How to figure out which child is tampering with pet food
Finding salt or sugar in pet bowls makes it impossible to stop or correct the behavior without knowing who is responsible. Because the culprit hides the action and stops immediately when adults look around, parents cannot catch them in the act.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Setting up a camera or spy cam by the bowlsDid this help you?
- 2Moving salt and sugar out of reachDid this help you?
- 3Putting all children responsible for cat care until it stopsDid this help you?
- 4Sitting both children down to explain the health dangers to the petsDid this help you?
- 5Asking students anonymously via homework assignments or sticky notes to name the culpritDid this help you?
- 6Imposing collective punishment or taking away class privileges until the behavior stopsDid this help you?
- 7Offering extra credit or candy for private tipsDid this help you?
- 8Blowing a real whistle or joining in to annoy the class into speaking upDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I have been finding either salt or sugar in the pets food and water bowls. I want it to stop but dont know which child is doing it. Any ideas on how to punish this behavior?”source ↗
“I have a rogue whistler in my sixth grade English class.”source ↗
“I very calmly explained that whistling in a room of 25 other people is distracting, but the whistler keeps at it.”source ↗
“It seems like they are trying to see what they can get away with because once I start looking around… it stops.”source ↗
“I cannot figure out who it is.”source ↗
“Once I hear the whistle, I start looking at lips with no luck. Whistles also carry so it’s hard to pinpoint exactly where it’s coming from.”source ↗
“I don’t wanna get into a power struggle, but I do want to catch the culprit.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 14Why does my child behave at school but act out at home?
- 2What to do when neighborhood kids won't stop coming to your door
- 4My child is constantly loud but their hearing is fine
- 13Why does my child shut down when they make a mistake?
- 11How to handle a child hanging out with bad influence friends
- 4Kids fighting on the school bus and admin doing nothing