Baby Gate Experiment
We put a baby gate up on the playroom door. But I’m not sure if I want to keep it there. I feel cruel locking the girls in to play. Ila hates it.
It seems like a reasonable thing to lock the girls in to play while I finish cleaning the kitchen. Especially when you consider this next picture:
Yes, that lovely pile of socks, technology, and a spoon are in the toilet.
Is it cruel of me to restrict their freedom so, or is it a normal thing to do and they’ll just get use to it?
I say that I have 4 tornadoes that mess my house up every day, then a milder tornado comes through to clean things up. I think letting them play where you can see them and get to them, but they can’t throw stuff in the toilet, empty drawers, color on the walls, do dangerous stunts… I think that’s just fair and smart. They might not like it, but they have access to everything fun (and allowable for kids) except mom. You could say that you’re helping them gain independence.
It’s totally fine! They’ll probably get used to it. (I think that about a lot of things that still seem to bug my kids though. “We do this every day, and complaining doesn’t change it” is a common phrase in our house.)
Normal!! Good luck! :o)
I totally think it’s fine to put the gate up while you get your work done. In fact, I think it’s healthy to have time for your kids to learn to entertain themselves while you do some of your own work and sometimes that means ‘containing’ the play to one room. It keeps them safe while allowing them freedom to explore and learn on their own.
It keeps them out of my candy when I forget to put it up on the top shelf =).