Latches, Locks, and Sliders, Oh My! Choosing the Best Child Safety Product for Your Cabinets and Drawers
Perhaps one of the most often purchased child safety products besides plug guards, child safety latches and locks come in a variety of styles, each with their own pros and cons. When choosing which safety latch to buy, you’ll want to consider 1) what kind of cabinets you have, 2) how convenient the lock will be for adults to use, and 3) the quality of the child safety latch itself.
A word of caution for those looking for a deal – buying the cheapest latches can backfire. Cabinet latches that are not based on a spring, or are not installed with screws, last no longer than a few weeks at most – or, if you’ve got a really strong, persistent kid, hours.
Child safety latches that are based on a mere plastic hook being pushed down (without the help of a spring) are easily open by just pulling extra hard on the door. If you are going to buy this kind, at least get something made from firm, hard plastic. If it looks flimsy, it is flimsy. Also, keep in mind kids aren’t dumb – it doesn’t take them long to figure out that they just need to push down on the hook to open the door.
Child Slide Locks work extremely well, though they will only work on certain cabinets and drawers (there must be a handle on the outside that can hold the slider). This child safety latch doesn’t need to be installed (a big save on time), though they are visible and will most likely not match your living room décor. (Of course, if you’ve got a playpen and toys all over, a few slide locks won’t look out of place.)
If slide locks are out, consider child safety magnet locks. Theses are neat child safety locks that open with a magnetic key on the outside of the door. They are invisible from the outside, so they look better, and typically much stronger than the push-down hook latches. You will need to install them, which is a disadvantage, but if slide locks are not an option, and you really want to keep little hands out of a drawer or cabinet, these are your best bet.
The biggest problem with child safety magnet locks are that you need the key to open them, and the key – being small – is easily lost. Usually the kit comes with a small key holder you can install somewhere out of reach from your children, but still, it’s easy to forget to place it back. If you lose the key, you can still open the cabinet – just pull very, very hard. Your best bet is to buy extra magnet keys, to save you frustration and time in the long run.
No matter what child safety lock, slider, or latch you choose, you should still keep the real poisons and any medications up high and out of reach from toddlers and young kids. Never rely on child safety latches when serious danger is involved, because kids grow up much faster then we expect, and one day, they are opening the kid-safe bottles and locks faster than we can.