Default Style Register
Daycare.com Forum
Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Locked Door, Dad Keeps Trying lol
lovemykidstoo 06:12 AM 02-05-2019
I lock my front door during daycare hours, well all the time actually. We live in a fine area, but you just never know. Last Friday evening someone posted on our neighborhood fb page that there were 4 guys walking door to door and noone answered, so they don't know what they wanted, but it was after dark. I just have always locked. I have 1 dad that every single day he walks up and turns the handle of the door. One day I had obviously forgot and in he came. Scared the crap out of me. Another thing is, my front door is basically the central hub of my house. It is in the middle of the intersection so to speak of going to the kitchen/dining room, the hall to the playroom and the living room. He opens that door as a child is walking by and it's going to hurt someone. So every time I hear the door knob I say to myself, yup same as yesterday it's still locked. I just think it's rude and he does it at drop off and pick up.
Reply
Blackcat31 06:15 AM 02-05-2019
I'd invest in one of those locks that come with security codes you can give parents. I think you can make it so the code only works during certain hours/days.

I'd also think about some type of alarm that signals you when someone crosses a certain area while coming up your sidewalk toward your door.

I have a gated yard so the parents must walk through a gate in the fence to walk up the sidewalk to the door. I have a driveway alarm that buzzes inside when someone crosses through the gate.

I know when someone is here before they get to the steps.
Reply
lovemykidstoo 06:21 AM 02-05-2019
Originally Posted by Blackcat31:
I'd invest in one of those locks that come with security codes you can give parents. I think you can make it so the code only works during certain hours/days.

I'd also think about some type of alarm that signals you when someone crosses a certain area while coming up your sidewalk toward your door.

I have a gated yard so the parents must walk through a gate in the fence to walk up the sidewalk to the door. I have a driveway alarm that buzzes inside when someone crosses through the gate.

I know when someone is here before they get to the steps.
I have security cameras and I usually have it on my phone so I can watch to see when someone pulls, in but i was busy changing a baby when he came in the one time. The thing is, why is it so bad for him to wait 10 seconds for me to open the door? It does not take me more than that to get to the door. I'm afraid even with a code door, he may open it quickly with a child in front of it. Sometimes I"ve had kids there getting outside stuff on and I've had a parent start to open the door and I've had to yell wait wait!! Especially when he's the first one here alot of days, what if I'm running behind and indesposed hahaha
Reply
Ariana 08:42 AM 02-05-2019
My door is always locked as well and I have an alarm system engaged at all times. I don’t live in a rough neighbourhood but B&E’s don’t tend to happen in bad neighbourhoods! We get quite a few in this area and you can never be too careful.

Just keep it locked and let him wait!
Reply
Jo123ABC 12:19 PM 02-05-2019
I definitely wouldn't want parents having access to a lock code to my house. I've had parents try to drop off on closed days while my dog is loose (she's an outside dog that wanders around the garage and backyard during non daycare hours but is always in her kennel when daycare is open). She's protective of kids and bristles toward some men.

Although, I have forgotten to lock my door before also and an elderly woman that escaped from the nursing home tried to come in and claim our house as hers late one evening. A code might be nice for those types of incidents
Reply
Jo123ABC 12:24 PM 02-05-2019
One time I was closed and my own kids were eating breakfast while I was getting ready in the morning to go to appointments and a parent left her kid without telling anyone! Just walked in, left him, and left without a word my daughter informed me he was here and when I called his mom she was ticked at me.
Reply
Blackcat31 12:25 PM 02-05-2019
Originally Posted by Jo123ABC:
I definitely wouldn't want parents having access to a lock code to my house. I've had parents try to drop off on closed days while my dog is loose (she's an outside dog that wanders around the garage and backyard during non daycare hours but is always in her kennel when daycare is open). She's protective of kids and bristles toward some men.

Although, I have forgotten to lock my door before also and an elderly woman that escaped from the nursing home tried to come in and claim our house as hers late one evening. A code might be nice for those types of incidents
They get a code that works only during their scheduled daycare hours. They don't get access any time they want.

