Unusual not to have locks on bedroom doors?

Eilonwy

I'd appreciate it if you'd vote in the poll, even if you don't feel like posting.

Is it unusual for the door of a child's bedroom to not have a lock on the inside? (The lock would allow the person inside the room to lock the door.)

medussa

Not unusual at all. I grew up without one on my door.

My son keeps begging for a lock on the outside of his door so his sisters stay out of his room. He hasn't requested a lock on the inside.

Curlyminx

I grew up with no locks on any of the bedroom doors.

Maybe my mom and dad's had one, but it was never locked. And our bedrooms didn't have locks. My parents said they didn't believe in it.

We had a lock on the bathroom door. My brother fell asleep in the bathtub once and the police officer that lived across the street had to come over with an axe and chop our door down to get him because my brother wouldn't wake up and my mom was worried he drowned.

We REALLY weren't allowed to have locks on our bedrooms after that.

Nej

The only doors that were ever locked in any of my household growing up were the bathrooms and the front and back ones

If a door was closed you knocked and awaited an answer. That simple.

RedCatWaves

I always get confused with double negatives, so I'll answer in longhand...

I don't allow locks on bedroom doors until the child reaches mid-teens. Before that, I want to be able to get in at any time...and even after that, I have a key to the lock, so I can still get in at any time, but the lock helps keep out unwelcome younger siblings.

Locks on bathroom doors are fine, even desirable. Same with locks on parents' bedroom doors. Some things just require lockable privacy.


I don't think no-locks is unusual. I grew up with the same rules I use for my own kids. I don't recall my friends having locks either.

SCG

I don't think it's weird at all. Growing up, we never locked our bedroom doors... There were/are technically locks on the doors, but it's an old house, and you need skeleton keys to lock them. We only got like one of the keys when we moved in.

The bathroom doors are the only ones that actually lock, with deadbolts. Which are also old, and I managed to get myself stuck in there one time. My dad had to take down the door.

I definitely don't find it surprising on a child's door... That seems kind of dangerous.

FieryCurls

My kid doesn't have a lock on her door. I would definitely have a key if she did have one.

medussa

We don't even have locks on the bathroom doors. The downstairs bathroom has the original 1927 door complete with skeleton key, but after my son locked himself in at the age of 2, we put the key away. The upstairs bathroom is also the original door. It has some sort of lock, but it doesn't work.

We're pretty good about respecting each other's boundaries, so the bathroom situation hasn't been an issue.

curlylaura

Oh feck. I was aiming to vote for 'No, it's not unusual at all' and did the exact other instead.

Anyway, I've never had a lock on a bedroom door. It's sort of odd to have one really imo. Unless you're an adult.

SpaghettiHead

Our 9 year old does not have a lock on his door, but our 15 year old does. He is about to get that taken off though, because he was recently caught sneaking out of his bedroom window. So he loses that privacy privy, until further notice.

Nallia

No, it isn't unusual. The only doors in my house than have locks on them are the master bedroom, the bathrooms, and the doors to the outside. I never had a lock on my door growing up.

Eilonwy

Thanks for the responses so far! I'd still appreciate more responses, of course

Josephine

Wow, I'm surprised. I had locks growing up and used them, but I don't remember at what age I started(at least early teens if not before). My mom was extremely annoying and invasive. She would even try to open the bathroom door knowing I was in the bathroom and ask what I'm doing. My aunts still do this to me when they come over. My mom and her family don't know anything about knocking or respecting one's privacy. Which is another reason I don't invite them to my place. I don't put it pat them to go through my drawers and papers.

Eilonwy

^^ Wow Josephine, that sounds so embarrassing! Even my parents respected when the bathroom door was closed!

curlylaura wrote: »

Oh feck. I was aiming to vote for 'No, it's not unusual at all' and did the exact other instead.

Lol, well after reading your post I cancelled out your accidental vote by voting for "No, it's not unusual at all." That way I can see the poll results!

Nej

I find that HAVING locks on anything other than the bathroom to be unusual.

cympreni

I had a lock on my door, but I don't think any of my friends did. I don't think it ever came up. Bathroom door, yes. I wish I had one now, the boys are always barging in on me.

My sons' room came with a lock. We took it off, they kept accidentally locking themselves in and couldn't unlock it. It was a cheap lock that you could open with a knife, but it got annoying after a while.

KsLiZCuRlZ

I'm 16 and I don't have lock. My parents tends to knock first but it doesn't bother me at all. I'm rarely in my room anyways.

