Its All Fun and Games Until Someone Goes Bankrupt

Summertime and the living is easy. Fun-filled days at the beach and evenings of board games, county fairs and mindless television. Or so I thought. I began watching the Housewives series on BravoTV last summer. A friend had a sick child and we would watch the Real Housewives of NJ during rounds of Chemotherapy. It was a fun way to get through the horror that is pediatric cancer.

I liked the ridiculous situations they would find themselves in and the way the women all loved their families. I think that is why so many have enjoyed this series so much. We may not be as wealthy or live the lavish lifestyles, but we all have girlfriends, family, friends, squabbles and even gossip. This was fun and relate-able. For the most part, I liked the women. Some made a living building their own business, others supported a partner in a successful marriage and family. Some did both. Of course the women I respect most, are the ones who chose to use their new celebrity to help others. Dina Manzo, a creative and positive business women used this opportunity to help Pediatric Cancer patients through her Project Ladybug. The Real Housewives, while not typical, were entertaining and people we could relate to on some level.

Until this season of the RHONJ. The show is no longer a program I would watch with a child, that is for sure. And that is due primarily to the disgusting and disgraceful behavior of Teresa Giudice. She has been in the news a lot the past few months. She "loves, loves, loves" all the fun, fun, fun she is having. Most of us would be hiding our head in shame given the same set of circumstances. (Dina Manzo showed the wisdom of Job when she left this train wreck before it left the rails.)

It was revealed that the Giudice's filed for bankruptcy last fall. I am sure we all expected to see a different, more repentant Teresa this season. Bankruptcy is serious business. Failed businesses, overwhelming debt - time to sell the assets, hunker down, reign in spending and weather the storm, right? Not if you are a Princess from Paterson with more chinchilla than brains. How does some one in bankruptcy continue to spend like a drunken sailor on leave and brag about it? T.G tweeted boastfully about her recent People magazine article.

"Teresa_Giudice - Another fun day of press! Facts = read what my attorney told @peoplemag ~ http://ow.ly/2fhvl Thank you all for your support! xx"

For the life of me, I have no idea why this dopey woman would want to post this. The article tells us she is accused of concealing records, hiding assets and that they are going to have to auction off personal property. I also don't understand why they even have personal property at this point. If you are bankrupt - you are BROKE? Right? How do broke people get to live in a $5 million DOLLAH MANSION that isn't "UNDER forcloshah"? I don't think she gets it. Does she think all the old debts just vanish? evaporate? magically turn into glitter for headbands? The Debt Fairy takes the old debts away so she can start spending anew with no change in lifestyle? Teresa, do you understand that it is your audience who will ultimately pay those debts? YOUR DEBTS? We all bear the burden of deadbeats like you - cheating the system. And guess what? WE ARE SICK OF PEOPLE LIKE YOU! Take your book and Bravo salary and pay your own damn debts, honey! or is DEADBEAT BITCH better?

Ah...but her stupidity isn't limited to financial matters. Let;s go through a few recent Guidice blunders, missteps and outright failures.

Teresa recently tweeted about how she made a commercial for "Sizzle Tans". More fun, fun, fun. Teresa, in case you haven't heard, TANNING IS BAD FOR YOU! Tanning beds triple the rate of melanoma and are considered as deadly as Arsenic. So, while your friends Dina and Caroline Manzo devote their time, energy and money to fighting cancer - you are promoting it. Brilliant!

On a recent episode of RHONJ we got to see T wearing a chinchilla while chasing Danielle through the halls of country club. Apparently, it is true. You can take the girl out of Paterson, but you can't take the Paterson out of a girl. There is nothing normal or ladylike about a women in heels chasing another women through a restaurant screaming "My house isn't UNDER foreclosure". Trust me when I tell you...that round goes to Danielle. Tell me, Teresa, will you use that as a training video for your girls?

The saddest and most difficult part of watching T is how she parents. Or, more accurately, how she fails to parent. T and her macho Guido Joe Guidice are equally matched in their inability to parent. They obviously figured out how to make the babies too bad they haven't figured out how to raise them.

There are many, many instances of bad parenting. There was the ridicule and teasing of Gia by her insensitive father. And who could forget the ATV birthday gift - that came with out helmets or safety instructions - just chuck 'em on there and let 'em rip! But the saddest and most disgraceful of all the things I have seen was the "fight club" scene.

T was again bragging about how she could handle herself and her girls were going to be tough too. Then we see Joe taking the girls to Karate. I know Karate is about discipline and self control. It is NOT about aggression. The Sensei at this school should be stripped of his belts. I was literally sick to my stomach as I watched this moron Guido Joe instruct his daughter's to hit each other. WTF? I have always taught my children to NEVER strike another person. It is a fool who needs to use violence, the stronger person can rely on his wits and wisdom. Ok, I will give you that, Teresa. has no choice. But to insist little girls hit their sisters is cruel. The girls instinctively knew this was wrong. They did not want to do this. They asked to go eat...but Guido Joe Guidice held true to his "no lunch until you punch" doctrine. Who does this to a child? They were being used like dogs in a dog fight - forced to perform violently for the cameras. Why did this appeal to Joe so much? All we were missing were a few cash bets on the side. There is something pathologically wrong there. I am can not adequately describe how disturbing this scene was to me.

And through all of this, I kept asking myself....who is filming this and why are they allowing this to go on? Obviously, there were other adults there - BravoTV employees - who just stood there and allowed young children to be thrown on the back of ATVs and allowed children to be forced to fight each other in some bizarre and depraved exercise. Employee or not, how do you allow a child to be put in harms way and do nothing? Shame, shame, shame on BravoTv. I am all for adults being filmed while acting like jackasses - but it is wrong and exploitive to film a child in a dangerous circumstance and do nothing to protect them. I hope in the future BravoTV will be more responsible about filming. I also hope BravoTV will chose their cast a little more carefully next season. (vote in the poll below for who you think should return to RHONJ next season) Most "REAL" Housewives love and protect their family, work hard, pay their bills, respect their neighbors and for the most part behave with dignity. Teresa Guidice is not a "REAL" Housewife. She is a joke.

Can't wait to hear your thoughts....and ideas for the next blog?  And PLEASE vote in the poll below!