You can assign different codes to different people and assign times/days to each code as to when it works/doesn't work.

Like this: https://www.gokeyless.com/product/tr...touchbar-lock/


Other threads about coded or keyless entry locks
https://www.daycare.com/forum/tags.p...=keyless+entry
Reply
CalCare 01:33 PM 02-05-2019
I know i'm the odd one out, but I always leave mine unlocked for them to come in. Except I lock it when I go to the bathroom lol. I tell them if I go to the bathroom, I lock it so no kids can't just open the door and leave. ����
But yeah, I don't like the idea that I would be in the backyard holding a jar of paint and two toddlers are using the easel and the door bell is ringing, and maybe I don't even know it's ringing. I could be stuck out there awhile. I'd rather they let theselves in and come get their child and leave lol
Oh also my moms come as early as an hour before pickup sometimes. So, I can't just plan around the arrival time.
I don't mmind that either. Again, I think I'm odd with pick up times. But, I don't care if they come early announced. I like it lol get your child and go! Yay!
Reply
CountryRoads 01:50 PM 02-05-2019
Originally Posted by CalCare:
I know i'm the odd one out, but I always leave mine unlocked for them to come in. Except I lock it when I go to the bathroom lol. I tell them if I go to the bathroom, I lock it so no kids can't just open the door and leave. ����
But yeah, I don't like the idea that I would be in the backyard holding a jar of paint and two toddlers are using the easel and the door bell is ringing, and maybe I don't even know it's ringing. I could be stuck out there awhile. I'd rather they let theselves in and come get their child and leave lol
Oh also my moms come as early as an hour before pickup sometimes. So, I can't just plan around the arrival time.
I don't mmind that either. Again, I think I'm odd with pick up times. But, I don't care if they come early announced. I like it lol get your child and go! Yay!
I leave mine unlocked, too! We live in a small town, so I know all my families on a more personal level. Plus, we have a dog that lets us know when anyone pulls in
Reply
lovemykidstoo 02:33 PM 02-05-2019
Originally Posted by CalCare:
I know i'm the odd one out, but I always leave mine unlocked for them to come in. Except I lock it when I go to the bathroom lol. I tell them if I go to the bathroom, I lock it so no kids can't just open the door and leave. ����
But yeah, I don't like the idea that I would be in the backyard holding a jar of paint and two toddlers are using the easel and the door bell is ringing, and maybe I don't even know it's ringing. I could be stuck out there awhile. I'd rather they let theselves in and come get their child and leave lol
Oh also my moms come as early as an hour before pickup sometimes. So, I can't just plan around the arrival time.
I don't mmind that either. Again, I think I'm odd with pick up times. But, I don't care if they come early announced. I like it lol get your child and go! Yay!
I get a notification on my phone when someone is at my door and I always have my phone in my pocket. I'm like you, most of my parents I know almost exactly when they're coming, but I do have a couple that it's random from 3-5:15 depending on work. I guess you would have to see the layout of my house. With my door unlocked, I've had a couple of near misses of kids getting hit as they were in front of it by people that just walked in without even knocking. It's really not all that hard to wait 10 seconds for me to walk to it and open it. We do use our backyard also, but never during pickup times.
Reply
lovemykidstoo 02:34 PM 02-05-2019
Originally Posted by Jo123ABC:
I definitely wouldn't want parents having access to a lock code to my house. I've had parents try to drop off on closed days while my dog is loose (she's an outside dog that wanders around the garage and backyard during non daycare hours but is always in her kennel when daycare is open). She's protective of kids and bristles toward some men.

Although, I have forgotten to lock my door before also and an elderly woman that escaped from the nursing home tried to come in and claim our house as hers late one evening. A code might be nice for those types of incidents
OMG this and the other thing that happened with the lady dropping off her child on your day off? Holy cow! She had the nerve to be mad? wow!
Reply
Pestle 08:52 PM 02-05-2019
Am I the only one required to keep the doors unlocked due to fire safety? Both the licensing evaluator and the fire chief said the front and back door have to be unlocked while kids are present.

