It’s one of the top 5 most epic rules of all time. And, I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to teach it to my boy.
I spent the first 6 years of my fatherhood watching the kids crumble into tears and tantrums after fumbling a delicious goodie from their hands.
“Quick! Pick it up, pick the dirt off and eat it!”
“NNNNNOOOOOOO!!!!!!” was always the tearful response. And there it laid.
To make it worse, my obsessive cleaning of my hands in their classrooms as a volunteer has taught them that the outside world is nothing but a smoking germ factory. This only fueled their desire to consider their popsicle kaput.
We tried it all, “What? Dirt on it? Awesome!!!! Eat it quick, that stuff’s like a magical crispy awesomeness or something!!!”
“You’re not gonna eat that?” Then I’d reach down, snatch the popsicle up and cram it down my throat to show it was OK. I only did that once. It was like throwing gasoline on a match next to a paper factory.
Then, a few weeks ago, a light bulb went off. I remembered that I have the short-lived “my daddy knows everything and walks on water” powers.
So, in my most confident, happenstance voice I said to my son, “dude, you don’t know about the coveted 5-second rule?”
“The what?”
“Son!!!? Seriously? After all this time? Oh my…oh my.”
“Daddy, what!!?! Tell me!! What about the five…ummm”
“The 5-second rule Grayson!! It’s vitally important. Are you sure you’re ready? Are you sure you can handle this?”
“Daddy tell me!!! Please!”
“OK my son. If you should happen to accidentally drop a piece of food on the ground for a length of less than 5 seconds that doesn’t touch pee, poop, dead animals, your sister, or anything else that may cause death, you can simply blow it off, and eat it. That is all.”
“What do you mean that is all?”
“I mean, that is all. Drop an ice cream cone, quickly grab it, blow it off and keep chowing.”
“Really? That’s a rule?”
“I won’t lie, it’s saved me from being hungry many a-time. But keep in mind! It doesn’t work for gum, candy, etc… that’s been laying around for days. It has to have fallen within the 5-second time period.”
Immediately the boy dropped his pretzel stick on the ground and looked up at me.
I started counting, “One-one thousand, two-one thousand…”
The boy quickly snatched the pretzel stick back up, blew on it, then looked up at me again. I smiled at him and waited.
He took a bite, slowly chewing it to make sure it didn’t explode his jaw or cause him to clutch his chest and fall to the ground riddled with impending death. Then a huge smile came across his face and he mumbled, “so awesome.”
My job here is done.
