How to Lock Up Devices (& Make It Look Pretty!)

With three school-age children in this family, we have to monitor how much screen time the kids have. No one has phones yet, but there are tablets, Chromebooks, TVs and even an iPad to fight over. In my search for a solution to limit screens, we’ve also encountered an occasional insomniac child who ended up on a device in the middle of the night. My answer? Lock up devices. It’s like we are back to childproofing all these years later! I know, I know…there are parents out there who can whisper a command, and they never have to say it again–their children will listen the first time and never question their decisions. That’s not what happens in this house, so I came up with the next best thing. I’m creating a solution that will lock up the screens at night. If you want to see how you could do this, too, read on!

Choose a Cabinet

This cabinet was a thrift store find years ago. Yes, it needs a makeover. It was a handmade piece I stumbled upon and fell in love with. It’s the perfect size as an end table in our living room. It came outfitted with this hardware–which was the inspiration for this simple endeavor to lock up devices at night. The hardware is close together, which makes it ideal for adding a lock. If you need to change your hardware–like these ring pulls–it’s easy to find them on amazon or in your local hardware store. There’s also some pretty cool types of locks that can be used without changing the hardware. (I just used what we had on hand.)

Create the Cord Hole.

Many cabinets these days have access for cords. This one is old–and handmade–so I had to do it myself. There are a variety of tools you can use to create an access hole. I chose a one inch spade bit for my drill. Other tools include a hole saw or a Fortsner bit.

Because this cabinet is an end table, it’s relatively short. If you have a taller cabinet, you might want to drill more than one hole.

Use a Lid Organizer!

The trick to keeping this cabinet organized is the lid organizer. This is just a simple one I’ve had for years, but you can even find adjustable ones, like this lid organizer, in case you’re concerned about the variety of screens in your home.

Add Your Devices.

Since the kids were at school, I was able to add in most of the devices to test it out.

I even have a couple extra cords for the Chromebooks when the kids get home. I’ve been trying to get them to charge them regularly, but without a designated charging station, it’s been a mess of cords and chargers everywhere.

Just outside the back of this cabinet, I have a regular surge protector. But, this one is pretty cool–this has a bunch of spots for charging. For mine, I added more charging options by using these wall charger adapters that we love.

Parenting Hack 101: Lock Up Devices!

I feel like my life is all about knowing where the screens are, which chargers are where they need to be, and who has had what amount of screen time. (And one of my kids doesn’t care very much about screens–so I’m really only managing two kids!) I’ve been trying to create a system for what seems like forever. You can only hide them for so long! Now that I can lock up devices, I am feeling a huge sense of relief.

What Do You Think?

Do you have a system in place? I’d love to hear about it! My 8 year old already loves it. He loves screens, but he does really well with limits, and his biggest thing is that when he’s not using it, he wants it to be charged, so it’s not dead when he gets to use it next. I overheard him telling his sister that if she takes something out, she needs to put it back in nicely to keep it organized 🙂