Grounded Into Trust

When I was 14 my parents grounded me for sneaking out one night and missing curfew by

an hour. They took my phone, my games, and banned me from seeing friends for

a month. I thought my life was over. The first week was brutal.

No distractions, just homework and silence. But after a while I started helping

around the house without being asked. I finished assignments early. I actually slept.

One night my dad sat next to me and said the grounding wasn’t about punishment, it was about trust.

At the end of the month they gave everything back early and told me they were proud.

After that, I stopped lying. And I learned that being grounded hurt less than disappointing