aag

Oh, I remember those days….

Unfortunately, the bathroom is probably not a room you want the associated with a strong shock from a collar. You do want him to go in the toilet eventually.

Maybe try a potty chair? If he must be in the bathroom, he has to sit on the chair. Not on the chair? Out he goes. In theory, this will teach him it’s okay to be in the bathroom while doing what he’s supposed to someday. It sort of worked with my son. He quit trying to use my makeup, but he did develop a huge affinity for washing his hands :)

Could you change the door handle to something with which he’s a little less familiar? For example, if you have knobs on the doors, switch the bathroom to a lever handle, or vice versa. It’s only a temporary fix, but might work. Otherwise, I’m tempted to suggest a non-key latch on the outside of the door that’s easily reached by the the older kids, but not by the younger one. The only potential problem…what happens if one of the kids latches it while you’re in the bathroom?

Good luck!

Yes, I think the last sentence of your first paragraph pretty tidily sums up why there’s no lower latch on the door. Have I also mentioned that the boy climbs? –aag

All boys climb. I learned that in my ed class. Plato was ahead of his time, reading is important, all boys climb, make sure to keep parents informed, all boys climb.

Hold your head up. You have a young boy who has the class to use a spoon when sipping from the toilet instead of sticking his face in.

See it from the positive side … When my lil sister was younger , she once took our guinea pigs to the bathroom to bath them in the toilet. The lil creatures were quiet lucky that my mom saw my sis walk away with Bobo and Katja else i dont know what would have happend.

Sounds like you’ve got one headstrong little boy on your hands. At the very least, from my (limited) experience with children, stubbornness usually results in a child less prone to pressure from others in his older years…

I have a 3 year old sister, and my parents have this big plastic thing they put on their back doorknob. You can’t turn the knob and open the door unless you pinch these two rubber things that grip on the knob, which keeps her from running out the back door on her own whim. I don’t know if your other children are old enough to successfully use it, but it could work!

This kind of looks like the thing they use… http://www.kidproteq.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=39

We had one. He defeated it. Also, we had a toilet lock. He defeated that too. But thank you! –aag

My little boy also climbs, it really must be a boy thing.

He’s also figured out how to open the safety catches on the cupboards, he helps himself to food whenever he gets the opportunity.

The only time he plays in the bathroom though is to squirt all of my shampoo into the bath tub, or to constantly flush the toilet just so he can watch the water - as far as I know, he hasn’t been tempted to taste it yet!

Don’t worry about him - drinking from the toilet will strengthen his immune system.

God knows how my mother managed three sons!

Damian:
Dramamine.

Look at the bright side, he sure provides an incentive to keep those toilets sparkling clean, eh?

Omg… –aag

His fascination with bathrooms may mean that he wants to be a plumber when he grows up. And having a plumber in the family is always a good thing!

Other than tying the child up, I’m at a loss. He’s thwarted everything I could think of.

How does he respond to rewards? Maybe you coudl reward him for every day he DOESN’T play in the bathroom?

how’s this for a lower lock

one of those old fashioned latches that works from both sides.

i’m picturing one of those locks that has a bar that rotates up and down and just drops into place in a little bar with a notch in it that sticks out of the doorframe to catch it.

could work from both sides equally and solves your ‘locking themselves in’ problem too.

could even be pretty.

??

The boy was poised between these two sources of water, the dripping spoon partway to his lips, an expression of shock on his face as he saw me burst into the room.

I envision a photograph of that scene with a caption that reads:
Toilet training — ur doin’ it wrong.
Actually, aag, the fact that you have repeatedly tried to keep the tyke out of the bathroom while you are enthroned may have only served to convince him that forbidden but delectable treats are hidden in the porcelain safe.

;-)

LOL. Oh wow. Kids do the damndest things, I guess…?

i would put a baby gate in the door frame so the door can still be closed but keeps him out. i had to do this with my son. it has worked wonders for us.