Kids These Days:

Tiger Woods reads my column. I know this because he was trying to take the easy way out of his troubles, and, last Tuesday, I slammed him for it. On Friday, he corrected two of the mistakes I mentioned.

The first correction was to shift from calling his actions “transgressions” to calling them what they really are. On Friday, he used the word “infidelity.” Good enough.

The second correction was to start saying “I’m sorry” instead of “I apologize,” or any other substitute. On Friday, he said he was sorry.

There is a risk of being accused of piling on Woods, a part-time Corona del Mar resident, but there are at least two good reasons why his situation needs further discussion.

The first reason is that it provides an opportunity to describe the damage done to marriages by adultery.

The second reason is that the Woods saga shines a much-needed spotlight on the good guys — the men and women who get up in the morning, go to work, come home at night and are faithful to their spouses and vows.

Statistically, half of the men in America have cheated. Unfortunately, this half is the one that gets all the attention, and it is made worse by the high-profile cases in which the affected spouse chooses to stay in the marriage.

Staying in the marriage is not necessarily a bad thing. If kids are involved, attempts should be made to reconcile so they do not have to suffer the pain of divorce.

What is troublesome are the spineless responses. You’ve seen them before: Kobe Bryant’s wife, Vanessa, sitting next to him, while he told the world he had sex with another woman; Hillary Clinton standing by Bill as he tried to explain that he did not have sex with Monica Lewinsky, when in fact he did.

What I want to see is the spouse publicly humiliating the cheater. I want the spouse to look the camera in the eye and say something like: “My husband is a pig, but we’re going to stay together for the sake of the children and get some counseling to try to repair the tremendous damage he has done. He’ll be living in the garage for a while, if you need to get ahold of him.”

The cheater deserves some agony. No, I am not recommending they wear a scarlet A. All I really want is an end to these phony press conferences.

What the cheaters will never know is the peace of mind and the deep satisfaction enjoyed by those who remain faithful to their vows. The faithful lower the chances of spousal trust issues, avoid the great damage done to children by divorce or separation, eliminate sexually transmitted diseases from the relationship and do not have to spend precious time making up for their bad choices.

In other words, the faithful enjoy peace of mind. And, in a time when we are all wearing too many hats and trying to do too much in too little time, that peace of mind is precious.

On Friday, Woods announced an indefinite leave of absence from golf, saying, “I need to focus my attention on being a better husband, father and person.”

Now we’re getting somewhere. And as disgusted as I am with his behavior, if his wife is going to give him a second chance, that should be enough for the rest of us. He should have done this the day after he wrecked his car, but I was not there to advise him.

Apparently, no one ever explained to him the importance of marital trust and fidelity as he was maturing. What he probably got instead was a long line of people telling him how great he is and enabling the behavior we are hearing about today.

But Woods no longer is a teenage phenom or single young adult. He is a 33-year-old husband and father who finally seems to be growing up.

STEVE SMITH is a Costa Mesa resident and a freelance writer. Send story ideas to [email protected] .