INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (WDAF) — A metro family is back together after their toddler managed to unlock the front door and leave in the middle of the night.

Her parents and a child safety expert explain how you can avoid this happening at your home.

Alicia Constant said the sound of 2-year-old daughter saying “Mommy” will never get tiring after her family woke up and she wasn’t in her bed or anywhere to be found.

Elayna made it through two doors, two locks and a deadbolt. Then, she walked more than a quarter-mile down the street before stopping at a stranger’s house at 4 a.m.

“Apparently, she found a house that she liked, and she went up to the door and rang the doorbell and waited there until they answered the door,” Constant said.

Full story here.

To be honest, this one took me aback.  This new generation’s got no respect. We’ve just got kids walking out of houses, people! And, after reading this, I’m surprised they don’t do it more often! This kid just got fed up, opened the door and found a new, better house. Probably would have taken in those new parents if they hadn’t ruined her whole plan and called the police! I tell you what, now that I know this is a possibility, I realize how bad this could be. How are you supposed to prevent this? What stops these free thinking kids from leaving all the time? I’ve never really thought about that until now.

We trick our kids into thinking that there’s only one home, we dare them to survive out in the wild, but what I’ve they’ve actually got the guts to do it? Are we just supposed to take that? Fuck that! You’re my flesh and blood, child! You don’t have the right to leave! 

The only thing keeping them inside is that they want to be there. We can’t lock them in, that’s frowned upon. We can’t keep them in little kid cages, that’s also frowned upon. We can’t put trackers in them, trackers are too expensive So, we’ve just got to hope that by their good grace they decide to stick with us? That’s an awful option. Kid doesn’t like the channels I watch? It leaves. Kid wants more ice cream? It leaves. This fucks the power dynamic all up, people. As soon as the kids know we don’t want them to leave, they’ve already won.

p.s. this kid’s acting like a real puppy right now.