How about a door alarm to scare the bejeesus out of him?
Reply
lovemykidstoo 04:38 AM 02-06-2019
Originally Posted by Pestle:
Am I the only one required to keep the doors unlocked due to fire safety? Both the licensing evaluator and the fire chief said the front and back door have to be unlocked while kids are present.

How about a door alarm to scare the bejeesus out of him?
That is not in our regs. He didn't try it last night at pickup, maybe he's getting the hint. Good thing too because I had a little sitting there getting his boots on to go home.
Reply
coloradoprovider 05:34 AM 02-06-2019
Originally Posted by Pestle:
Am I the only one required to keep the doors unlocked due to fire safety? Both the licensing evaluator and the fire chief said the front and back door have to be unlocked while kids are present.
I wouldn't feel safe without the door being locked. The back door to the backyard is unlocked.

Two different authorities deem it necessary to keep your front door unlocked? I would be interested to know what the police would advise. In my large suburban city, my judgment is that an unlocked door is more dangerous than a locked door.

A locked door keeps out unwanted persons and keeps IN active children!
Reply
Blackcat31 06:00 AM 02-06-2019
Originally Posted by Pestle:
Am I the only one required to keep the doors unlocked due to fire safety? Both the licensing evaluator and the fire chief said the front and back door have to be unlocked while kids are present.

How about a door alarm to scare the bejeesus out of him?
We aren't mandated to keep our doors locked or unlocked but if we choose to lock them, the door knobs MUST be the type that can be opened from the inside without having to mess with the lock. This is for fire safety in case an adult isn't able to open the door and a child must do so.

I keep my door unlocked. I live in a relatively small community (10,000 people). Heck, once I left daycare after work and for whatever reason didn't even close my door. The screen door was closed but not the inside door. My neighbor noticed and closed it for me.
Reply
Blackcat31 06:03 AM 02-06-2019
Originally Posted by coloradoprovider:
A locked door keeps out unwanted persons and keeps IN active children!
That is exactly why we shouldn't lock doors in my state.

Unless like mentioned in previous post, the door knob is the type that can be opened without messing around with a lock.....which in your case if you are using the lock to keep the children in, wouldn't be acceptable by licensing.

It's also kind of dangerous to have a locked door that kids can't operate without you. What if something happened to you and they needed to escape in a fire? They'd be trapped inside if the door was locked.
Reply
lovemykidstoo 06:13 AM 02-06-2019
Originally Posted by Blackcat31:
That is exactly why we shouldn't lock doors in my state.

Unless like mentioned in previous post, the door knob is the type that can be opened without messing around with a lock.....which in your case if you are using the lock to keep the children in, wouldn't be acceptable by licensing.

It's also kind of dangerous to have a locked door that kids can't operate without you. What if something happened to you and they needed to escape in a fire? They'd be trapped inside if the door was locked.
My lock is a button lock and the kids during our fire drills open it themselves. So important.

I will continue to keep mine locked, if for nothing else, so a child doesn't get bashed in the head if they're sitting there getting ready or walking by. That outweighs an impatient parent that can't wait 10 seconds.
Reply
MomBoss 07:14 AM 02-06-2019
Originally Posted by Blackcat31:
That is exactly why we shouldn't lock doors in my state.

Unless like mentioned in previous post, the door knob is the type that can be opened without messing around with a lock.....which in your case if you are using the lock to keep the children in, wouldn't be acceptable by licensing.

It's also kind of dangerous to have a locked door that kids can't operate without you. What if something happened to you and they needed to escape in a fire? They'd be trapped inside if the door was locked.
All my kids are 2 and under so they wouldnt be able to open the door anyway if something happened to me. I keep my phone on me at all times and my front (non daycare door, parents use a different door) is a keypad entry so emergency ppl can use the code.
I think we should be locking door to keep thw kids safe. I technically show a lot of people how to enter my home and that my home is a daycare whenever i do an interview. For all i know they arent actaully parents and could be scoping out situations. My address is also publicly listed so any crazy person or pedophile could walk into my daycare if it were kept unlocked.
Call me paranoid, but i want to be safe.
Reply
Snowmom 07:28 AM 02-06-2019
Originally Posted by Blackcat31:
That is exactly why we shouldn't lock doors in my state.

