Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Locking Doors in the CH

[R Philip Dowds (rpdowds]

Our common house kitchen / dining / atrium is mostly open plan, and nothing to 
lock.  There is a small children's play room with doors, but they are always 
open.  The arts and crafts room is kept locked because (a) it might have 
something sharp and dangerous, and (b) unsupervised kids will make big messes, 
and not clean up; the lock does not appear to be solving the (b) problem.  We 
also have a doored den that contains a TV, but since we do not pay for cable 
service, there is nothing to watch if you sneak in.   Which leads me to 
consider ...

Why not try locking the TV, rather than the door?

RPD

Sent from my iPad

On May 20, 2013, at 2:46 PM, Sharon Villines <sharon [at] sharonvillines.com> 
wrote:

> 
> What rooms in your common house are locked and for what reason? 
> 
> The current parent is requesting locked doors on rooms with TVs so his two 10 
> year old boys can't sneak in and watch TV. He believes this is a cohousing 
> problem and is unique to cohousing and his is an oppressed parent. Not quite 
> that strong but that is his argument.
> 
> Others who have raised children think it is a parenting and socialization 
> problem that locking doors won't fix.
> 
> Some don't want the CH to look locked down. The CH should look open and 
> inviting.
> 
> At least some members who are parents of grown children think parents should 
> be supervising their children more closely and the world won't come to an end 
> if they watch TV when their parents think they are doing something else.
> 
> Some could care less either way.
> 
> Some believe that to do anything other than what a parent requests is "not 
> being supportive of parents."
> 
> We lock a game room for older kids because of the more delicate nature of the 
> equipment in there that younger children shouldn't play with.  We lock the 
> workshop which has lots of dangerous stuff in it. And the office is locked 
> because we keep the facilities keys and records there. The knife drawer has a 
> kid-proof latch.
> 
> i've asked this question before and not gotten responses. The issue keeps 
> getting raised here by parents, only one at this point. We have 20 kids and a 
> cluster in the same age group as these two boys.
> 
> Please respond. We need some fresh perspectives.
> 
> Sharon
> ----
> Sharon Villines
> Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
> http://www.takomavillage.org
> 
> 
> 
> 
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