- 1). Use the time to catch up on things you've been meaning to do. Make your parents happy by cleaning up your room, organizing your old junk in the garage and doing a few household chores. Work on some extra credit assignments for school, or start your end-of-the-year project ahead of time. Show them you are capable of learning your lesson and helping out around the house to gain some trust.
- 2). Don't fight their decision. Make immediate amends with your parents, and listen to their decision and consider how you can learn from the experience. Avoid spending your entire time on punishment venting and harboring anger; now's the perfect time to talk to them about your feelings.
- 3). Do everything they said you can do. Look at the list of activities that are off-limits, like texting your friends, playing video games and going to the mall, and substitute them with things that are approved by your parents. Go outside for a walk, wash the dog or visit your cousins. Sit in the living room and read a book or a magazine. Don't be a slave to the grounding; instead, make it work for you.
- 4). Create a vision board. Make a board with all of your future hopes and dreams on it using cut-out pages from old magazines, newspapers and catalogs. Include things you want to buy and things you'd like to do, like get into fitness or buy a new computer. Paste the clippings to an over-sized poster board, and hang the board in your room as motivation to achieve the posted items. Working on a craft project will help you take your mind off of the time and get that grounding period to go by faster than you thought possible.
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