Unless like mentioned in previous post, the door knob is the type that can be opened without messing around with a lock.....which in your case if you are using the lock to keep the children in, wouldn't be acceptable by licensing.

It's also kind of dangerous to have a locked door that kids can't operate without you. What if something happened to you and they needed to escape in a fire? They'd be trapped inside if the door was locked.
So weird because my licensor has never even questioned my locks. I even have one of those high flip locks like in hotel rooms (I only use those at night).
I keep doors dead bolted during business hours. There have been numerous instances of people casing surrounding neighborhoods and searching for unlocked doors to enter/rob. Lots of local stories of robberies done this way and even some entering open garage doors while occupants ARE HOME- they enter opened garage doors, enter the access door to the house, peek in and take whatever is by the door (usually purses).

My doors are dead bolted after 9 until 3. I typically remotely unlock the front door after nap time either through my Wink app or through Alexa and have the front camera displayed on my iPad from 3-4:30 (pick up times). I have a couple kids I trust with how to unlock doors and we go over emergency procedures monthly. But I am not comfortable leaving doors unlocked during the day... even in a nice neighborhood.
Reply
Blackcat31 07:30 AM 02-06-2019
Originally Posted by MomBoss:
All my kids are 2 and under so they wouldnt be able to open the door anyway if something happened to me. I keep my phone on me at all times and my front (non daycare door, parents use a different door) is a keypad entry so emergency ppl can use the code.
I think we should be locking door to keep thw kids safe. I technically show a lot of people how to enter my home and that my home is a daycare whenever i do an interview. For all i know they arent actaully parents and could be scoping out situations. My address is also publicly listed so any crazy person or pedophile could walk into my daycare if it were kept unlocked.
Call me paranoid, but i want to be safe.
I understand your viewpoint but I don't share your thoughts. I don't feel keeping the door locked keeps anyone safer necessarily. I also don't live in a community that generates paranoia in regards to safety.

If I did live in a larger metro area, I may think/feel differently but then again, if I lived in a larger metro area I probably wouldn't be a child care provider either.
Reply
lovemykidstoo 07:34 AM 02-06-2019
Originally Posted by Snowmom:
So weird because my licensor has never even questioned my locks. I even have one of those high flip locks like in hotel rooms (I only use those at night).
I keep doors dead bolted during business hours. There have been numerous instances of people casing surrounding neighborhoods and searching for unlocked doors to enter/rob. Lots of local stories of robberies done this way and even some entering open garage doors while occupants ARE HOME- they enter opened garage doors, enter the access door to the house, peek in and take whatever is by the door (usually purses).

My doors are dead bolted after 9 until 3. I typically remotely unlock the front door after nap time either through my Wink app or through Alexa and have the front camera displayed on my iPad from 3-4:30 (pick up times). I have a couple kids I trust with how to unlock doors and we go over emergency procedures monthly. But I am not comfortable leaving doors unlocked during the day... even in a nice neighborhood.
A couple years ago there was a rash of people that had their garage doors open and they were doing yardwork in the back and they were robbed. One of my daycare dads is a sergeant in our police dept and he said most break ins are during the day, not at night and typically it's through an unlocked door. Whether it's a house or car. They don't want to break windows and draw attention to themselves, so they try for unlocked things.
Reply
Blackcat31 07:37 AM 02-06-2019
Originally Posted by Snowmom:
So weird because my licensor has never even questioned my locks. I even have one of those high flip locks like in hotel rooms (I only use those at night).
I keep doors dead bolted during business hours. There have been numerous instances of people casing surrounding neighborhoods and searching for unlocked doors to enter/rob. Lots of local stories of robberies done this way and even some entering open garage doors while occupants ARE HOME- they enter opened garage doors, enter the access door to the house, peek in and take whatever is by the door (usually purses).

