10 Ways for Mom to Determine Who Ate the Last Cookie

Moms, have you got a cookie monster on the loose in your home? Do you often have to intercede, with little success, when snack foods strangely evaporate into thin air… with nary a witness in sight? Well, perhaps you haven’t tried some of the following techniques. These ten ways for Mom to determine who ate the last cookie just might add an idea or two to your toolbox:

1. Ask – Getting the obvious out of the way right from the start, give your suspects the benefit of the doubt – not to mention the opportunity to snitch. You may be able to get some leads at least before moving on to more clandestine tactics, like …
2. Nanny Cam – There’s no better substitute than having your own reliable and impartial eyewitness at the scene of the crime. It doesn’t sleep, it doesn’t take the day off, and never lies. You can count on finding out the skinny from Nanny Cam.
3. Follow the crumb trail. – Physical evidence can be pretty incriminating. Considering the fact that most kids tend to be messy eaters, it may not be all that difficult to trace the path that last cookie took.
4. Offer a Reward – Nothing flushes out the guilty like a good old-fashioned bounty. Provide a little incentive for your kids to police themselves (and each other), and you may just get to the bottom of this cookie caper faster than you’d hoped.
5. Betrayed With a Kiss – Don’t worry about who ate that last cookie. Just let it go, give each of your children a kiss … and check each of the little beggars for traces of sugar, crumbs or chocolate smears on their lips. Your momma didn’t raise no fool.
6. Check the sink. – Chances are whoever ate the last cookie also washed it down with milk or some other beverage. If your kids have a favorite glass, or possibly a favorite place for leaving glasses when they’ve emptied them, you may get a solid lead here.
7. Tips Ahoy – You may have an informant in the home that you can count on for some useful leads. It may be someone who could use a little good will after being busted for some other offense. Here’s your chance to play ‘good cop, bad cop’ like you’ve always wanted to.
8. Set a Trap – If you’ve got a problem with someone constantly eating the last cookie, it’s probably the same person each time. Hide the cookies in a secret location, and let on to each child (and your husband) where you’ve hid them. Only confide a different location to each person, and place a marker at each one. The location that’s raided will identify your cookie monster.
9. Eat it yourself. – Take all of the mystery and investigating out of the equation by just removing the temptation beforehand. You’ll always know who ate the last cookie if it’s the same suspect every time – you.
10. Honesty is the Best Policy. – The bottom line is, if you foster an atmosphere of honor and trust, who ate the last cookie need never be a mystery nor an issue in your home.

You never thought you’d end up pulling a Sherlock Holmes or Nancy Drew in your own home, did you? Sometimes all it takes is a little logic, a little cunning, and that enviable ‘third eye’ mothers have… usually in the back of their heads.

Taken From Full Time Nanny