I have twins, turning 15 next month and they're great kids and I trust them.
but at this age I'd much rather remove temptation than rely on trust. My wife has seen instagram pictures of friends of theirs (ok one) obviously intoxicated at a new Year's Eve Party (at 15 years old) and there are stories that circulate in my wife's circle of moms about kids getting caught bringing alcohol to parties/gatherings.
So I have an awesome liquor cabinet, but not sure I've seen a lock that for it. and I'd rather not start drinking watered down bourbon or single malt Scotch and more importantly hear from a parent their child (or mine) drank alcohol at my house.
only thing I can see is something like below, so who knows of a non-intrusive key lock for a cabinet like this (not a baby-proofing lock)
No, Ice tea for dark liquor and water for clear is an easy beat for that
Or a Hasp Lock
Second, put a simple lock on it, small, stylish. Just enough to make it so someone would have to "break in" to get to the liquor. Explain to your kids that this really is something to simply protect yourself from any of their friends doing something stupid, that you trust them (your kids).
If a kid breaks into that lock and gets pissed, you're in the clear legally IMHO (im not a lawyer.)
Thank you, as you can imagine they hate me (sports hate) up here in Mass.
and I completely agree, the lock is meant as a deterrent, not something I expect to keep out world famous jewel thief Borko Ilincic of the Pink Panthers.
Sadly most of my paranoia is based on my own experience. I drank my parents booze and filled the bottles up with water. I stole my stepfathers beer and put the empties back in the case so he'd think he drank it, my friends and i would steal bottles from girls houses or other people's houses we went to that we maybe weren't that friendly with, I was a bad kid.
and because of that I feel like I know the capabilities of other bad kids, so even if I trust my own kids I know there is going to be a bad kid just like me in the house and a locked liquor cabinet would have deterred me (at least temporarily).
Plus, my kids aren't even 15 yet, but they have friends who are 15/16 a grade ahead of them and every now and then a teammate or friend two grades ahead so 16/17 comes over and it's just exponentially different at that age because the kids are driving.
why wouldn't this work that Motley two suggested? I know it's easily picked, but probably wouldn't damage anything, its obviously ugly but the only time I'd lock it is when we're out and allow the kids to have friends over without parents around (which is rare, especially at night).
The difference is that he is willing to tell us everything that goes on. After the fact of course, because they don't really know in advance. I think its the open book life that they live on social media. And its way different than how we went about it years ago.
So every event becomes a learning experience for discussion, which again seems to be an important improvement from our youth...
Let me call my blacksmith and see if he can recommend a good locksmith.
Try making a big production about how you inspect the liquor cabinet maybe even let them see you counting, inspecting all the bottles.
That's what my parents did. Then one summer my step-brother and his friends drank every night. End of summer they filled the bottles back up with water.
Fast forward 6 months, my parents host a party with their closest friends. They serve from those same bottles, unknowlingly having been tampered with. Their guests, I'm told, make faces the entire night but no one says anything.
The best part is - my stepbrother bartends for them... and charges them for his services.
The next day, step-brother confesses to his crimes. Parents are mortified and apologize to all their friends.
Not sure if the 'bartender' had to give back his wages.