My doors are dead bolted after 9 until 3. I typically remotely unlock the front door after nap time either through my Wink app or through Alexa and have the front camera displayed on my iPad from 3-4:30 (pick up times). I have a couple kids I trust with how to unlock doors and we go over emergency procedures monthly. But I am not comfortable leaving doors unlocked during the day... even in a nice neighborhood.
Feeling the need to clarify here, I never said we have regulations stating our doors need to be locked/unlocked during the day.

I just had my off year license renewal visit.
She discussed accessibility and means of escape.

We aren't required to keep our doors locked or unlocked. Its your choice. However, the doors must be able to be opened from the inside with relative ease in case of fire per the fire marshall according to my licensor.

There are no hard set rules or regulations in our state that I am aware of so locking your door (or not locking it) is your choice.

I don't keep my door locked nor do I worry about criminal activity or break ins etc. I live in a community that is much smaller than yours. The culture of safety/security up here is much different than in metro areas.
Reply
storybookending 07:39 AM 02-06-2019
I live in a community where a lot of people don’t even lock their doors at night, let alone during the day. I went to get my taxes done Monday night and my garage door wouldn’t go down bc of snow build up and I didn’t even think twice about it wide open and just left and returned a few hours later. My neighbors regularly keep their garage doors open during the day when they’re gone and even sometimes throughout the night.
Reply
storybookending 07:43 AM 02-06-2019
Also thought I would add another story. I bought a playhouse this summer from an online Facebook group. It was a daycare day so I couldn’t leave my house until after 5 and the woman I was buying it from had to be somewhere at 5. She just sent me her address and told me the playhouse was in the backyard and instructed me to just walk into the garage and leave the money on the shelf. Now I’m not sure I would go as far to do something like this.. possibly with an item of lesser value but that’s just the kind of area I live in which I assume is sort of like how BC lives.
Reply
Snowmom 07:51 AM 02-06-2019
Originally Posted by Blackcat31:
I don't keep my door locked nor do I worry about criminal activity or break ins etc. I live in a community that is much smaller than yours. The culture of safety/security up here is much different than in metro areas.
Once bears start to figure out how to open doors, you're in big trouble.
https://youtu.be/DhxBvEPHovs
Reply
Blackcat31 07:55 AM 02-06-2019
Originally Posted by storybookending:
but that’s just the kind of area I live in which I assume is sort of like how BC lives.
Yes! Exactly! I have often times left items I've sold to someone online and had them leave the $ in X spot.

There are just as many open garage doors on my block as closed ones.

Originally Posted by Snowmom:
Once bears start to figure out how to open doors, you're in big trouble.
https://youtu.be/DhxBvEPHovs
This is true! But thankfully most the bears stay out of town verses in town but I will definitely lock my doors when they start figuring out how to open them.

At my "home" I don't lock the doors either. I am not even sure we have keys to certain doors...if we do, I don't know where they would be. I have no curtains or window treatments either. Who (other than wildlife) is looking in? kwim?
Reply
storybookending 08:17 AM 02-06-2019
Originally Posted by Blackcat31:
Yes! Exactly! I have often times left items I've sold to someone online and had them leave the $ in X spot.

There are just as many open garage doors on my block as closed ones.



This is true! But thankfully most the bears stay out of town verses in town but I will definitely lock my doors when they start figuring out how to open them.

At my "home" I don't lock the doors either. I am not even sure we have keys to certain doors...if we do, I don't know where they would be. I have no curtains or window treatments either. Who (other than wildlife) is looking in? kwim?
I recall getting off the bus in the late 90s or early 00s (I was 10ish my sister was 8ish). My bus driver said it didn’t look like anyone was home. I told her no one ever was when we got off. She said okay lock your doors when you get inside a weird van she didn’t recognize was behind the bus. I looked her right in the eye and said “but all of our doors don’t even have locks” haha. My parents have never had curtains and up until a few years ago didn’t even have blinds. I find that I myself now even though living in town that I do have blinds/curtains (although cheap ones) but I can count on one hand the amount of times I’ve closed them.
Reply
MomBoss 09:23 AM 02-06-2019
Originally Posted by Blackcat31:
I understand your viewpoint but I don't share your thoughts. I don't feel keeping the door locked keeps anyone safer necessarily. I also don't live in a community that generates paranoia in regards to safety.

