This is a story I would like to tell you not just as a professional US locksmith, but also as a concerned parent. The other day I was driving back home from my work at Pembroke Pines Locksmiths in Florida. On the way I picked up my daughter from her Nana. On the way home she briefed me as usual on what was happening in her favorite TV shows, and I was half listening half thinking about work. You know how it is with working parents, I’m sure I don’t need to tell you.
BigStock photo
When we finally got home I parked and we approached the locked door together. I am a family man and as such I made sure to put the best security measures I could put in my house, and that includes some serious locks on the doors. So my door was properly locked with a keypad deadbolt lock, and I therefore did not even bother to look for the key but went straight to unlock the door with the finger on the pad, when I heard a sweet voice peeping behind me: “daddy, can I do it”?
I smiled, how sweet is my five year old daughter, thinking she can unlock our big front door. “Sure honey,” I said, stepping out of the way, “you can try!”
And my sweet, piggy tailed girl walked to the keypad and unlocked the door without blinking an eye. In the first second I was amazed and even proud. It’s quite a long code and she just recently learned to read digits. But then it hit me: my five year old, my sweet naive girl, can give our big lock door code to any grown up who might ask her for it. True, normally she doesn’t meet strangers without us present, but what if somebody approached her while she’s at school? She’s so young and might be proud to show that she actually can tell what our secret code is. Who would have thought my little girl has been watching me punching in the code and managed to memorize it? What do we do now? Do we give her a talk about security and strangers and maybe confuse and scare her? Or do I just change the code and just be careful from now on?
When my wife got home I told her what happened. It was almost funny to watch her go through what I felt – first she was filled with pride, but then the meaning dawned on her. We decided to do both – we changed our code and also brought up the importance of being safe in a conversation with our daughter.
On the morning after I went to my office in Locksmith Pembroke Pines. I told my colleagues how my super safe deadbolt touchscreen lock can be compromised by having one clever little girl. We all agreed that as sweet as they are, one should not underestimate our little kids. If you have a security code at your house, you should reconsider how much of it is exposed to your little ones. They see much more than you think.