Strollerderby : five second rule

They Say: The Five-Second Rule is B.S.

Jen Chaney — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 22:33:00 GMT

I have based my life on certain principles. That hard work always pays off, in ways sometimes tangible and sometimes intangible. That you should treat others with the same respect you expect from them. And that as long as something has been on the floor for five seconds or less, it's not really dirty.

Now this article in the Sydney Morning Herald -- courtesy of MomLogic -- says that's not true, although in Australia, they call it the three-second rule. Apparently the Aussies don't have the patience (or low hygiene standards) to take things to the five-second level.

Anyhoo, whether you go by three seconds or five, it appears that some serious bacteria can grow on food that's fallen on the floor, even if it's only been there for a nanosecond. If you then proceed to hand that cracker or apple slice to your kid, well, you're just giving him a big 'ol heap of potential food poisoning.

Do you buy this? Or, like me, do you find that it violates every notion you hold dear?

Photo Credit: The Times and Democrat

Mama and Papa Are Big Ol' Liars

Kelly Mills — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 16:29:00 GMT

The other day we were watching Dirty Jobs and without going into a full recap, I'll just tell you that an orinthologist (that's a bird scientist) said it's a myth that touching a baby bird will cause its mom to reject it. She even said lots of baby birds die that way. Now of course, my mom told me never to touch baby birds, and if it wasn't for Dirty Jobs, I would have told my kid the same. And it made me realize that we parents are just liars. Now Mom Squawk has another one: apparently if you swallow your gum, it doesn't take years to digest. Oh, my world is crumbling!

Of course this is just the tip of the big lie iceberg. Rachel points out that we also tell kids outright bullshit like "If you swallow a watermelon seed (apple seed, etc.) you'll grow one in your tummy," "moms have eyes in the back of their heads," and for the more punitive parents, "if you're bad Santa will put coal in your stocking." Oh, and be careful because your face will freeze that way. We already told you the five-second rule was up for debate. And maybe you really could put an eye out with that stick, and maybe in our age of confession no one trots out the stork any more, but I am starting to suspect the tooth fairy wasn't real and maybe I'm not the sweetest little girl in the whole world. Sniff.

I've been living in the Matrix. Any more myths to debunk?

More on the Five Second Rule: Maybe it is Okay After All

Sarah, Goon Squad Sarah — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 20:14:00 GMT

A while back I wrote up a study on the five second rule. You know, the rule where if you drop something as long as it is on the floor for less than five seconds it is still okay to eat. The study I was looking at then suggested that five seconds could be about five seconds too long if your food is touching bad germs.

Well thank God (or your preferred deity) for NPR and Tom Regan. Tom found a Connecticut College study that I like much better. This study says that wet foods like apple slices are good after they have been on the floor for 30 seconds and if you have hard food, or candy like Skittles of M&Ms they can stay on the floor for even longer without becoming contaminated.

Really what I'm getting out of the study is that candy is much safer to eat than fruit is. Of course, I wouldn't tell my kids that.

Five Second Rule

Sarah, Goon Squad Sarah — Tue, 15 May 2007 14:34:00 GMT

Admit it. You apply the five second rule. You use it for yourself and you use it for your kids. And do you really even count to five? I don't. This article sites two different studies of the five second rule. The results? You don't want to know.

I'm not kidding. It is gross. Of course they infected the surfaces that they dropped things on, and of course the food they left on the floor for five seconds was waaaaaaaaaay less contaminated than the stuff they left down for ten seconds, but that doesn't change the fact that gummi bears and cookies both picked up E. coli bacteria within five seconds.

Maybe we should rethink this rule. Harold McGee of The New York Times says we might want to rethink eating that piece of food even if it was only on the floor for five seconds.

Of course, if it is chocolate it might still be worth it.