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Clinical demonstrator · proof of concept

Job Card Grounding

A structured, neutral alternative to open-ended grounding for children roughly seven and older: one concrete task, privileges paused until it's done, reinstated the moment it is.

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The method

When a house rule is broken, the child receives a single job card and ordinary privileges pause until the task is completed to a reasonable standard. The instant it's finished, privileges resume in full. The card is a task, not a punishment of the relationship.

Brief & predictable
Short, consistent consequences shift behavior more reliably than long, open-ended ones.
The child holds the clock
How soon it ends is the child's choice, which restores a sense of agency and ownership.
No argument to win
Because the card is fixed and neutral, there's nothing to negotiate — it defuses the power struggle.

Issue a job card ages 7–10

—
Draw a card to begin.
No card issued.
Deliver it like this — calm, brief, no lecture

Running it with fidelity

Do

  • Hand it over calmly and briefly, warmth intact.
  • Let the child set the pace — they own the timeline.
  • Reinstate privileges fully and immediately on completion.
  • Keep cards to roughly 10–20 minutes, outside normal chores.

Don't

  • Lecture, negotiate, or argue the card.
  • Use the silent treatment or withdraw affection.
  • Add time, stack consequences, or move the goalposts.
  • Step in and finish the task for them.

Session record

Issued cards will appear here with timestamps for review.

Proof of concept. Decks and child-mode settings sync across devices via Supabase. The child-facing options stay inside the non-punitive method — warmth at the finish, never points or prizes. Not a substitute for clinical assessment or individualized treatment planning.

job-card-grounding · build 2026-06-17c · jcg_decks + jcg_settings

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Child-mode settings

Make the child-facing screen feel like yours — the wording, who marks the card done, the calm visual, the colour, the close. The method stays non-punitive whatever you choose; warmth at the finish helps, points and fanfare don't, so they're deliberately left out.
Used in the greeting. Leave blank for none.
Self-marking hands the child the clock. Confirming lets the adult check it was done to standard before reinstating.
The calm line the child reads while doing the task.
Picking one fills the line below — edit it to your own words.
Counts up only — never a countdown, so it never becomes "you're grounded for X minutes."