Parenting Matters Now with Dr. Roger Smith
Sep 28, 2026 · 4 min · 3 segments
In this episode of Parenting Matters Now, Dr. Roger Smith explores the therapeutic benefits of "grounding"—the simple act of physically touching the earth. Discover why encouraging your children to…
Roger SmithHostNo entities detected.
I want to talk about something that is related to anxiety, but it's a totally different issue, and it is the term grounding.
Ever heard of grounding your body? As we think about what, how we go through life, do you know that there's Very few times where our bodies touch the ground, we're always putting on our shoes, going outside, walking on concrete.
There's a whole movement or a way of thinking about that, that some people refer to it as grounding, that there are electrical devices.
charges build up or there's something that happens in the body that is discharged, so to speak, whenever we have contact with the ground.
And recently I've been seeing advertisements for products that you can put in your bed that connects to the ground wire on your electrical outlets in your house.
You remember days gone by, maybe when you were a child, Maybe you never did it, that you would be barefoot and you would be swinging.
And there is something about touching grass, touching the dirt, sitting on the ground that is therapeutic.
When you go to the beach, what do you do? You dig your feet into the sand and there's something therapeutic about that.
There's a whole issue today of children having some type of sensory deficit disorders or, you know, there's all kinds of names for people that have not had textures in their lives.
get on the ground, to even roll down a hill, to take off their socks and shoes, to put their feet in the dirt.
When they go outside to play, is there a place where they can take off their shoes? Are they always on some type of rubberized or insulated surface? Think about that.
We all feel better when we contact the earth, when we touch a tree, whenever we put our feet in the sand or in the water in a stream.
So whether you believe in this idea of grounding or not, have your child experience those textures with their feet, their hands, sitting on the ground, rolling down a hill, any number of things.
I want to talk about something that is related to anxiety, but it's a totally different issue, and it is the term grounding.
Ever heard of grounding your body? As we think about what, how we go through life, do you know that there's Very few times where our bodies touch the ground, we're always putting on our shoes, going outside, walking on concrete.
There's a whole movement or a way of thinking about that, that some people refer to it as grounding, that there are electrical devices.
charges build up or there's something that happens in the body that is discharged, so to speak, whenever we have contact with the ground.
And recently I've been seeing advertisements for products that you can put in your bed that connects to the ground wire on your electrical outlets in your house.
You remember days gone by, maybe when you were a child, Maybe you never did it, that you would be barefoot and you would be swinging.
And there is something about touching grass, touching the dirt, sitting on the ground that is therapeutic.
When you go to the beach, what do you do? You dig your feet into the sand and there's something therapeutic about that.
There's a whole issue today of children having some type of sensory deficit disorders or, you know, there's all kinds of names for people that have not had textures in their lives.
get on the ground, to even roll down a hill, to take off their socks and shoes, to put their feet in the dirt.
When they go outside to play, is there a place where they can take off their shoes? Are they always on some type of rubberized or insulated surface? Think about that.
We all feel better when we contact the earth, when we touch a tree, whenever we put our feet in the sand or in the water in a stream.
So whether you believe in this idea of grounding or not, have your child experience those textures with their feet, their hands, sitting on the ground, rolling down a hill, any number of things.
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