How do I lock in a teenager at night time?

Question

I have a 14 year old son who seems to sneak out at night after we have gone to bed. Other than staying up the entire night I would like to find out if anyone else has had this problem and what did you do to fix the situation?

Answer 1

If you have the money, put an alarm system on the house, with an alarm on all the windows.

A lil cheeper is to buy motion sensors at walmart to install yourself on his window and door, but he may figure out how to get past it.

Set your foot down and parent up.  He is disobeying rules, sneaking out..   punish him.  And make him live out his punishment.  My cousin had this problem.  My aunt would ground him for two weeks, but his best friends were still allowed over, they just couldnt leave the house.  Then, usually about 2-3 days later they had talked her into letting them go out anyways to the movies or where ever.  His direct words to me are and have been for several years...'I dont care if I get in trouble, I only stay in trouble for a day or two, so it doesnt matter.'  I know a lot of kids who say and think that.

Answer 2

I had that problem with my son only once.  I had the police pick him up and bring him home.  He was running with a crowd that I didn't approve of and I let him know that I wasn't going to be a soft parent.

Answer 3

Yep, been there.  I found getting a VERY alert dog, solved the problem for me.

Answer 4

get an alarm system.... so an alarm goes off.. use one code for the day.... which you would all know. and a separate one for night time... which he wouldn't know... once you put in the alarm... he will catch what you are trying to do... also talk to him

Answer 5

share a room with him :)  That will teach him.

Answer 6

When i was 14, i did the same thing. Its a natural reaction for a young teenager to push outside their boundaries and experience a little risk. Then my parents bought an alarm system that, even when shut off with the right code, would beep loudly when turned off and wake them up. And that did the trick.

Answer 7

Put a motion light outside his window and one outside each door. If he still gets out without you noticing, set your alarm for a different time each night and check to see if he is in his room. If he's not there, sit on his bed until he comes home and sneaks back into his room, and ask him where he was, why he was gone, and what the h**l he was thinking.

Better yet, put up a camera in his room and on the front door to find out if he's sneaking out.

When he comes back in and you catch him, punish him SEVERELY--ground him to his room for 2 weeks with NOTHING other than a blanket on the floor.

Answer 8

Yes have someone come with a secerity system that will go off if he opens the doors and windows, and don't tell him the code!

Answer 9

Your teenager is most likely having s*x with neighborhood prostitutes.  I wouldn't put bars on his window because it is a fire hazard.

Answer 10

I used to be the teenager that would hear about all the horror stories my peers would tell when they snuck out at night.

Hate to say this, but it really falls back onto the laps of the parents.

You have to do a little bit of sleuthing until you get the answers to the why questions so that you can fix the how questions. It's not going to be enough just to "put bars on his window"...you cannot do that for obvious reasons. Or to place any band aid remedies that just mask the problem such as sleeping in his room. That's nonsense. All you'd be telling him is that he's incapable of ever growing up, and do you think that this will really teach him a lesson? Please...

Fourteen, did you say? That's my daughter's age. She doesn't sneak out and we have the creeks in the house to prove it. Plus, I am a very light sleeper and would be able to tell if she did sneak out. Her bedroom is on the second floor and the front door is noisy as h**l to open/shut. So, that, I know, is not a possibility.

I'd spend more quality time with your son. If he's doing this at the tender young age of fourteen, just think of what he'll be doing at fifteen and sixteen, the year he begins to drive. I see a criminal in the making. Restraining him won't teach him a lesson. Spending quality time on a consisten basis is your answer. If you work full time and he's without you most days out of each week, then there's your problem. Fix it before it's too late.

BTW: I used to think that the kids in school who snuck out were losers. Turns out that a good portion of them who grew up turned into losers. Shame...

Answer 11

We had a bit of a similar problem with this with one of our older children.  In our case, she was letting someone in the house in the night without our knowledge.  We went to Lowe's and bought some door and window alarms.  You attach them to the doors and windows and then set a code.  In order to open them you have to push in the code.  If you open them without the code it emits a very loud and annoying alarm.  We have a rather large advantage in that we live in the country of a rather small town so even if one of the kids was leaving the house, there isn't really any place for them to go once they get out.  If you live within walking distance of friends or hang-outs than it makes the problem that much more difficult.  A determined teenager could maybe figure out how to disarm the alarm so it may not work long.

Answer 12

I used to be that teenager too lol.  To be honest, there was nothing that my parents did that kept me in but now that I'm a mother I have been wondering about what I will be doing in those circumstances and if I have to, I will be moving the kids back into my room to avoid this.  I learned from my mistakes and will avoid my kids making the same ones no matter what it takes.

Good luck

Answer 13

put on him a dog satellite

Answer 14

I used to be that teenager.....my mom put a security system in that would beep if the doors or windows were opened and i didnt know the code, if you dont have money for that, put bars on his window. It's for his own safety, bad stuff could happen at night.

Answer 15

I used to be that teenager as well lol. My parents did find out one night because my best friend and i snuck out a window and she ended up bending the frame of the window on the way out lol. They didn't ground me or punish me-which I was shocked about because I got grounded for everything. They just acted really disappointed in me, which I gotta tell you, was even worse. I hated making my mom feel bad. I was a little older though, I think I was 16 or 17 so we negotiated a slightly later curfew that curbed the problem.