An alarm on a door will alert parents when their child is trying to leave the house: a child prone to wandering or sneaking out.
Young kids will want to go outside. They may know it’s against the rules but still try to sneak out.
My sister did this when she was a teenager — late at night to go to parties, then returning in the middle of the night — while my parents and I slept through the exits and entries. We all learned of this many years later.
A door alarm would have awakened my parents that someone was at the door who shouldn’t have been. Busted!
Door Alarms: Excellent Tool for Parents of Wandering Children
“The amount of security or mental preparedness required to prevent the child from wandering off requires a specific diligent mindset,” says Robert Siciliano, CEO of Safr.Me.com and an expert in fraud prevention and personal safety.
“Parents in this situation complain that it is tiring and exhausting. Keeping mind at a certain age the child is also fully capable of unlocking even the most sophisticated door lock and essentially escaping on their own.”
But by the time such a child opens the door — after standing on a stool and thick book and unlocking the lock with a key that he knew the hiding place of — the parents will hear the alarm.
That’s assuming Mom isn’t singing opera in the shower and Dad isn’t in the workshop using his circular saw. But you get the picture.
In most instances, Mom or Dad will be within hearing range of the alarm. In fact, some alarms are piercing loud.
It’s fair to wonder what percentage of parents, who worry about an autistic child wandering off from the house, have some kind of door alarm.
This implementation will prevent many kids from getting too far from the house.
Sure, there may be the case of an older child who, blessed with amazing speed, sprints off the property the second he’s out the door.
And by the time Dad or Mom get to the door, Junior is 200 meters from the house, still sprinting, and his parents have no clue which direction he took.
But in general, a door alarm will prevent a lot of children from going missing.
“Technology helps to solve this problem, but nothing is 100 percent, “says Siciliano.
“Locking doors, installing cameras, motion sensors and audible alarms are all layers of protection.
“GPS locators that attach to the wrist or ankle can send off an audible alarm or text message and also help to set up boundaries and/or locate in the event the child leaves the premises.”
Don’t assume that something hasn’t been invented yet.
Siciliano explains, “All one needs to do is a simple search in various forums where parents are experiencing the same issues and have the same concerns.
“They will most likely benefit from the research of others in the same boat. In those same forums they will find various products in links to the same solutions.”
Don’t feel overwhelmed by technology. Simply take the first step and get an alarm for the doors in your house to help prevent your child from going missing.
You can find small, easy-to-attach door alarms sold online by a variety of retailers.
Robert Siciliano is a private investigator fiercely committed to informing, educating and empowering people to protect themselves and their loved-ones from violence and crime — both in their physical and virtual interactions.
Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer.
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