexpensive, large chest that locked. Chocolate & all sweet stuff, plus medical and even some cleaning items went in there. I tend to be too casual & forgetful with leaving things laying around, so I went the opposite way and over-did it a bit, but that way I didn't worry. My kids loved to climb up into cupboard, on top of cabinets, everything. So, I had to have a locked place.

You could install a key lock on a whole cupboard or just use a tool box that has a lock for medications and foods you really need to keep stored safely. I personally wouldn't keep it all locked away (ie food not meds), it's an important lesson to learn to not be raiding the fridge/pantry... my 13 year old is still learning this and still cries over not being able to eat his treats all day.

I would probably move all medicines out of the kitchen, where food is stored and put them somewhere uninteresting, like in a rubbermaid box on the high shelf in the coat closet.

We are OK with this stuff now, but when DS was little, we bought magnet locks, which require a fairly strong magnet to unlock (refrigerator magnets won't do it) and kept the magnets on a high shelf.

These are the locks we used, word to the wise - get extra "keys" because even though the locks have an override to "turn them off," sometimes this fails. http://www.amazon.com/Cabinet-Locks-Mag ... 000HKVVH4/

I saw that another system actually has a little screw-mounted "holder" for the key, so you can stick it on the wall out of reach of your child, but near the lock.

Thanks!

I've moved all the medicines into a large plastic bin and temporarily put them in the upstairs bathroom closet. We keep all the bathrooms locked so that he doesn't flush things down or run them under the water.) Many of the meds are beyond their expiration date so this gives us the excuse to weed through them and dispose of them. The local school district partners with the DEA for a disposal day coming up soon. Once we do that I like the idea of a toolbox with a padlock.

All the spices are in a small plastic bin in the pantry and I've bought a new latch and padlock to put on the door.

Depending on your parenting style you could start bringing this up under the whole "let's try to be a big and responsible boy" theme and actually sit him down and show him the bottles he is not supposed to touch and WHY. Of course double up on protection and leave out placebo's as a test to see whether he's able to stay away.

I've got PDD-NOS with ADHD, and telling me "no", or hiding something, (kids so know when something is "hidden"), only makes me want to discover WHY.


I've checked many stoves I was told "don't touch" over the years, and all of them have been hot, not one of them was recently painted, really cold or fell apart when I touched it. Why didn't they just tell me to not get my hand burned instead? That something I knew I didn't want to happen.