Can I Have Just a Moment?

Can anyone explain something to me?

How can you justify grounding a kid from church? What does that possibly accomplish??

Yes, I'm venting here, but I'm also honestly trying to understand how a parent can justify doing this. Maybe I should explain..

We go to a church where several of the teens come on their own...of their own free will...because they've met Jesus and their parents haven't. I think this speaks volumes for these kids and I am incredibly proud of them.

I fully understand that an unsaved person doesn't understand the desire..the need to fellowship with like-minded people. To be around other Christians and under the preaching of God's Word. I realize they don't understand how important that is to our very soul. But, I also can't grasp the concept of grounding a child from church.

I was raised in a home where the parents didn't go to church. Let me say that my homelife was...strained..at best, but my parents never grounded me from church. I was like any other teen, getting in trouble for who knows what and like any other teen, I had to pay the consequences. But again, never did they take church away from me.

But for yet another teen at our church, this happened again yesterday.
Who knows why, but another one of our teens was told, "Your grounded from church!". Come on, you can take away so much from today's teens, cell phones, video games, tv, hanging out with friends. You can give them more chores, an earlier bedtime. Why take away something that encourages them in their relationship with God?

I'm anxious to hear from anyone who can explain this to me.

One thing I know for sure, I would dread the day that I would have to stand before the Father and answer the question, "Why did you keep your child from the one place where they could hear My Word, and draw closer to Me?"