Family time isn’t always all fun and games, is it?  Part of being a family is learning and growing together, and sometimes that process is hard and unpleasant.  Discipline, for instance, is one of those things that is a necessary part of what happens in a family, but isn’t enjoyed by everyone (perhaps anyone) involved.

And sometimes being grounded is as hard on the parents as it is on the kiddo being grounded.

Our kiddos, thankfully, aren’t grounded very often.  Grounding is one of the things that we reserve for serious offenses.

But it does happen… it just does.

So it’s wise to choose a grounding that is appropriate for the offense, but also one that you as parents are able to follow through on.  I think that second part (follow through) can be just as tricky as the first (choosing an appropriate discipline).

Most recently, one of our kiddos was grounded from all electronics (TV, video/DVD, computer, wii, Tamagotchi, iPod, etc…) and from being able to go to anyone’s house, or to have any friends come over.  Sounds simple enough… fairly straightforward.

That was until we realized that the one kiddo’s grounding meant that the whole family couldn’t go to the movie we had planned to see on the weekend…. and we would have to get someone to come to our place to watch the grounded kiddo (since they couldn’t go to someone’s house) if the rest of us wanted to go.  Or one of the parents was going to have to stay with the grounded kiddo, and thus miss out on the movie with the rest of the family.  Definitely not ideal.

It was a good reminder to us, as parents, to remember that even a just punishment is not likely to be convenient for us.  It was also a good lesson for all the kiddos – the consequences of our actions extend beyond ourselves, and there is sometimes a cost that must be paid by others, too, because of our decisions.

We dealt with this situation as graciously as possible, and the kiddo felt bad that a parent had to miss the movie too (that was our choice this time) when the parent wasn’t the one being ‘disciplined’.

Yup, being grounded stinks, sometimes for us as much as them!

Check out more Family Time Fridays here at It’s OK to be WEIRD!