GDLA+ Monday, 7/20/2026

Good morning. Welcome to G daily plus and happy Monday to all. Let's start the week. Shall we do it? Do we have a choice? No, we don't. So we're just gonna get right to it. Some developing news this morning. Crews are working to move the repairs along on major water pipe that ruptured last week. Mario joining us now with more on when the work will be completed and full water service restored in the area. Back to the site. Mario, how's it going this morning? Yeah, we were out here thursday and we are now entering day five here of this massive repair effort. A water main break that broke here ruptured at sunset and Holloway Drive. I want to bring in David Hanson. He is with the L. A. D. W. P. Giving us an update. I know it's a lengthy testing process that's happening right now. Walk us through the steps that need to happen before the stretch of sunset is open. Sure. We are filling the water, filling the pipe full of water right now. And once the pipe is completely filled, then we'll start to see pressure come up. So this is all part of our leak testing procedure that's happening right now. So we'll have a better idea this afternoon whether we've tackled all the leaks. And if we have, then we can start the process for decontaminating the pipe, chlorinating and starting to backfill and restoring the community and residents have been walking by. Some of them have even pointed out, you know, there's not excavating that's being done. There's not active digging. What can you say about that? Because I know a lot of the work is underground. Yeah, you know, whenever you look at a construction site, a lot of folks may or may not be familiar with the work that's happening. Some things are happening remotely. Like right now, we have several folks stationed around at various fire hydrants, wadding, watching for water flow to come out of those hydrants. That will tell us that we are actually at a certain level in the water pipe itself. And then we can start to close those hydrants, build pressure and do the leak testing. So right now it's a watch and wait. And we had talked to West Hollywood Mayor John Heilman earlier, and he said that he was told the latest update would be Wednesday, possibly Thursday. What can you tell us? As far as the timeline at this time, it's hard to commit to a firm timeline. It's all contingent upon the fact that we got all the leaks repaired last night. We've been out here 24 7 working through the night. The crews have been working 16 hour shifts. Our welders got ahead of every leak that we could identify yesterday. And so now we're filling up the pipe to look for additional leaks. If we don't find additional leaks, then yes, we're looking at a Wednesday or Thursday timeline. But if we find additional leaks, then it's obviously gonna impact the project. And we've heard from nearby customers. Um, you know, they have their water back there. They're pretty much back to normal, but some of them worried about rate hikes because of water main breaks like this or infrastructure programs. Can you ensure that they won't be seeing a rate hike because of this? It's an interesting question because really what the rate payers are paying for right now when they pay their bill is for projects like this. We have 24 7 in house construction and maintenance crews, and part of that is our emergency response teams. So on the water side and on the power side, we have folks that roll on emergencies like this. We have most of the in house equipment. We have the material ourselves. So a project like this won't impact a bill. Infrastructure replacement is something that we look at long term, and we're constantly looking at how that is gonna affect the rates. And that has to do with how much we can spend on an annual on an annual basis doing a proactive repair. But for emergency response, it's part of the business. Got it. And so no clear timeline on when this stretch will be reopened. Was there any indication that this pipeline may have failed when it did? No. I mean, as far as our proactive monitoring systems, we have remote electronic systems. We have reservoir levels that we look at. And when we get a report of a leak or we see a pressure drop in the system, our experienced trained personnel recognize all of that. And then that's when we start dispatching folks to go out in the field and start looking for the source. And then we can quickly identify, even though there may be confusion on the scene with other utilities about whose water it may be or whose pipeline it may be. We already know and have begun to take steps to shut it off. All right. Thanks so much. David Hanson with the L. A. D. W. P. Appreciate you coming out here taking our questions. So the work continues and yeah, we'll stay on top of it when this stretch of the Sunset Strip will reopen in West Hollywood. I'm Mario Ramirez will send it back to you. All right, Mario. Thank you. An investigation into California's diaper gate has revealed that a 6.2 million dollar state contract with a nonprofit baby to baby was actually not competitive in terms of the bidding process. Despite public claims by Governor Gavin Newsom's administration, CBS News reporting instead a single line buried inside the 893 page state budget bill exempted the diaper initiative from standard competitive bidding laws, public