I NEED HELP! How do I get my twin boys to stay in their room at night?

Question

Other then the escaping their room in the middle of the night thing, they are great kids. Behave pretty decently, respond to discipline and don't ever cause a ruckus....this is my only problem.

Answer 1

Do not put a 'lock' on the door; put a door hook. Take everything out of their room that they can get into; you know,climb on, etc. Read Dr. Phill he covered this several times.  Super Nanny covered it as well. You need to be firm and consistent.

Do not look the toddlers' in the eye when you put them to bed. Tell them goodnight; give a hug and kiss and get out of there. As they get up; pick them up and say it's time for bed, goodnight, love you.

Do not leave anything in their reach to play with or distract them.

Are you having a half hour quiet time before putting to bed?

Don't leave candy in their reach or give them anything with sugar in it. Some children are sensitive and its makes them hyper for hours. You may want to keep it out of the house altogether.

I taught for years and mentioned this to some parents that had this issue. They cut out all sugar sweetened food altogether and had good results.

Answer 2

we had this same problem with my step son when getting him to go to sleep in his own bed and stay there ...

what i did was sit in a chair next to the bed and everynight keep moving the chair closer to the door until it was in the hallway and if he got up i'd put him right back into his bed be consistent and don't give in! it probable took a couple of weeks of this until he learned it was okay to sleep in his own room and that he was a "big boy" that didn't need to sleep in momma and daddy's bed

good luck hope this helps

Answer 3

How can you have such little control over your 2 year olds. I know that it may seem like threy are to young but you need to sit them down and explain that they can really get hurt if they get up in the middle of the night with out you knowing. I would not worry about them getting out of there room I would to teach them to wake you up if they wake up.  You need to get some control over these boys before something really bad happens. And yes it is against the law to lock your children in their room.

Answer 4

I would have no problem placing a lock on the outside of the door while you are sleeping. You can buy a baby monitor to watch them in there room. I'm sure its not "legal" for fire safety reasons but as long as your alarms are working then I would rather the lock be placed on the outside of the door than waking to a new mess everyday. You have a right as a parent to protect your stuff as well and if they don't respect that then they shouldn't have acess to it. :)

Answer 5

deadbolt lock. that'd keep'em quiet

Answer 6

We turned our doorknobs around so that the lock was on our side. That way, if there's a fire or anything, you can get in. We actually had to do that b/c our daughter locked herself in her room and we had a hard time unlocking it from the outside. Anyways, it really worked for us. Good luck.

Answer 7

Oh wow what fun. First thing I want to say is relax, remember everything is a stage with young children and nothing last for long. Is their anyway for them to have their own room? I know with my boys they just lead each other on. My sister used to do this, my mom had to just put bells on the door or above it. It will wake you up then you just have to take them back to bed everytime w/o talking to them, as the Nanny would say. Eventually they will give up. I would ask the Dr though about why they are not sleeping through the night if this were a nightly routine.

Answer 8

We had a similar problem with my eldest daughter, in the end we resolved it by putting cup hooks with hook fasteners not on her bedroom (I was always scared in case there were a fire or something and she would be trapped), but on the outside of the doors to rooms we didn't want her to go into alone at night,  such as the kitchen etc, we put the hooks right at the top corner.  So every night before we went to bed, we would close all the doors then latch them from the outside (kitchen, bathroom etc).

Having the cup hooks meant adults could easily open the doors, but having them so high meant our daughter couldn't, even when she tried standing on a chair one time (!) as they were too high for her to reach.  They are also very inexpensive to buy, a few pence per cup hook and hook to fasten it with, s***w into the door really easily without any tools, and aren't really very obvious at all as they are so high up, so don't spoil your decorating!

Good luck with the situation, we found once our daughter realised all she could do out of her room was sit in the hallway, in the dark  with nothing to do, she soon decided staying in her room with all her toys was a better option!

EDIT: someone pointed out to me I don't mean 2 cup hooks, but when you have one end with a loop and a s***w end, and the other a s***w with a hook attatched, so you link the hook through the loop to close the door...if anyone can tell me the proper name for this please do I can't for the life of me think what you call it?  Hook and eye or something?!

Answer 9

I know a few parents that locked the door to their child's room (mine). I have a little girl that turns 3 tomorrow and when she gets up in the middle of the night she just comes in and sleeps with us. She does not go anywhere else. Do you have lights on in the house? Maybe make it completely dark so they can not see anything. Then they will not get out and about so much. Good luck, I wish mine would stay in her bed also. I'M TIRED!!!!

Answer 10

Put a latch on the outside of their door.  It isn't really any different from putting a gate in the doorway, except there's no way they can get out.  Just make sure their room is completely childproof and use a monitor if you're still uncomfortable with the arrangement.  It's much more dangerous for them to be wandering around the house late at night than for them to be locked in their room.

Good luck!

Answer 11

You can lock them in their room but its not a good idea if you want to start potty training. I would do 1 of 2 things. Either put up all the items you dont want destroyed and put locks on your cabinets so they cant get in them or sleep in a room closer to them and when they get up whoop their tales(of course tell them you will do so , if they get up during the night to play,before they get in the bed several times during the day)