At Last! No More Break-ins!

Peter and I have had enough. We are sick of our kids breaking into the pantry and dumping out a whole bag of Fruit Loops on the carpet. Or taking out every package of fruit snacks from 5 different boxes and throwing them around like confetti. After a few attempts at keeping the kids out, we have finally done what we should have to begin with.

Attempt #1:

The problem here was that you had to either drill holes into the door, or attach the top part with a little adhesive patch. That didn't last too long, and pretty soon the top part just fell off, rendering this contraption totally useless.

Attempt #2:

These actually worked for a while until Eden either figured it out, or just put so much weight on the handle, that it actually just slid over on its own and opened. Eden will try a million times until she figures it out or it breaks. Jonah would have left it alone, but sure enough, Eden showed him how to open it. Since they have been able to open this one, we have had food everywhere, puzzle pieces and crayons dumped out, and Eden has been trying to get to the houshold cleaners in my craft closet. (We had one on the craft closet door and the pantry door.)

Attempt #3:

Peter made an ingenious little device that kept the kids from opening the previous door locks. Until they figured out to just remove it. That lasted maybe two days.

Final Attempt:

If this doesn't work, someone will go in the chokey! We finally broke down and bought new knobs that have a push-button lock on the back side. We can open them from the outside with a little "key" or a bobby pin. Horray! Now our pantry will be tidy and my crafts are safe! We might have some tantrums, but they'll get over it, and maybe if they learn to stop making messes we can replace the handles. But by then Levi might be getting into things...