At least that’s what Jamie and Adam tell us everytime we sit down to watch one of our favorite family shows, MythBusters. In case you’re not familiar, the show attempts to re-create common myths and folklore, judging them as confirmed, plausible, or busted! It’s educational, and they seem to spend a lot of their time blowing things up…how can you go wrong?Â
The myth that intrigued us this time was whether or not using profanity makes you more tolerant to pain. They put their arms into bowls of ice water (that was the pain part!), and then timed how long they could keep their arms in without using swear words and then while using swear words. We decided to re-create part of the test. NO, not the swearing part!Â
The kids were interested to see if they could keep their arms in ice water for the 3 minutes max that the mythbusters did. Of course, Randy jumped in on this, too. I wasn’t feeling too well that night, so I passed. Plus, I hate being cold.Â
Randy went first, and lasted the 3 minutes. He said it was most definitely painful up to about 2 minutes, and then the pain leveled off some.Â
Abbey timing him on her phone. Lainey wondering why we’ve all lost our minds.Â
Pain rising, must remain calm…
Payton was next, and was a little blown away by how cold it was! He squirmed and wiggled and exclaimed the whole time. His first try was 48 seconds.
Lainey had to play, too. She lasted 22 seconds!
Marley’s time was 29 seconds. No wonder she’s usually the first out of the pool.Â
Ethan totally put on his game face and lasted the whole 3 minutes. Have we ever mentioned he was competitive?Â
Same with Abbey, 3 minutes. Not sure if she’s competitive as much as she is stubborn…she wasn’t going to let her dad out-do her in something!Â
On a second go-round, Payton got serious and lasted all 3 minutes. Marley tried again too, but only made it 51 seconds. The girl doesn’t like being cold! (like her mama) Lainey also went again, and went 39 seconds.Â
It was a fun experiment (to watch!), and surprising how their personalities came out in their results. And, we promise…no swearing took place! :)
June 9th, 2010 at 4:35 pm
Our family just watched that episode this weekend! We haven’t dared to try it, bunch of wimps that we are. = ) But I told the kids I wasn’t surprised that the group of women on the show had an overall higher pain tolerance than the group of men. (tee-ee!)
~Jori
June 9th, 2010 at 6:42 pm
That’s FUNNY!! Ethan, love your “game face”!! I don’t think I am a good candidate for putting my thin arm in a pitcher of ice water…it would ache too much!! So, I won’t “try this at home”!! Ha!!
June 9th, 2010 at 8:13 pm
We love Myth Busters! But I have to say, we have never tried anything at home. Good for you for a cool science experiment!
June 10th, 2010 at 3:31 pm
I love the different expressions on all of their faces !! Everything from determination to humorous (Lainey) to pain. Leave it to you all to even try this at home. Just a note: when my foot is having a bad RSD day, it feels like I have put it down into that pitcher of ice water you all are using. Yuk !