advertising and oversight by the state's contract watchdog. Digging deeper, investigators uncover that this isn't an isolated incident. The California state budget contains more than two dozen similar no bid exemptions, totally more than $1 billion in taxpayer spending that are completely shielded from typical public tracking and third party oversight. The FDA is now saying a big finding about the cyclist prices outbreak announced over the weekend was actually a false positive. On Saturday, the FDA put out a release saying a sample of shredded iceberg lettuce supplied by Taylor Farms tested positive for a cyclist spora. Of course, this is what sickened thousands of people in the U. S. But then on Sunday, the FDA said lab exports rechecked the lettuce sample results from Taylor Farms and concluded the findings should be considered a false positive. A spokesperson from Taylor Fresh Foods says the FDA apologized. As of Sunday, though, the FDA says there were no confirmed positive sample results for cyclist spora. All right, let's talk about the World Cup, a big win for Spain, taking down the reigning World Cup champions Argentina to win the title from kickoff. It was La Roja in control, displaying why they've been unbeatable for an international record of 38 straight wins. The way they connected, played as a team, took possession and, of course, continued their best defensive performance yet again. Argentina just could not produce any effective attack. In fact, they were on its heels with Argentina keeper Emmy Martinez making 11 saves in the game. It was Spain's game from start to finish, then an extra time with Argentina man down after getting a red card in the 1 0 6 minutes. Spain's Peron Torres buries one into the back of the net to win the reigning European champions now add World Cup champions to their list of accolades. It's the second time in Spain's history to win, and La Roja fans across the globe were celebrating. Spain's captain, Roger, won the Golden Ball Award for the best player of the tournament, and he was everywhere on the pitch. If you watched him during these matches, his work rate unmatched when it came to key moments in every single game, and he talked about his comeback from an A C L injury in 2024. I cannot express with words. I think now we're like in a cloud. But as you said, for me, it's been a very tough time. I just want that new generations see my example as opportunity to when you go down, you can rise again. That's right. And everyone saw this moment. 19 year old Laminia Mall from Spain embracing the goat. Lionel Messi from Argentina as Messi became emotional, soaking up the very last moments of this World Cup, possibly his last and obviously game recognizing game here. Perhaps the passing of a torch when it comes to the most talented players playing the game. And Messi did not walk away with the Golden Boot Award. That remains with France star Killian Mbappé, who won it in 2022 as well. Then he finished the World Cup scoring 10 goals, adding two in Saturday's third place loss to England. Mbappé becomes the first player ever to win the Golden Boot twice. He also has a 22 career World Cup goals to his list, one ahead of Messi for the all time lead. I just that is strange to me because the tally came from the game on Saturday, the consolation game essentially. So it wasn't really part. In my opinion, it wasn't like part of the World Cup game. Well, you know, it was a consolation game. However, I know the pressure is not there on the players. The kind of different strategy isn't there. Would Messi have won? Had that not counted? If yes, yes. See, I mean, that's I'm gonna be honest. I didn't even know there was a consolation game. See what I mean? On Saturday, England and France played and it didn't even matter. The consolation game was the thing, right? Right. Because nobody cares. That's what I'm saying. So why are we? Why is that counting towards it? It's just kind of silly to me. It's Yeah, it's just to get the award. Well, I'll tell you what I did like the 2026 FIFA World Cup final, finally making history by featuring tournaments and this first ever halftime show. It got a lot of attention and mixed reaction, we should say, from fans around the world as well. So watch me break down. I could write a song, but my words just wouldn't do. So I said, Hallelujah, baby. Let's take a walk. Sun is out. Bring it like you need it, just like you need it. Oh, I love all these kids. I like all the kids. All the kids made it. And then you have Madonna and the Muppets and BTS. Justin Bieber, Shakira, guest star there, Burna Boy and a closing song from a group of Children assembled in the middle of the field. As you saw, I mean, I really enjoyed it. Legends right there. Ronaldinho and Ronaldo. Oh, that's right. