Baby gates dont work

Question

My 4 year old son will go 2 the bathroom and play in the water, make a mess with the toilet paper, and just makes a mess. i put up baby gates, they dont stop him he pulls on it and it falls over. i cant shut the door cause my other kids have 2 use it. how do i keep him out of there or get him 2 stop?

Answer 1

You can get a tot lock for the potty, so he can not open the lid.

Maybe even a better more sturdy baby gate.

At 4 he does need to know that is not ok and you have to be consistent with the discipline you use to teach him this.

Good luck

Answer 2

Well, as the mother of a little boy as well, I know without a doubt that boys can and will be very mischievious. Instead of trying to ban him from the bathroom with gates, etc... I would really just make a point of letting him know that this sort of behavior is not acceptable from 4 year olds and make him clean it up each and every time. Our 3 year old does the same on occasion- mostly playing with the soap, and he is required to clean it all up and he is given some sort of consequence like no TV for the day, or no outside time. Don't worry though- one day we will all laugh at these little things. They grow so fast and it will pass soon I am sure.  Have a good evening.

Answer 3

He's a 4 year old, he should be listening to you by now! be a better parent and dicipline your child!

Answer 4

try the baby gate that screws into brackets attached to the door. It is a locking walk through gate. It has worked wonders in my household. I have five children...two of which are under the age two. I hope this helps..good luck

Answer 5

Be a parent and discipline him when he does it.  Pretty simple!

Answer 6

He's 4 years old... he should understand the word "NO".  Start disciplining him when he does that.

Answer 7

Because a 4 year old is not a baby.  A one year old isn't even considered a baby, but a toddler.  Buy him a time-out chair, and make him sit there for four minutes (1 min. per year)  everytime he does this.  I have a one year old and even she knows what the word no means, and that if she does it any way she will be sitting on the time out rug for a minute.   He's soon going to be in school, if not already and they are not going to let him get away with this kind of behavior.  You need to start setting the rules and consequences.  If a 1 year old can do it I know a 4 year old can.

Answer 8

try using an installed gate instead of a pressure mounted gate.  My husband built a couple of gates himself and installed them on hinges with small bolt locks for the kitchen and the stairs up to our room.  Our 5 year old can open them herself and close them behind her, but our 22mo old cannot yet.

Is your 4 year old not potty trained already or in the process yet?  The process of learning how to act in the bathroom really needs to start earlier than 4!  That's around when they start going to pre-k already and they need to be done with diapers at that point!!

My 5 year old was potty trained, fully, by a few months past her 2nd birthday.  She also knew by that point what was not allowed to be done in the bathroom....  My little guy is a little behind yet, but is in the process of supervised learning and goes occasionally...

Wow... it's just odd to hear of a 4 year old acting like my 22mo old...