Toddler Is Obsessed with Doors

Hi C.,
My 3 1/2 year old went throught his around 2 years of age as well. No matter what I did, he was still crazy about doors and wanted them shut when they were open or open when they were shut. He out grew it-about 4-5 months later. He was also crazy about corners and would go and put his head in a corner, whether it was a wall, a corner of a couch-whatever had a corner. Some weird things but he out grew them. So...in my case, patience and carefully watching for safety. Good luck

It seems like my oldest son was obsessed for a while. He was also obsessed with locking them first, too! We'd just moved into our first house, and it had weird unlocking mechanisms for the interior doors. I didn't know how to unlock them! He locked himself out of his room during naptime, and wouldn't take a nap on my bed. I thought I'd pull my hair out until I finally figured out how to unlock it from the outside.
I don't know if this would help your particular situation, but there are so many baby-proofing products for doors! If he can't open the doors, maybe he'll stop obsessing. And I also saw a foam thing that fits over the top of your door and keeps it from shutting all the way. It says it's for preventing fingers getting slammed in a door.
My 2 year old is obsessed with cars. I can hardly get him out of ours. I will often unbuckle his car seat harness from the front seat, so he's out and ready when I get around to his door. But now I have to stop that, because he climbs all over the car, and thinks it's great fun to move to a different seat while I'm walking around the car to try to get him! My oldest son loved it, too, but after he pulled Daddy's rear view mirror off the windshield he was banned from playing in the car.

He is just curious. Don't curb it, he will get over it. I had a daughter (she is 8 now) that loved to see how everything worked. She would get into EVERYTHING!!!! But she usually helped you clean up when she was done, if you reminder her. Most people thought she was a holy terror, but once you saw her at work, she was just really curious about everything. She still is, but she is better at not making such a mess with it all! Enjoy the moment and laugh, because they grow up so fast!

I have a friend who has a 5 year old boy who was obsessed with light switches at your son's age. He was NUTS about them. They had to build him a special foot stool tall enough so he could stand at the light switch and turn it on and off repeatedly for hours. Literally HOURS. He would do nothing else! Now that he is older, he is obsessed with numbers, time, temperature, and calendars. He is a very bright, social, friendly kid, but his teachers do have some concerns that he may have a form of autism. I hope this doesn't scare you! Ask your doctor. He may have some answers. It may be just a phase!

I feel your pain. Our 21 month old is the same way. Today I wanted the doors open and I literally had to block them into the position I wanted. He still spent the majority of his morning trying to move the blocks so he could shut the doors. I do hope it's just a stage! :)

It must be the age and/or the fact that he is a boy. The reason that I say that is because I have a little boy who will do the exact same thing with the doors in our house. He closes all the doors upstairs before we go down, wants to open the front door for me when I take the trash out, will open and close the sliding door, but I haven't really see him do it at anyone else's house but ours. I would just watch him and remind him the proper manners for opening and closing the doors (watching for fingers and others before closing) so that no one gets hurt.
J.

Just let him get it out of his system, he'll get over it and find something more interesting. Just don't try to get him to stop or talk about it in front of him or he'll do it even more.
K.

Is this the only thing that seems odd to you about your son? Is his behavior normal in other ways? If his behavior is normal in every other way (for a 2 year old!), then I wouldn't worry. If you've noticed other things about him, there might be some concern and I'd check with his doctor. Otherwise, it may simply be an interest that will pass...still, I'm no expert and when I'm really concerned about something concerning my children, be it mental or physical...their behavior, I check with our doctor.

This sounds EXACTLY like my son. He is now 33 months old and first began what I call his obsession with doors at 10 months old. He is our youngest of 4 and none of the others did anything remotely similar to this. Around 10 months old he had a lego door that opened and he literally carried it around 24/7 even holding it tightly in his sleep! He will open any door he can find; cabinets, closets, bedroom doors, even the dryer. And at times will play for hours with a door. He is also very much obsessed with car doors and gets very upset if we do not allow him to play in the car. Like you mentioned, when we go to someone else's house he explores the whole house opening doors and cabinets. During the day he goes in and out the back door at least 50 times. So far I have not found anything that can deter this curiosity. Most times when he's doing it he is playing a particular "game". He's "going to the store" or "to work" and goes out the door. "See you later". Then comes right back in "I'm back" only to do it again and again for the next 45 min. He is normal in every other way and although he was a late talker he is now very verbal. So I believe it is a extreme curiosity about how things work. Although I can totally relate to how exhausting it can be. I know that's not much help but at least you know you're not alone.

My son has been doing this since he could crawl and now he is 2 years old and is still doing this.. I have found that the more you restrict them the more they want to do it.. So i would recommend trying to baby proof the doors as much as possible.. they sell these white foam pads that go on the side of the door, which makes it 1. impossible to close the door and 2. impossible to close the door on fingers or heads lol. u can bring them with you anywhere you go.. And there are also locks for the cabinets, although you cannot bring these with you to your friends house maybe it will stop him from doing it at your house and in turn stop him from doing it all together.