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. And do to Mel. People who live outside of L. A. Might not know. Well, he went to New York. They should know. He's a pretty big deal. But I mean, you know, if you're outside of those two, but that's why he made sure his name was on the back so you can go back and be like, Who's the dude about? Yeah, and the Muppets on that. I thought it was a great halftime show. Some people say that Justin Bieber's ticket was sleepy. But you know what? You cannot discount the talent. Like it reminded me of how great of a singer he is. And so what if it was a little bit slower? It brought some soulful. Yeah, it's like a pause to it. Pause. Pause. Gosh, everything's gonna be so and he also looked like really good. He looked the best in a while. It was nice to see. Yeah, that's right. All right. Okay, well, we agree. The World Cup is over, but the financial impact will be felt for years to come. So up next, our conversation with Jason Crutch from the Los Angeles Sports and Entertainment Commission. All over. You can't believe it's over, right? Our World Cup talk continues this morning and while the fans are returning home, the money they spent and the memories they made while they were here visiting is going to be felt for years to come. We're still like we're so get it in basking in this glory, right? Because joining about the joining us. Let's talk. Talk about the economic impact and reflect on the last few weeks. Jason Crutch is with the Los Angeles Sports and Entertainment Commission. Uh, the team that led the Los Angeles World Cup 2026 host committee. It was like years in the planning, right? If you think back of like everything and then everything sort of like came together as soon as we found out it was happening here in L. A. Yeah, we've been working on this project for years. And so to see the last 39 days come together, the excitement across the community fans pouring into the stadium, all the different official fan events, community events, the excitement we couldn't have asked for much more. What's the main thing that you're reflecting on right now? I just think seeing the community to come together. The stories that we're hearing of people who watched attended an event, came together, celebrated with their community. It's almost like we have so many amazing testimonials from people just talking about how much they enjoyed this experience this summer in Los Angeles across North America. It really just is. It's just special to see it all come together because you have all these ideas in your head when you're planning this and you're like, Oh, we're gonna create these fan zones and when people are, but people turned out to these to these fans. I mean, we saw you on TV constantly because it was like nonstop. Yeah, the demand was so high. And again, we built this model. We had this opening weekend fan festival at the L. A. Memorial Coliseum, big celebration, and then we're gonna spread it across the community with these 10 fan zones from day one. It was the opening match in Mexico over South Africa on June 11th, and fans just poured into that Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in droves. It was a sold out crowd. And for the next 38 days to follow, the energy never let up. I wonder what your level of anxiety was before that very first right at the Coliseum and then seeing how the fans kind of took over and made it their own. Like that had to be a big sigh of relief for you. It was. I mean, you knew the excitement was high. You knew the demand was significant for an event. You wouldn't have built a model if you didn't believe that. But to see it in actual like in actuality and actually see those fans pour in and having so much fun and celebrating and literally just like literally in the next 39 days, the last six weeks, you've seen jerseys all over the city. You've seen flags being flown. You've seen every bar and community location watching the games, pulling crowds together. We have, like, documented over 300 community events separate from all of our official just like community organized, showing matches, bringing people together. And so just, you know, really, that collective excitement across the region was was really, really just special to see. Let's put up that graphic again because we were talking about kind of like the economic impact of this. And, uh, you know, when we talk about the World Cup viewership here, so I think it probably exceeded expectations, right? L. A. Stadium, 560,000 visitors, the Fan Fest, 250,000 visitors, $892 million in the L. A. County economic impact and over a billion dollars in long term economic benefits. It's We're throwing those numbers around, but it probably is really hard to quantify exactly how big of an impact this actually really has. I mean, again, the engagement and the viewership is significant. I mean, this was when you really think about it was an ultimate commercial for Los Angeles for the United States, North America. I mean, everyone around the world is watching these matches and just seeing the kind of celebration and camaraderie and really what the Los Angeles community just the welcoming environment that it is and just coming to our beaches or the different fan zones. It was it was really, really special to be. And then certainly there is the economic impact. I mean, it's this is when you have hundreds of thousands of people showing up and attending these events. You know, the ripple effect of that of that is significant, and I think that's a great thing for this Los Angeles market. The next thing is Super Bowl, right? So does this give you a lot of confidence going into that? Yes, certainly it sure does. So Super Bowl coming February 14th, 2027 next week's 200 days to go. So we shift the gears pretty quickly from football to football, which is great, and it's gonna be really exciting. The