This morning I had to talk to my son about his latest little escapade -- putting a huge wad of gum down the garbage disposal. I spent a good half hour risking limbs while cleaning up that mess. Yet when I talked to him about it, he barely seemed to listen much less apologize sincerely. I finally had to request an apology -- and the one I got was insincere. (Grr.) As a punishment, he has to do extra chores to "make up the time" that I spent fixing the disposal. He wasn't phased by that at all.

So I know how it feels when you try to discipline your child and you know that you're not getting through. Rachel over at ParentDish has written about extreme measures parents have taken to get through to their kids. Recently, a Spanish couple has taken their own extreme measure -- they had their kids admitted to a mental health institution to be treated for their addiction to their cell phones.

The kids, ages 12 and 13, were having a hard time in school and completing other activities because of their phones. In addition, they were lying to relatives in order to get money to spend on their phones. They had had their phones for 18 months. Before recognizing that it had become a problem, their parents hadn't restricted their cell phone use.