Grandkids are locked in their bedrooms

Iam64

No, locking children in rooms is a red flag.
Baby gates, or you can get taller gates (I have one for my huge dog)
Locking children in is emotionally not ok. Ever

I agree Iam64 especially about the emotional effect on a child.

That’s the point being made. Children’s safety gates - good, sensible, safe
Locking bedroom doors - not good, not safe, not sensible

I have childproof gates on the bedrooms where my granddaughters have naps when I am looking after them. I would never forgive myself if they came out of the bedroom and either hurt themselves in the bathroom or fell down the stairs. They are both happy for me to fasten them in and tell me night night grandma see you later.

No, locking children in rooms is a red flag.
Baby gates, or you can get taller gates (I have one for my huge dog)
Locking children in is emotionally not ok. Ever

Well done Fannycorn!
Definitely a red flag here.

Surely this is cruel and dangerous .

One of my children never slept through the night until aged 13 .
He was restless, had nightmares and terrors .
It was exhausting .
He must have slept sometimes maybe catnaps for 20 minutes or so .
So as he grew - I'd explain :
I need to sleep and if you can't then you have to play quietly and that's what he did .
Now and now again I'd wake up and hear him playing with his toys and saying mummy says not to be loud !

No not if the fire started in the room or directly outside the room violet
I would never never lock a baby or child in a room whatever their medical or mental condition was, I d find a different way and may have to think outside the box
For old people you can get a mat that buzzes or makes some other sound if stood on maybe that’s a way, or I d keep them in my room until they could be safely left
Not just a fire danger but psychologically to be locked in is such an awful thought

You're right baggytrazzas its not a good idea to start with a lie. However I did a bit of research and apparently is IS classed as abuse.
We do need more information about the ages of the children and any other problems they may have. And they are going to have to have a conversation about it soon.

As to the reason for the OP's failure to return, she may have been put off by the shock/horror replies, she did ask a valid question after all. She said she needed HELP not judgement, so let's try to help her.
If its a 'scam' I hope they're enjoying it - what a waste of energy!

Iam64

Baby gates are useful, locking children in is entirely different

What if they can climb them? Or open them? Or open the door?

I don't know what I would have done

But if there was a fire, baby gate or door would prevent escape, of a small child knew to do that but a door would slow the fire down wouldn't it?

Baby gates are useful, locking children in is entirely different

Farmor15

For those commenting on the lack of response from OP, she's probably on the other side of the Atlantic and may be still asleep. Time of posting and use of term "grandkids" (not so common in UK) are clues.

Yes, I thought that too.

I used a babygate to keep my daughter in her room, maybe I would have locked the door if I had a lock.

The reason being, she is autistic and as a toddler, needed about 3 hours sleep a night. I couldn't survive on that much sleep a night so she needed somewhere she could exist safely.

This was under the recommendation of doctors and health visitors

So it really depends why this is happening and there is nowhere near enough info in the OP.

How old is your daughter? Is she the only adult in her home or is there someone else with an opinion? Does she live with you? How is this your business?

How do you know she does this Charlotte? Are the children old enough to have told you or did your D? If your D did, that would have been the time to have a conversation about it.

It is not illegal to do so but not recommended either.

In general - not applied only to this thread

Threatening somebody with calling social services on them may fully backfire, the other person may fully or partially restrict contact .

ExDancer

Charlotte have you said anything to your daughter about it, if so what? And what was her reply?
I don't think you can pussyfoot around the issue so you've got to have that awkward conversation NOW.
Perhaps something along the lines of "Do you know its illegal to lock children in their rooms? If social services find out you'll risk losing them". Not true of course, but a conversation you really must have even if you risk alienating your daughter.
There's no tactful way of approaching this.

I wouldn't be starting the conversation off with lies. And why would the daughter think this was true? This could result in her never relying upon another word said by her mother.

I think it really dies depend on why she does it and how often and how long for.
My son was “difficult” and there were times when I locked myself in the lavatory for both of our sakes. We both laugh about it now.

The only time I can think of where it might be understandable is if they are sleep walking and it's proving dangerous to them.

More info needed

So as others have said how are they locked in? Does the OP know why they are locked in? I would think that could be a starting point for the discussion - either to find out why or discuss other ways of achieving the purpose of locking them in

A definite no no from me as well. Locks, bolts should never be used to restrain children, so many things to go wrong.

For those commenting on the lack of response from OP, she's probably on the other side of the Atlantic and may be still asleep. Time of posting and use of term "grandkids" (not so common in UK) are clues.

Another question: does OP's daughter have a baby camera (audio and/or video)

It's a total no-no as far as I'm concerned (and yes, I had a daughter who wouldn't go to sleep etc etc, but I would never have even considered locking her bedroom door). Even if it's just for a short time, there's far too much potential for disaster.

In our case it was not to save being disturbed - it was to save our GS from walking into an obstacle and waking up with a shock and possible injury, or worse still falling down the stairs, as from a young age he was quite capable of climbing over stairgates. Had he tried to open his bedroom door we would have heard it rattle and gone to him - I do think different situations need different resolutions, and to make sweeping statements about reporting the mother, or expressing horror - I am still thinking this post must be dubious as there has been no response from the OP.

What if something happened to the mother, how long before the children would be found?