NFL season's gonna kick off first week of September, and really, you're gonna see this, you know, kind of transfer of information and swell of excitement. I think we're gonna try to keep some of this momentum going from this one really special summer in Los Angeles, leading straight into the NFL season, straight into the second Super Bowl back in L. A. In five years, you know, it's the it's the second fastest turnaround to a market ever. Eso really just, you know, excited to kind of, like, keep the momentum going. And then, obviously, that all leads us into 20. Oh, my God of our teams. You know, the Rams of the charges were this is gonna be a huge one. What can we expect with that? Like what? Can you give us an idea of, like, what's any ideas you got kicking around? You're pivoting to that. I think certainly we're gonna have a chance to debrief on everything we just accomplished from World Cup and, you know, all the different stakeholders coming together to think about how we apply some of that to Super Bowl. I mean, you're gonna see a week long celebration in Los Angeles that second week of February. You're gonna see an amazing game at Sofi Stadium on the 14th, and so it's gonna be another opportunity to bring the community together toe to have these large kind of, like, you know, unifying type bring come together events, and I think that's what you're gonna see again in February. I'm gonna take a nice long vacation. You deserve it. You need it to recharge. It was just like yesterday you were doing this whole thing, and here you are in the studio. Wow. So congrats. Congrats on everything that it was really. We showed up. Well done. Huge collective effort. So many stakeholders. But thank you guys for all your support. Of course. Thank you. We'll have you back here for the Super Bowl. Jason Crutch. He's with the Los Angeles Sports and Entertainment Commission. Um, we're looking forward to that. We'll be right back. Yeah, let's party. Oh, yeah. You're looking live at a World Cup victory parade in Madrid, Spain. Champions do it. They go big. Look at that. Celebrating the crowd. I don't think they can hear us. Thank you. We're going in the streets right there. Wow. Madrid. Wow. This is the first time they've won the title right in 16 years, I believe, or twice ever. And Spain can claim as the only country to both have the women's and men's World Cup champions. Um, I feel like it's a national holiday there because you see that no one's probably at work. Is this good? So? Oh, the players are like on the bus like a homecoming. Yeah. Oh, they all got their their drinks in hand. See? Oh, nice. Wow. How we do it? Uh huh. Wow. Wow. How exciting. Amazing. That's cool. I can watch this all day. I know. Same. This is great. Wow. Well, guys, the fans are really up close. There's no real barricades. You know, there's just those vehicles and then they roll right through. Yeah. Yeah, there's no like really like, yeah, how they have the everyone penned in. Uh huh. Look at that. They're like, we're not following the rules. What rules? We're just taking over. Everything's safe. Oh, my God. Yeah. Let's listen to the announcers. Yeah, they're hyped. Oh, my goodness. Yeah. Can we hear it? Of the world race? Contigo. Contigo. Contigo. Very cool. I'm sure they're gonna be partying all day long. So we'll check back in a little later. All right. We do have to share some shocking news from the founders of an iconic Beverly Hills restaurant. Crustacean, the glamour spot known for its modern take on Vietnamese cuisine is shutting down. What happened? Why is this going on? Tell me it's not true. Unfortunately, it is. It's okay. I'm good. That's crustacean founder and owner Elizabeth on getting emotional as she made the announcement on Fox 11 last night. An updated posted on their website says the restaurant's last day at the Bedford Drive location will be July 31st. And she explained to Susan here as soon as what led to the decision. As of May, we thought we got the deal done and we have an extension for a crustacean restaurant on Bedford. Unfortunately, I left on a trip. I came back a month later. I learned that the building has been sold and now we're dealing with a new landlord, a new landlord. Unfortunately, other plans for the building and that plans just doesn't suit crustacean anymore. On says they're looking for a new permanent location and are planning pop up events at sister restaurants in Santa Monica and Orange County. I've actually never been, but I've heard amazing things about it. Um, yeah. Have you guys been there before? Uh, yes. I mean, I've been there several times. It's kind of, have you been a long time ago? Okay, no, I'm gonna find a home. Yeah, they will. I mean, they're very famous. They're garlic. I'm thinking about those garlic noodles right now. Everyone loves those garlic noodles. And then just like the layout of the restaurant, they had the koi fish right on the in the floor. You can look down. Yeah, it was a popular spot. I hope they, I know something comes of it. Yeah. Well, meanwhile, the mom of Big Bear's beloved eagle family may have run into some trouble over the weekend. Wildlife groups say this injured eagle that you're looking at right there is Jackie, the longtime star of the Big Bear Nest live stream. She was found injured over the weekend after apparently