Being Grounded

I actually was never really grounded as a kid. Not because I was a perfect little angle, but because my parents never really used ‘grounding’ as a punishment. Apparently to some kids, grounding was the only way to go. What exactly does grounded mean? In this instance, this poor tree is grounded for life and doesn’t even have a choice. Even if he wanted to run away and ‘break’ the grounding and not obey his or her parents he can’t!