How Do I Get My 3 Year Old to Stay in His Room?

The key is to be consistent - let him know that once it is time for bed, he must stay in his room. If he needs you, he has to stay in his room and call for you and you will come. When we switched my son to a bed, he would come out and try to see what we were doing. As others suggested, we would just march him back to bed and let him know that it is time for him to go to sleep and now he has to stay in bed. This worked after a few days.

you can do many things..........
1. put a hook & eye latch on the outside of the door so that he cannot open it.

2. put a TV/DVD/VCR in his room, so he won't feel alone.

3. make sure he has plenty of his favorite toys there.

4. and then be strong and just tell him that this is his room and this is where he needs to be for a bit.

5. get diego, superman, spongebob, sesame street sheets for the toddler bed, so that he'll love his bed.

Good Luck

I have twin boys in toddler beds (2-1/2 yrs old) and they love being in their room and in their beds. I have several different types of sheets for their beds, superheros, diego, pooh, sesame street, etc. I have a TV/VCR combo in their room that I only play educational tv on (sprout channel) or lately I've introduced them to disney movies. This works for me, hope it does for you.

You've gotten some great advice so far (hopefully it is working already!). My boys are 21 months apart, and we had our older son on his twin bed by 16 months or so. We gated his door until he learned to climb over the gate and it became unsafe. To rest easier and keep him safe at night, we have put a door knob cover on the inside of his door. Only in the throws of a horrible tantrum has he kicked it off. I love the Dutch door idea! My parents did that when they had grandchildren living with them in their farmhouse--our upstairs railing was old and unsafe so my dad made a very pretty Dutch door for the kids' room. We could hear them and they were contained and safe and couldn't get out. Teaching him to stay in on his own is a great idea and certainly what we should all be striving for, but I agree that you want to keep him safe while he is learning that and still get enough rest yourself.

A.,

Ii had the same problem with my son when he was small. He would climb over anything we tried to use to keep him in his room, and if we closed and locked his door, we couldn't hear him if he needed us, or was getting into something that he shouldn't

What we ended up doing, which worked great, was to cut his bedroom door in half, and remove the top part of it. Then we placed a hook and eye lock on the outside of it, about a foot off the floor, where he couldn't reach it......it worked like a charm! Of course, we had to replace the door when he got older and wanted his privacy, but the peace of mind of knowing where he was and that he was safe when he was small was worth the expense when he got older!

D.

is the baby in the crib yet? if you can put your son back in the crib when he gets out of bed, he will get the picture real quick. it worked like a charm for us. even if you just tell him the baby is gonna sleep in your bed tonite and put your son to bed a little earlier so the crib is empty when he first pops out. put him in the crib, he will likely freak out, tell him ok one more chance, back in bed. of course, if he likes it, youre stuck :)

Hi A.,
Have you done baby gates? I would gate him in. I would also let him know that there will be a consequence for getting out of bed - explain about the bed, rules and consequences just like any other rules that you have in the house
Good luck!

I put 3 quarters outside my sons door. He understood that 3 quarters equaled a ride at the mall. Each time he came out or called for us(except to go to the bathroom) he would use a quarter. After the first night it worked great. You could use stickers or something as well. He was very excited to wake up in the morning to see his quarters there and put in his bank. And the reward at the mall was even better. He eventually told us he didn't need the quarters anymore because he was a big boy.

A.:

I'll tell you what worked with us. When my oldest was 18mths our second one arrived, so we told him that he was a big boy and needed to sleep in his room (and give the pinky away) It was hard but it worked. We started the process before I had the baby. We would put him to bed everynight, and when he would wake up and come over, one of us would go with him, laydown with him for about 10 minutes until he fell asleep again, and we did that through the night taking turns, both my husband and I. It was shortly when he realized that he would be fine in his room. Maybe it'll work for you. Wish you well. Enjoy him, they grow too fast.
P.S. I'm not for the locking him in his room. God forbids something happens to him and you can't get to the door, he will freak; I don't think it's safe.

Hi A.,
We were in the same position recently. I am expecting baby #2 in November so we transitioned our 2 year old to a big boy bed. He was getting up frequently throughout the night and coming into our room, and we just kept marching him back in. It's a pain because it's exhausting, but now he stays in there and doesn't come out. When he does come out, don't give him any attention, just keep marching him back in. Let him know you mean business.
I feel your pain! I was ready to stick him back in the crib but thankfully he stays in his bed now.
Lynsey

This happened with my son when we put him in a bed. We found out that he did not like when his bedroom door was closed so we told him if he got out of bed 3 times we would close the door. This worked really well for us. He usually ended up getting out twice but not the third time. Occasionally he would and we'd close the door, he cry for about 5 minutes and that would be it. We had to put one of those safety things on the inside doorknob so he could not open it.