getting into a fight with two younger eagles. She was taken to a specialized rehab center. Friends of Big Bear Valley are asking supporters to stay patient and wait for any updates. They say if this is Jackie, she's in the best possible place to recover for now, though, fans are hoping for her safe return home. Jackie's trying to kill the young bucks. Yeah, I don't know what happened there. Yeah. Why do eagles fight like that? I don't know. What's the reason? Jackie food? Probably. I'm sure down to food. Hope it's not her own babies. All right. There's some good news for coffee lovers out there. Major new report and review from the American Heart Association confirms that moderate drinking of coffee is perfectly safe for your heart and might even help protect it. Stick to about 3-5 cups of black coffee a day. Wow. A day? 3-5 cups of black coffee a day, up to 400 mg of caffeine, and you could actually lower your risk of heart disease, stroke and type two diabetes. Thanks to all the natural antioxidants in coffee. Keep in mind that loading your cup with sugar, though, and syrups and heavy cream completely wipes out the benefits. So there's that. This green light doesn't apply to energy drinks, though. Experts warn that those ultra concentrated caffeine bombs like, well, the ones I like, I should say, lack coffee's health perks and can easily cause dangerous heart jitters and blood pressure spikes. Ooh. So I drink coffee in the morning, but then I drink one of those energy drinks in the afternoon. Daily? Almost. Oh, wow. So that's, it's not good. It's okay. You're a mom of two. You're a full-time working mom. Whatever it takes to get through the day. That's true. Also, I do not like black coffee. I've never liked black coffee. I think it tastes super bitter. Mm-hmm. I don't either. As you, you guys know, I like my coffee with a splash of coffee and mostly cream. Yeah. So. What is it, like the Dunkin', the light and sweet option they have? Yeah, that's the good stuff. Okay, wide leg pants are trending. So is, and so is falling on your face, apparently, while you're wearing them. So have you seen any of these videos on social media? Now, I love these pants. I love a wide leg moment, but. Oh my gosh. So they're called the Flowy Wide Leg Pants, self-explanatory, on Zara's website. But elsewhere, they've become, they've become known as the Zara Death Pants. Oh, I tried some on recently. You have? I did. Did you like them? I liked them a lot, but they were so long, as you're explaining. And I was like, should I buy them just to wear in the house, because I like them so much? Yeah. Otherwise, I'd have to hem them a little. I don't like pants dragging on the floor. No, otherwise, what's the point? Yeah, they're extra wide, so your feet get caught in the width of the trousers. One death plant victim said they need to come with a warning label. I think I have those. You have those exact pants? These are recent. Yeah, I do have a brown one. Are they pleated? They're like silky, almost. But mine has a drawstring. I don't know if it has a drawstring. They have a different version. I know what you're talking about. There's two different versions, but these ones I liked. I tried them on. I didn't buy because, for the very reason that, you know some people wear pants and it gets all tattered at the bottom and gets disgusting and dirty, and I don't like that look particularly, so I didn't really want to hem them. No. And spend the time, so I said forget it. Also, like you're hemming, I don't know how expensive those pants are. I don't remember. You know how much they cost? I don't remember, yeah. What's the point after a while? Right. So, we'll talk to Stu after this. Hey Stu, hey there. Looking good, Stu. Hey, how was your weekend? You watch any of that Super Bowl of soccer or whatever it was? Anybody watch that? Yes, did you? You know what, I got the party all set up, you know, maybe this weekend. Maybe this weekend. You guys can come over. We'll make a thing of it. What are you talking about? It's too late. It's too late for that. What are you talking about? Oh, wait, it's already over? It's already over? Wait, wait a second. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's not over. Oh, I'm too late again. I'm not going to take your pity invitation. Too late again. No, okay. No pity. I'm not about the pity. Come on. You know what? Well, I want to throw something out there before we get out to what we're gonna look at today, but first of all, coffee is amazing. Don't, too Ladies. Very interesting. Really pretty. You're going to go there and Zen out, huh? Zen out there, you know, got my namaste. You know, I need to find my namaste. And then, you know, look at all the water features, the garden. Yeah. Meditation. If you can do it, make it happen. Right. And drink some coffee before you. Our producer, Christian, wants to know if you've been to the place in Malibu you've shown us. Oh, yes. What was that? Yes, of course. Now, when I go to all the time, all the time and and our buddy, And it's kind of the same deal. It's free to get in. They just kind of want you to give them heads up that you're coming. Okay. All right. Good deal. Thank you, Stu. See you manana. Thank you. We'll take a break. Be right back. Congratulations to Spain. They are partying in Madrid. This is the