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SpaghettiHead

KsLiZCuRlZ wrote: »

I'm 16 and I don't have lock. My parents tends to knock first but it doesn't bother me at all. I'm rarely in my room anyways.

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What! I thought all teens wanted to lock themselves in their rooms? Maybe that's just my son. Lord knows what he's doing in there.

Springcurl

My daughter never had one. I never even considered her having one and she never asked for one.

WileE-Dead

Only locks on the master bedroom :laughing7:
Tho the bathrooms do. I just always thought that was normal :confused1:
We have the keys to unlock, just in case, in an out of the way area....

Like.Australia

I said, yes, it's unusual, but that's only because every house I've ever lived in has had locks on the bedroom doors. When I was a little kid, the door was always open though. When I was a preteen/teen, I started closing it when I was in there. I very rarely, if ever, locked it though.

The only bedroom that doesn't have a lock on it in my house now is the master bedroom. It has double doors... so it'd have to have some kind of slide-tab lock that keeps them together, I guess. When we have children, I bet we'll install a lock.

xcptnl

We have locks on all the inside doors but I do not think they have ever been locked. They all came with this weird 'key' that is the same for all the doors. Growing up - no locks that I recall.

Here is a pic of the weird key.




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Po

The only time doors were locked in my childhood home was when my parents were "afternoon delight-ing" or having an argument. We never locked the bathroom door either. And we're bargers.

I wouldn't allow my child to lock his door. Although, I always knock before entering even though he's only 8.

My last house didn't have locks on any of the doors (It was built in 1920) so we would have to push the dresser or boxes in front of the door if we wanted adult time.

sent from my broken EVO shift

mrspoppers

The only locks in our house growing up were on the bathrooms. It never would have occurred to me to have a lock on my bedroom because, back then anyway, my mom respected our privacy. If I had asked for a lock, I'm sure it would have opened a can of worms.

MichelleBFT

I'm pretty sure I always had a lock on my door, but my parents had a way of opening it. Dunno what that was.

When I babysat as a kid, the kids I sat for had locks. Little *******s would lock me out. Pain in the butt.

midgi

I always had a lock on my bedroom door, too. When I was 7, my sister and I shared a room and I would lock her out all the time. We would even lock my mom out when we were being bratty, but she used to force it open with a wire hanger. When we were 15, she completely took our doors off the hinges and hauled them down to the basement to punish us for acting out.

MoppyT

We had locks for bedrooms and bathrooms.

My boss at an old job took the DOORS off of his kids' (13, 15, 17) rooms. I thought that was a little extreme. I remember a story in which he was yelling at the oldest (17) daughter in her room, and she wanted him to leave her alone, so she started taking off all her clothes so he had to leave. He was telling us the story at work the next day, laughing about it. Kind of effed up, I thought.

Mcfrizzy

funny you guys are talking about locks since im sixteen n dont even have a doorr lol it doesnt bother me and i could care less nothing going on important....like ever!!!

iroc

I don't recall having locks on my bedroom doors growing up, but it was always just my mom and I. Wasn't much of a need for it.



Using my iphone. Expect typos.

sariroo

xcptnl wrote: »

We have locks on all the inside doors but I do not think they have ever been locked. They all came with this weird 'key' that is the same for all the doors. Growing up - no locks that I recall.

Here is a pic of the weird key.




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I have never lived anywhere where there were no locks on the bedroom doors and most of them opened from the outside with something similar to the "key" shown above. So even if I locked the door from the inside, my parents could always open it and come in. I don't really ever remember locking the door because in our house, once we hit teen years, if the door was shut, our parents just knocked and we opened it. There never was an actual key that was cut to fit the lock because it could be lost and then the door couldn't be opened from outside.

We have locks on our bedroom doors where we live now and they can be opened with a coin. My daughter's big thing is to go in the room and shut and lock the door. Even if you go in the room with her, she does it. I always keep a coin on the table in the hallway so we can quickly and easily open any room she is in.

cyndi

We always rented, so whether we had locks depended on the house. But I think most of them did have locks now that I think of it. I don't think I ever locked my door growing up. But when I lived with my parents as an adult, I always locked my door at night. I don't know why, it was just some weird habit...plus my mom would just barge in in the morning. I even locked my bedroom door when I had roommates in NYC that I completely trusted. I just like feeling "safe" when I sleep. The only reason I don't lock my bedroom door now is because the door sticks and you have to slam the door really hard to get it to shut all the way which is really annoying and unnecessary since it's just my boyfriend and me.

However, this thread does remind me of the time I got locked in the bathroom when my parents were out of town and I had to bust myself out...I wonder if I can find that thread...