If I did live in a larger metro area, I may think/feel differently but then again, if I lived in a larger metro area I probably wouldn't be a child care provider either.
I live in the city. There have been so many break ins and robberys lately in my area its crazy. I onced lived in a safe neighborhood. I am questioning that now.
Reply
Pestle 12:38 PM 02-06-2019
I don't know about pedophiles, but my licensing evaluator walked into the house today while I was in the bathroom dealing with a bodily function. Whaddaya gonna do? She was going to stop in this afternoon. The house was dark, there was a sign on the door saying not to ring the bell during nap time, and I was sitting on the toilet thinking "Oh, she is totally going to show up RIGHT NOW."
Reply
lovemykidstoo 06:00 PM 02-06-2019
Originally Posted by Pestle:
I don't know about pedophiles, but my licensing evaluator walked into the house today while I was in the bathroom dealing with a bodily function. Whaddaya gonna do? She was going to stop in this afternoon. The house was dark, there was a sign on the door saying not to ring the bell during nap time, and I was sitting on the toilet thinking "Oh, she is totally going to show up RIGHT NOW."
Oh no! hahahahaa That is funny!
Reply
DaveA 03:52 AM 02-07-2019
I keep my doors unlocked during daycare hours. I'm in a pretty calm subdivision near a quiet small town. If I still lived in a city I'd have the locks with the keycode entry for parents.

I'm kind of like BC when it comes to locking my doors and keys. But then again I grew up out in the country where you left your doors unlocked in case "someone needed in". We moved out here after we went away for a weekend and came back to find someone had broke in and grabbed everything down to the food in the freezer.
Reply
lovemykidstoo 04:32 AM 02-07-2019
We don't live in a huge area. There is maybe 40,000 people in our township. Not a high crime area at all. I don't believe any area is exempt from crime. This is not the only reason I like to keep my door locked. It does keep the kids in. Yes, they can open it in an emergency, but if I have to run to the bathroom it's going to take them a couple of seconds longer to escape. My main concern is that one of the kids is going to get hit. I wish I could show you exactly our setup, but they are close to that door alot during the day and it would only take one person to whip it open to injure a child. I don't see the big deal for a parent to knock and wait literally 10 seconds.
Reply
gumdrops 05:01 AM 02-07-2019
My daycare is in my basement so I keep the garage door unlocked and parents can enter through my garage. I have a magnetic strip type of alarm on that door and it rings like a doorbell in the basement.

It's great because it gives me a little warning when parents are coming and if no one comes down, I know I need to go investigate.

My husband says if anyone breaks in, they will run away fast when they hear the chaos in the basement.
Reply
lovemykidstoo 05:09 AM 02-07-2019
Originally Posted by gumdrops:
My daycare is in my basement so I keep the garage door unlocked and parents can enter through my garage. I have a magnetic strip type of alarm on that door and it rings like a doorbell in the basement.

It's great because it gives me a little warning when parents are coming and if no one comes down, I know I need to go investigate.

My husband says if anyone breaks in, they will run away fast when they hear the chaos in the basement. :lol:
So true hahahah
Reply
knoxmomof2 03:08 PM 02-09-2019
😂😂😂 This made my day! Sounds about right....

Originally Posted by Pestle:
I don't know about pedophiles, but my licensing evaluator walked into the house today while I was in the bathroom dealing with a bodily function. Whaddaya gonna do? She was going to stop in this afternoon. The house was dark, there was a sign on the door saying not to ring the bell during nap time, and I was sitting on the toilet thinking "Oh, she is totally going to show up RIGHT NOW."

Reply
Tags:alarms, locked doors
Reply Up