Clinical Reference Systems: Pediatric Advisor 10.0

Job grounding is a method of discipline that may be used to teach your child the consequences of inappropriate behavior or breaking rules. Job grounding also gives your child an opportunity to learn how to do various jobs around your home.

The following instructions describe how to use job grounding.

1. Sit down with your child at a pleasant time and develop a list of at least 10 jobs that need to be done regularly around the house. The jobs should be approximately equal in difficulty and the amount of time required to complete them. Be sure your child is capable of doing each job. Examples of such jobs are washing the kitchen floor, cleaning the bathroom, sweeping out the garage, raking the front yard, and vacuuming the living and dining rooms.

2. Each job should be written on a separate index card with a detailed description of what is required to complete the job correctly. For example: Wash kitchen floor: Sweep the floor first. Remove all movable pieces of furniture. Fill a bucket with warm soapy water. Wash the floor with a clean rag, squeezed so that it is not dripping. Dry the floor with a clean, dry rag. Replace the furniture that was moved.

3. Explain to your child that when she has broken a rule (for example, not returning home from school on time or fighting with a brother), one or more job cards will be assigned. The child will randomly select the assigned number of cards from the prewritten job cards. Until the assigned number of jobs described on the cards are completed correctly, the child will be grounded.

4. Being grounded means:
   • attending school
   • performing required chores
   • following house rules
   • staying in own room unless eating meals, working on chores or homework, or attending school
   • no television
   • no telephone calls
   • no record player, radio, etc.
   • no video games or other games or toys
   • no bike riding
   • no friends over or going to friends' houses
   • no snacks
   • no outside social activities (for example, movies or going out to dinner).

   You will need to have a baby sitter available on short notice in case your child is grounded and unable to accompany you on a planned family outing.

5. Grounding does NOT mean:
   • nagging
   • reminding about jobs to be done
   • discussing the grounding
   • explaining the rules.

6. When the jobs are completed, make sure that they have been done correctly. Praise your child for completing the chores correctly and thus ending the grounding. If a job is not completed correctly, review the job description and provide feedback on parts done correctly and incorrectly. Without nagging, instruct your child to redo the tasks that were done incorrectly in order to end the grounding.

7. Your child determines how long he or she is to be grounded. The grounding lasts only as long as it takes to complete the assigned jobs. It could last from 15 minutes to 3 days or longer.

8. If the grounding seems to be lasting an excessively long amount of time, make sure that your child's life is dull enough during the grounding. Make sure you are not providing a lot of attention in the form of nagging, etc.

Don't expect job grounding to make a dramatic difference the first time you use it. Your child needs to be grounded and to work his way out of grounding several times before he will truly understand it.