Grounding (discipline technique)

Disciplinary action usually taken in the home by parents against children

Grounding is a general discipline technique in the United States, Canada, and other countries, which restricts children at home from going out or pursuing their favorite activities, except for any obligations. During this period, any positive reinforcement and other privileges are often revoked. A common use of grounding is room restriction, where children are confined to their bedrooms except for obligations.

Grounding is used as an alternative to physical discipline, e.g., spanking, for behavior management in the home.^[1][2] According to a 2000 review on child outcomes, "Grounding has been replicated as a more effective disciplinary alternative than spanking with teenagers with challenging behavior."^[1] Grounding can backfire if the type and duration of restrictions are disproportionately severe for the behavior meant to be corrected, or if the restrictions are too difficult for the parent to enforce due to resistance.^[3][4]

Origin

This term was used initially in aviation: when a pilot is prevented from flying an aircraft due to misconduct, illness, technical issues with the aircraft, or other reasons, the pilot is "grounded" – that is, literally confined to the ground.^[5]

In popular culture

Fan-made parodies of cartoon shows depicting characters such as Caillou, Dora the Explorer and Little Bill getting grounded have gained millions of views on YouTube.^[6][7][8]

References

1. Larzelere, Robert E. (2000), "Child Outcomes of Nonabusive and Customary Physical Punishment by Parents: An Updated Literature Review" (PDF), Clinical Child & Family Psychology Review, 3 (4): 199–221, doi:10.1023/a:1026473020315, PMID 11225737, S2CID 37681413
2. Wang, Ming-Te; Kenny, Sarah (2014), "Parental Physical Punishment and Adolescent Adjustment: Bidirectionality and the Moderation Effects of Child Ethnicity and Parental Warmth", Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 42 (5): 717–30, doi:10.1007/s10802-013-9827-8, PMID 24384596, S2CID 37712572
3. Eaves, Susan H.; Sheperis, Carl J.; Blanchard, Tracy; et al. (2005), "Teaching Time-Out and Job Card Grounding Procedures to Parents: A Primer for Family Counselors", Family Journal Counseling and Therapy for Couples and Families, 13 (3): 252, doi:10.1177/1066480704273638, S2CID 144651696
4. O'Grady, Colleen (November 15, 2015), Dial Down the Drama, AMACOM, ISBN 978-0-8144-3656-1
5. "grounded, adj.", Oxford English Dictionary, no. 8, Oxford University Press
6. Bernama, Oleh (2020-02-02). "Remaja istimewa mampu hasilkan video dengan 'Goanimate'" [Special teenagers can produce videos with 'Goanimate']. Sinar Harian (in Malay). Retrieved 2024-07-21. Among the videos that got the highest views which reached over two million were the video titled 'Little Bill pokes Cody's eye and gets grounded big time'... and the video 'Caillou pokes little Bill's eye and gets ungrounded' got one million views...
7. Dick, Jeremy (2021-01-06). "Caillou Gets Canceled on PBS After 20 Years and Parents Can't Help But Celebrate". MovieWeb. Retrieved 2024-07-21. There are also tons of tweets referring to the YouTube parody series Caillou Gets Grounded with each video typically ending with Caillou, well, getting grounded.
8. Jensen, K. Thor (August 3, 2016). "Internet Gutter: Grounded videos". Geek.com. Archived from the original on November 10, 2016.