It lets you hear little children if they awaken and listen for anything mysterious, like break-ins or something going wrong with your appliances. But none of those supersede the most important reason for closing your bedroom door at night: Surviving a house fire.
Keeping bedroom doors closed at night provides more protection in case of a house fire. That's right; it's actually safer for you and your entire family to keep your bedroom doors closed at night.
"As a parent, it's hard to convince little kids to sleep with the door closed, they always want it open just a little," the fire department wrote on Facebook. "I do a lot of fire prevention at schools, so one thing I try and stress to the kids is, how important it is to sleep with the doors closed."
Why closing the door at bedtime is important. When working with a toddler who is making a transition to a toddler bed, I recommend to my clients to close the door and use a child-proof door knob. This is not done to be mean or as a punishment, it is done to keep control over the situation.
Simply dangerous: locking a child's door is a fire hazard. It may also earn parents a visit from child protective services. Gates and Dutch doors are safer options and less alienating for the toddler. Motion alarms can also tell parents when kids make a break for it, and they are easy to implement.
Per the FSRI, sleeping with your door closed can greatly reduce the spread of carbon monoxide from other rooms to the bedroom. In fact, a closed door can help keep carbon monoxide levels at 1,000 PPM versus 10,000 PPM with an open door.
It lets you hear little children if they awaken and listen for anything mysterious, like break-ins or something going wrong with your appliances. But none of those supersede the most important reason for closing your bedroom door at night: Surviving a house fire.
Keeping your bedroom door closed can slow the spread of a house fire, as well as reduce toxic smoke levels. Having the right kind of fire extinguisher nearby can help. But when it comes to fire-related deaths, it's usually not the flames that are to blame. Smoke is actually more likely to cause suffocation and death.
Check in at set times
Keeping her in the room doesn't mean you close the door and never check on her. Instead, check in at set times. Once you close the door, set your timer for 5 minutes, at which point you'll go to her room and remind her that it's time to sleep.
Ask your child why he or she is not in their bed. Assuming that they are feeling okay, calmly but firmly tell them that they're not allowed out of their room until morning. Walk them back to bed, say goodnight, give them a quick kiss, and let them know that there will be a consequence if they leave their room again.
A CHILD safety expert has revealed why it's so important to make sure your kids' bedroom doors stay closed at night - and it could make the difference between life or death. The expert said to remember the handy phrase "close before you doze", and commenters are super grateful that she shared the tip.
To Prevent Burglary
Burglary and theft certainly has to rank on top of the list for why you should be locking your door at night. Burglars will always choose the easiest opportunity to gain entry to a house and what's better than a non-locked house with sleeping household.
Dr. Basora-Rovira says there is no specific age that is “too old” for co-sleeping. She encourages parents to not begin practicing co-sleeping in the first place. And, if you are already co-sleeping with your child, to transition him or her out of your bed and into his or her own room as soon as possible.
According to sex educator and therapist, Shirley Zussman, the answer's pretty simple: Lock your doors. Zussman advises, "In my opinion, parents' bedroom doors should always be closed, not just for lovemaking. Even at an early age, children can be taught to respect privacy and to knock before entering a room."
Keep a consistent bedtime routine that not only starts at the same time every night, but goes in the same order, too. Read children's books specifically about staying in bed so she can relate to the characters. Once you've tucked her in, use a baby monitor to remind her to stay in bed the second she starts to get out.
We will not give up, and will do our best to stay one step ahead of her. Our open door policy is also a symbol for us telling her that we are here if she needs us. That we are here to protect her, and to keep her safe. That we still care about her, even if she is eighteen.
This allows fresh oxygen in, as well as allowing Carbon Dioxide to escape naturally. Another important factor in choosing to keep windows open at night is for temperature control or thermoregulation. Besides getting darker at night, one of the biggest cues our body needs to fall asleep is a drop in temperature.
The rule of thumb is to install interior doors to open into the room. This approach prevents doors from becoming an obstruction in tight areas like hallways. Doors attached to tight spaces will often swing out to keep someone from getting trapped inside.
If you have reasons not to trust your teen with more privacy, a door lock may not be the right option for your family. However, if your child hasn't given you any reasons not to trust them, you may want to consider giving them this added degree of privacy.
It's the close proximity to you they want, the reassurance someone else is there. Or you could sleep in their bed with them until they drop off and then retreat to your own room, the kind of musical sleeping beds many parents have to engage in till their child can self soothe themselves to sleep.
The Bottom Line
So, should parents knock before entering their child's room? Yes, if you want to respect your child's privacy. It's a simple act that shows them that you trust and respect them.
A pediatrician and a child psychologist say co-sleeping is OK until a child reaches prepuberty. Alicia Silverstone recently shared in a podcast that she and her 11-year-old son share a bed. A pediatrician said co-sleeping should not happen before 12 months and should stop at prepuberty.
When children sleep in a separate room, it is common for them to come to their parents' bed sometime during the night. This is more likely to occur during periods of high stress such as starting a new school or following some traumatic event.
Key points. Forty-five percent of moms let their 8- to 12-year-olds sleep with them from time to time, and 13 percent permit it every night. A child's anxiety, lower self-esteem, and dependency behaviors during the daytime are related to their inability to sleep alone at night.