[milkmamamerina]

He is sitting in his room right now because I'm too angry to think of a good consequence.<br><br>
He was in his room until he chose to get dressed and he opened his window and claims he fell out (single story house). Although we had already told him he is not to be opening his window earlier this morning, he did it again and climbed or fell but landed outside and came in through the side garage door.<br><br>
What do I do??

 

[One_Girl]

I think that you shouldn't do anything to him besides what you are already doing now. It is good that you put him in his room where he is safe because you can't deal with seeing him without being too angry right now, but that is essentially a time-out which is plenty of punishment for a young child. Can you wedge a bar in the window so he can't open it enough to get out or get a window lock for it? Some people live with really high windows so there must be some sort of window safety device out there. If you call a hardware store they may be able to point you in the right direction.

 

[crunchymomofmany]

I'm curious as to what your concern is exactly. I appreciate that it could be dangerous, but does your child need a space to climb? Have you asked him why he climbs out the window? Are you angry because he disobeyed you? Is the window in his room? If so, why would you send there as a punishment? I have a lot of kids who have done a lot of interesting things...so I always like to try and figure out what the nature of their actions are. Does he just want to go outside? Is there a way to keep him from the window (is there furniture in front of it that he can climb on that could be moved?) Remember that a four-year-old is going to do anything he can figure out to do, so heading him off at the pass might be best!<br><br>
Good luck!

 

[Drummer's Wife]

I would just find a way to lock/block his window from being open so it doesn't happen again.

 

[nextcommercial]

Hopefully it hurt a little when he fell out. (Logical consequenses)<br><br>
LOL.. I'd plant a thorny bush under his window. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/ROTFLMAO.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="rotflmao"><br><br>
If it makes you feel any better, one of my daycare kids climbed out of her carseat and opened the car door to throw a ball out while they were ON THE FREEWAY.<br><br>
In reality, I don't think I'd lock his window so much that he couldn't get out, but i'd be locking it so nobody can get in. You can rearrange his furniture so he can't easily get out. Or you could put one of those beeper alarms at the top of his window so you will hear him when he opens it.... but, that might make him want to open it more often.<br><br>
Other than that, just wait til you aren't so mad anymore and let him back out. But, give him the "I can NOT believe you did that" death look as he walks by you.

 

[mom2grrls]

4 y/o don't see climbing out of a window as dangerous, they see it as fun<img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/smile.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="smile"> Prevent it from happening again with a window alarm or locks that keep the window from opening more than a couple inches.

 

[Mama2Bug]

I think I would install something like <a href="http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=127764&cmSource=CrossSell&relatedProductId=534593" target="_blank">this window safety device</a> and explain that, since you can't trust him to make safe decisions about the window, you can't allow him to open it any farther than a few inches. I would also have a discussion about how it isn't safe for him to go outside without telling you, regardless of his means of exit.

 

[Emmeline II]

I would start with putting an alarm on the window. There are "independent" ones, or if you put in a security alarm you can have the windows wired as well.<br><br>
I don't like the idea of barring the window for safety reasons before other ideas are tried and the safest option is barring (such as him climbing out in the middle of the night and wandering on the street).

 

[LynnS6]

<a href="http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=464&cmSource=CrossSell&relatedProductId=127764" target="_blank">These window guards</a> can be easily released in case of a fire.<br><br>
Or you can go the cheap route and just keep the window from going up high enough with stoppers <a href="http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=127764&parentCategoryId=85183&categoryId=85216&subCategoryId=86198" target="_blank">like this</a>. They're also easily repositioned in case of a fire.<br><br>
These kinds of devices have the double advantage in that they're good at keeping burglars from crawling in your windows.