victory parade you're looking at. Look at all the players up top. You see in the front. Let me know with that hat. He just passed to somebody. I believe that's him. Danny Alma Rodri with the with the trophy in hand. Obviously, it's a replica. I don't think they are allowed to keep it. Obviously, especially on top of that bus. It is a prized possession. Well behaved. Well, what do you want them? What do you want to do on when we do our Dodgers praise? I mean, they have their shirts off. Maybe it's a start. It just started. They just started taking shots. I see. Two actually. No, three. Because he just won a scarf. Okay. Now, now the party's starting. I think they're doing shots. Yeah. Let's check in at the end of the parade. Okay. Right. Yeah. All right. Right there. Wow. Nice. It's the real deal right there. Very good. Okay, let's talk about divorce. Have you seen the divorce glow up trend? It's a trend on social media. Women are sharing before and after photos showing how much better they look and feel after ending their marriage. And experts say the science actually backs it up, leaving a stressful relationship, drops your cortisol level, which physically helps with things like inflammation, skin issues, and pure exhaustion. Plus, shedding that heavy metal low mental load means that you can finally have the time and energy to invest back into yourself, right? Self care, happiness, that sort of thing. Well, that makes sense. Total sense. You're in a better place. You're you've like dropped a lot of weight off of you, right? I mean, yeah, well, some would say, why didn't you? Why didn't you get your stuff together before the divorce? Maybe the problem is the ball and chain that you're with. Maybe. Maybe because you don't want to what that like you didn't want to do it before because you didn't feel inspired. Because you kick back and you got lazy in your relationship. You weren't happy. You weren't happy. You weren't happy. So it makes all I know is I dated a guy for a few months and he's like, you just wait. If we ever break up, I'm going to get six pack abs. And this guy did after we broke up. And I'm like, hey, why did you wait until after you broke up to get yourself in shape? Yeah. Rude, right? Wait, would that have made a difference? You know what? Maybe it would have. So maybe he loves him. I did. I did. And now for reasons that had nothing to do with the aesthetic of it, I was going to say maybe because it was lazy. Maybe with the six pack abs, maybe how long until he developed the six pack abs? It was almost immediate. Like he that's exactly what he's like. I just won't eat ketchup. And then before you know it. Yeah, that's right. I'm just not going to drink soda every day. Right. So much easier. I know. OK, it's a good news, bad news situation for parents and kids. The L.A. Unified School starts in 23 days. We were just talking about this. What just happened? Summer is almost over. School supplies already hitting the store shelves. They've actually been on the store shelves for about a month now, which is weird. Experts say it is a good time to start thinking about getting back to business. Right. Maybe those bedtime routines start to come back. Ted Linder has the details. Kids may be out of school for the summer, but according to the experts, it's already time to get to work on their daily schedules. I think that some of the common challenges that students face when they come back from summer break to the school routine, they're really kind of revolve around the unstructured nature of the summer. It may seem early, but getting children into the swing of things shouldn't be an overnight effort, according to childhood education experts. Instead, the same routines they had during the school year should be held across the summer, considering what the routine should be for three important times of day, the morning, afternoon and bedtime. As for screen time, families trying to reduce it ahead of the school year should try leading by example. If you want your child to be off of screens or off of the phone, the first thing you have to do is remove it for yourself. And ahead of the first day of school, here's something to consider. Every child's a little nervous to start the school year with a new environment and new faces. Children may become a little anxious, but there are ways for parents and caregivers to cut down on that anxiety, like getting involved with the kids school in advance, taking time to attend those back to school activities that are housed within every school, whether it's meet the teacher or back to school night. Another way to help students feel confident as they reenter the classroom is to model the importance of school even at home. Keeping excitement around the topic may keep it exciting for them, too. I'm Ted Lindner, Fox News. Oh, boy. Have you started thinking? No, not yet. I'm not ready for it, although I am ready for it, because I'm upset about all the fights that I have to break up in a given day, you know, at home because they're not in school, but I'm not ready for, like, the daily lunches. Yeah, the homework late at night. There's this big debate in my WhatsApp mom's chat right now about because they're going to do, like, a graduation. The first of, I'm sure, they have TK graduations. Because a lot of these kids who go to my son's