Yes, you read that right.  Grandma was in jail.

You can imagine the scene.  Your smart-ass 18-year-old granddaughter doesn’t want to do her homework.  She starts dropping F-bombs left and right “as if it’s the word ‘the.’’’  What do you do?

Theresa Collier – went old school – she got up out of the chair, walked across the room and slapped her foul-mouthed granddaughter in the face.

Did that shut her granddaughter up and make her do her homework?  Not exactly.

Her granddaughter called the police.  The police arrested the grandmother for assault.  Grandma spent the night in jail.

That’s where she belongs.

You don’t solve problems with hitting.

It’d be too easy to say – wait a minute – this punk kid deserves to be slapped.  Shut up and do your homework.  Show some respect for your elders. Clearly she’s on the wrong track and someone in her family needs to knock her back into line. Arresting a grandmother for going old school and “correcting” her granddaughter is ridiculous.

No it’s not.  Hitting other people is a crime.  It’s not a teaching tool.  At least not the kind you want to use.

What is this grandmother teaching her granddaughter?  When you don’t like what someone is saying – you hit them.  Next time this 18-year-old can’t get a friend to stop swearing, snickering or otherwise shut up – guess what she’s going to do – that’s right – she’s going old school – she’ll slap ‘em across the face.

73% of Miami residents are outraged that this grandmother was jailed for doing something parents have done for years – hitting their kids.

You want to make it okay because you hate the 18-year-old and you feel bad for the grandmother.   But as soon as we start carving out exceptions – things get dicey fast.  It’s okay for a grandmother to hit a granddaughter.  But it’s not okay if this was a big burly grandfather.  It’s okay if the granddaughter is swearing, but not okay if the granddaughter was just being disrespectful.

I constantly hear people saying – it starts in the home – well if hitting starts in the home you can guess where it’s headed – into the public.

Yesterday, there was this crazy thing that happened in Miami.  Imagine this – you work for the TSA.  You are at a training for the full body scanners.  You step into the machine and your supervisor starts making jokes about your small package.  Your co-workers start snickering and you crumble out of embarrassment and anger.  So what do you do?

You hit one of your colleagues with a police baton, of course.

The snickering employee deserves it, right?  Just like your 18-year-old F-bomb dropping granddaughter does?

73% of locals are outraged that a grandmother was arrested.  You’re smarter than that.  Hitting someone because you don’t like their behavior isn’t old school – it’s a crime.

First, “Science Confirms Sad People Eat More Chocolate” – ah, duh.  Are they doing a commission on Haagen Daaz too?  That was always my favorite thing to face plant after a horrible break up or bad day at work.  Yes, sad people eat more chocolate.  Why?  Because they are sad and want to distract or comfort themselves with a candy bar.  It is easier, after all, than facing the emotions you feel.

Next, study says “Distracted Nurses Make More Errors” – again, no shit.  Everyone is distracted by the pace of life, dizzying technology and treadmill that we are running on.  Does it surprise you that you might make a mistake if you are steering your car with your knee while you are distracted by a text about tonight’s carpool for soccer?  It doesn’t surprise me one bit that a nurse, who’s distracted by a double shift, short staff or the complications of modern life – might not be doing the IV start just right and an air embolism is in someone’s future.

And finally, one that is hardly a shocker – your bad habits of smoking, drinking, inactivity and poor diet can take 12 years off your life.  The sad part is – it won’t make a damn bit of difference to people to know that statistic.  People already know that smoking, drinking too much, being fat and lazy and eating crap will kill you.  They just don’t seem to care.

I wonder about this a lot.  We know our bad habits are killing us.  We know that we are in the wrong relationships – and yet we stay.  Not only do we stay – we fight for the right to stay.  We argue about how hard it is to quit smoking, to lose weight, to break up with the jerk you are dating.

Yes, there are reasons why it is hard to quit, especially in the case of smoking.  From gene mutation, to the fact that nicotine is as addictive as heroin.  There are reasons why it is hard to exercise, especially if you’ve gotten to the point where you believe nothing will make a difference.  You have to fight for what you want.  If you fight, you will get it.

My theory is simple.  We’ve stopped fighting for our lives.  You may feel like you are fighting against life because you hate your job, or your marriage is in shambles or you don’t have the money you want to have – that’s not what I’m talking about.  That’s not fighting life – that’s not enjoying where your life is at and feeling stuck.

