What age should child gates work until?

[MantaRay]

A couple of times in the past few weeks I have been surprised to find Jack's gate open when I was SURE I'd shut it. Now I have just watched him open it - so I guess the time has come where the gates are no good for him and therefore not much good for Tom (as Jack can open for Tom). I would have thought they would be too hard to open until at least 3, but I guess I would have been wrong. The gates are the ones where you push the button in and pull up the handle at the same time. Has anyone else had a 2 yo open the gates?

[Lucy]

Melanie,

You know, it seems to really vary on the child!

Olivia is 3.5 and has no idea on how to manipulate the lock on our child gate.

Charlie, on the other hand, can cheerfully open and close it and has been able to do this since he was around 19 months!

In our new house DH made a beautiful wooden gate for our stairs with what we hoped would be a "Charlie proof" lock mechanism......but he figured it out really quickly.

I guess it is all down to how determined they are, and how mechanically minded, and how manually dexterous they are?

[Angel]

Yep, K has had most of our gates figured out for a few months (he can take just about anything apart, including his cot). I'm thinking a lock with a key might be the only answer LOL.

[wardygirl]

I think it would depend on the child and the type of gate you use. We have a gate on Blake's bedroom and there's no way he could open it at all, and he can be quite focussed if he really wants to do something. He's 2 1/4yo

[MantaRay]

Hmm, sounds like it is more of a boy thing. And I have two of them - help LOL!!