school are moving on to, including him, moving on to a different school, an elementary school. Still TK, though, right? But they want to do, like, a little goodbye, like a graduation. And they're like, should we do cap and gowns? No, we don't want to do cap and gowns, which would be very cute. But now, per the school, they're mandating that it's like an imagination day. So dress in whatever you imagine yourself to be. And I'm like, how is this different from Halloween? Right, right. Because I'll tell you, you're going to see a bunch of Spider-Men up there on stage. Like, what would he be as a career? That's what I suggested. I'm like, why don't we just do, like, for what are you going to be when you grow up? But still, it's still going to be Spider-Man. Is that what he wants? Yeah. Okay. So now we're just going to dress in our Sunday best and call it a day. That's so cute. I know. All right. Well, if you do that again, you're in trouble. We've all heard the threats you use for kids, but do you actually follow through on all of them? No. One family therapist say when parents don't follow through with consequences, it sends children the message that they're in charge. It turns out that modern parenting makes enforcing consequences really tough. And mostly because we're moving away from old school fear-based discipline toward a more empathetic, relational style. Between pure exhaustion, the dread of public meltdowns, and the immediate blowback from a frustrated kid, it's incredibly easy for parents to cave. And to fix this without the drama, child psychologists suggest swapping out those harsh punishments for logical consequences and open collaborative problem-solving, which actually helps kids learn the rules instead of just fearing them. I do this all the time, and I heard you say that, too. You count from five, I count to three. Yeah. One, two, and then if I get to three, they've tested me. What's the three? What happens after three? I don't know. Exactly. We don't know. We don't know because we haven't come up with a plan. Yeah. You just hope it doesn't come down to three. Or I'll say, like, I'm going to take away all your toys. Does that work? No, it never does. The only thing that gets their reaction is if I say they're not going to have screen time for the remainder. But do you keep to that? Well, they do what I say at that point because they have such a fear of the screen time. I have enforced it. I have taken away the iPad, and I've taken away TV time. The longest I've done it is for two days. I really stuck to it. Yeah, but then they do other things. Yeah, you have to take away things they love, right? Which hurts you. Because now it's like, no, I've got to entertain you now. Or the time and effort it took to buy that thing or find that thing, and you're throwing it away. My favorite is when my husband gets really stressed out, and he starts saying all the things he's going to cancel. I do that too. You're not going to go to soccer. You're not going to school weight. All right, so a retired grandparent's stand on watching their grandchildren is sparking a family debate online. So the grandparent posted to Reddit saying since they retired, their adult children have gone from requesting help with their children every now and again to now four days a week. The grandparents say while they're happy to help from time to time, regular child care should come with pay so they can still enjoy their retirement. The disagreement has fueled a broader conversation about where family support ends and full-time babysitting begins. I do know that my mom's friend watches her grandkids all the time. Like my mom. And seems to be happily doing it, right? But then, I don't know, is it, I mean, it's wildly convenient for her kids, for sure. Yeah. But like how many hours a day are we talking? And what's the workload, you know? I mean, my mom would never take monetary payment for watching my kids. She would never accept it. Ever, ever. But we take her on vacation with us, and we pay for it. There we go. There you go. Yeah, yeah. Give a little back. Is that something? I think you have to also just be mindful of their workload, like their energy level, right? Yeah, because we have parents who are getting older. They have to know what they're going in for. It's like they might have a job too. Right. And so just make sure they're aware. Like, hey, can you watch them for two hours? Or is it like eight hours? Yeah, just give them an out, right? Yeah, just give them a window. I will tell you that when you have someone like family helping you out, it's different because you can't set up rules that you would for, say, someone you hired to watch your kids. Sure. And you can't be like, I don't want you to ever do this with them. Right. And don't do this. No sugar for them. Right. They're going to do what they're going to do to survive, just like you do what you need to do to survive. So like your expectations have to be different too. And they're also the grandparents. They don't really have to put up with the consequences. Yeah. And they're judging you. Keep in mind too. Yeah. Just as much as you're judging them, they're judging you as you parent. I know. So you get what you pay for. And if you pay nothing, then you're going to get something. So that's the point. All right. We'll be right back.