I’m talking about fighting for what you want.   Life is too easy in the modern world.  You can survive despite yourself.  Eat yourself within an inch of your life, have lap band surgery and then take Lipator and you’ll be all set for another decade.  From an evolutionary perspective, you aren’t wired for an easy time. Human beings were designed for scarcity, and to fight for their survival.  To run when they see a tiger.  To search and gather their food.  You are hard wired to fight for your health, your day-to-day shelter and your food.  But you don’t.  You can call Dominos and have a pizza delivered in 30 minutes – so why on earth would you plant a garden instead?  You can start your diet tomorrow – so why would you fight yourself over wanting nachos right now?

You don’t have to fight anymore.  We’ve made life so easy that it is killing us.  Your survival is supposed to take work and you are working for it.  The only threat in the world today – is you.  Your resignation, your laziness, your scaredy-cat mentality.  You know something is missing in your life.  You are right.  You are missing the fight for what you want.  All the studies in the world won’t make a bit of difference in your life – until you pick a fight.

In Wisconsin, some District Attorney with a moral agenda plans to arrest teachers who adhere to state law by teaching sex education courses that require instruction on condom use and other contraceptives. What planet does this guy live on? It’s one thing to object if you are a parent with strict moral beliefs about sex education and you decide to have your child opt out. You always have that option. In Wisconsin it’s not only legal to teach sex-ed, but teachers are mandated to do so. It is shameful and dangerous for this District Attorney (with a moral or religious agenda) to use his position to intimidate teachers following the law.

The fact is – our kids are growing up in a very different time than you and I did. With songs like “I Can Make The Bed Rock” and “Disco Stick” topping the charts (my nine year old just asked me if a Disco Stick was a penis) – you have to be ready to discuss the facts of life – before they are singing about them from the back of your minivan.

I’m all for talking about sex with my kids because we live in a society that is infused with sexual messaging. I want to be the one that tells them the facts. I want them to be comfortable asking me questions and seeking advice.

I’m sure you do too. It’s overwhelming these days. Just look at the cover of the magazines at child-height in the grocery store. Watch the Disney Channel or MTV or VH1 and see what your kids are internalizing. And listen to any pop station – song after song after song (that your kids know word-for-word) are all sexual in nature. If you don’t take control of the conversation, they’ll learn about sex from another fifth grader on the bus, or worse yet, the media.

I guarantee you – your fifth grader knows Tiger Woods cheated on his wife. And they know that means he had sex with another woman. What they are afraid to ask you is why he did it.

You are up against a lot these days. School based sex education programs, taught by professionals, are part of your defense. Having age-appropriate information about your body, your choices, and your safety-is empowering. It doesn’t make you want to have sex. It puts your child in control to make the decision not to.

Here are the facts you are dealing with right now:

1. Kids are searching for sexual content online. Check out this list from security firm Symantec containing the top 10 searches on the kids’ list:
1. YouTube
2. Google
3. Facebook
4. Sex
5. MySpace
6. Porn
7. Yahoo
8. Michael Jackson
9. Fred
10. eBay

2. Almost half (46.8%) of high school kids have sexual intercourse.

3. While Teen Pregnancy is finally declining – we still have a long way to go. How’s this for a sobering thought – just under 1/3 of all girls in the United States will get pregnant in their teenage years:

- Every year around 750,000 teenagers will get pregnant.
- Depending on the state, teenage birth rates are incredibly different. Nevada has the highest rate: 113 per 1000 and North Dakota the lowest 42 per 1000.
- Unmarried teenagers having children account for 24 percent of all unmarried expectant mothers.
- More than 2/3 of all teenagers who have a baby will not graduate from high school.
- Billions of dollars are spent taking care of teenage mothers and their children and they are more likely to be in the poverty bracket. On the flip side, millions of dollars are spent in prevention programs.

Don’t be afraid of the facts. Talk about them. I found Dr. Laura Berman’s handbook on talking to your kids extremely helpful. Download the book…

In the meantime, someone should put a muzzle on that District Attorney and tell him to get his facts straight the next time he wants to threaten law-abiding teachers with arrest for simply following the law and doing what we all know is right: giving kids the information they need, so they can make healthier decisions.

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For as long as I can remember, the trend seemed to be – if the woman broke off the engagement – she gave the ring back. If the man broke off the engagement – she got to keep the ring. Based on a couple of recent court cases, that’s all changing – and it’s about time.

42-year-old Roger Adler has just filed a lawsuit in Manhattan against his former fiancé, Rena Hope Friedman, trying to get the $58,000 engagement ring back. And he will likely win.

On March 30th, Justice F. Dana Winslow told a “heartbroken” 26-year old Danielle – to give back the $19,000 engagement ring – that her cheating ex-finance had given her. According to the judge – the ring was given “in contemplation of marriage” and if the marriage doesn’t occur the ring is given back, regardless of the reason for the breakup.

I couldn’t agree more. A marriage is a social contract that you sign with your spouse. The ring is simply consideration for making the promise. We women are the ones who attach all kinds of emotion to it. And I can understand why. Guys have been marketed to believe that you need to spend 2-3 months of your salary – in order to show your girl you mean it. Among the first questions you’re asked when you get engaged is “Let me see the ring!” To be followed by – It’s beautiful!

Women notoriously check out one another’s rings on the sly and make a snap judgment as to how rich their future husband must be. Yes we are jealous of every woman sporting a rock the size of a piece of chicklet gum. We have attached so much meaning to the stupid ring – no wonder there is so much attachment to keeping it.

A year and a half later, Danielle had still refused to return the ring saying, “I’m not ready yet — I’m still too heartbroken.”

Too many couples rush into marriage for all the wrong reasons – for emotion. Successful relationships take hard work and have nothing to do with the size ring you have been given or whether you’ve been given one at all. Future brides and grooms don’t get that though. Ask yourself, if he hadn’t been able to give me a ring would I still say yes? You’d be shocked at how many women deep down would want to say no.

And there’s another reason why you should just give the ring back after you call off an engagement. It’s a constant reminder of the failure. Keeping around a symbol of a failed relationship – isn’t going to do you any good. Yeah, I get the whole revenge thing. Sell it, buy a car, crash the car. But is that really the best way to move on? Give the ring back.

Think about the “heartbroken” 26 year old – she’s been battling this stupid thing in court for over two years. The judge just ordered that she give the ring back. That means for two years – she has held onto the anger, the resentment, and the past. And to what good? Ironically, she’s getting married two weeks from now to another guy. My beat – that marriage lasts a handful of years, tops. By pursuing the lawsuit I know one thing about her – she thinks you are “owed” something when you get married. Good luck with that approach to happily ever after.

Read more about Rena…
Read more about Danielle…

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What’s going on!? First Tiger, now Jesse!? What’s up with these men checking themselves into sex rehab? Sex rehab isn’t real! It is the worst thing to happen to women. It is the excuse men latch onto when they are caught cheating. It’s the “2010 Get Out Of Jail Free Card.” Women, watch out!

Read more from ABC…
Read more from CBS…

Instead of asking the judge to throw the book at her, Mark Cronin walked over and gave her a hug in open court and told her that he knew she didn’t mean to do it and he forgives her. Sobbing uncontrollably, the former juvenile probation officer was taken off to serve her six month sentence.

Forgiveness is a powerful tool. Mark could have spent the rest of his life bitter over what had happened to him. That would have affected his marriage, his young kids and the direction his life took. And, by the way, as it relates to the drunk driver – being forgiven doesn’t make your punishment lighter – it actually makes it harder… Being forgiven is an act of generosity and love. As the wrong-doer, you can’t bare the thought of forgiving yourself – so you beat yourself up even more.

WHO ARE YOU STILL BLAMING? WHAT DID THEY DO TO YOU? Email me – I want to hear your story: radio@melrobbins.com

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She is the mother of two kids, 14 and 3 years old.

And you know what her big dream is: Despite holding the honor of being the “world’s fattest mother,” Donna Simpson, 42, wants a greater glory: World’s heaviest woman.

Currently tipping the scales at 600 pounds, the New Jersey native eats 12,000 calories a day as part of her quest to break a half ton.

While her husband supports her 1,000-pound ambitions — as well as her choice to earn a living as an online fetish model – so do I.

There is no cure for stupid.

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Barrett would get the room next to her – how that’s even possible I don’t know – and then drill a hole and video tape her while she was naked.

He then posted the videos on the internet. The guy is clearly an idiot.

But then Erin who is appearing this season on “Dancing with the Stars” told the court, “I’ve been humiliated. I’ve been embarrassed and my career has been ripped apart.”

What? Ripped apart? She’s more famous now than ever.

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What do you think? Do you agree with Apple’s decision? Are iPhone subscribers owed anything?

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