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Go to Your Room!

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And stop trying to come out every 5 seconds.

One of the Stock Phrases most often used in a Dom Com when a kid acts up. A milder version of You Are Grounded!. Often followed with "to think about what you've done" and possibly the kid slamming the door behind them.

This actually isn't much of a punishment, since many kids' rooms have all their toys and games inside. Also, just because a child may go to their room doesn't mean they're going to think about their actions. The trope is often subverted when parents realize this. The punishment probably hails from a time when a child's bedroom didn't have luxuries like computers, TVs, games, consoles or toys, but has been passed down from parent to child for so long it's become standard discipline. Of course, a lot of it depends on the child's personality. This is naturally much more of a punishment for the child who really likes playing outside or with other people, as opposed to one who'd rather just sit and read a book, or make up stories in their imagination anyway. Sometimes utilized less as a punishment and more as a way for the adult to get a few minutes of peace and quiet.

Truth in Television; lots of people can recall having heard this spoken to them when they were children.


Examples:

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    Advertising 
  • One 1990s Crayola commercial for a "cool room" sweepstakes had a kid sent to his, unbeknownst to him that it's chock full of brand new toys. The next time his parents send him off, he cheers.
  • One of the Fritos commercials Jay Leno made before he took over the Tonight Show had him talk to parents about kids misbehaving. "Don't send them to their room", he tells parents. "They got everything in there. Send them to your room! There's nothing going on in there!"

    Comedy 
  • In Bill Cosby's "Chocolate Cake for Breakfast" routine from Bill Cosby: Himself, he messes up the simple task of fixing breakfast for his kids. "And my wife sent me to my room... which is where I wanted to go in the first place."
  • Denis Leary inverts this: "We [the parents] go to their rooms' when they're grounded."

    Comic Books 
  • Robin (1993): After Ariana dressed in lingerie and propositioned Tim, who turned her down, and her uncle saw her thus dressed and tried to kill Tim while chasing him out of the house Tim arrives home to have his father yell at him about what a disappointment he is and send him to his room, angrily cutting off any attempts on Tim's part to explain what actually happened.
  • The Powerpuff Girls are consigned to their bedroom until they clean it. But every time they do, Him makes it messy again (issue #27's "Bless This Mess").
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Search features a scene where Ursa sends Azula to her room after she burned Zuko's bottom as revenge for him telling their mother about an flower in the Royal Gardens Azula burned out of boredom while out on a walk together.

    Comic Strips 

    Fan Works 
  • Anglerfish: Jack locked Tim in his room earlier in the night for not having perfect grades, starting off what Tim had decided was a bad night all around long before Jason showed up.
  • The Boy Who Cried Idiot:
    • When Lincoln is complaining about his unfair grounding lasting a full week, Rita tells him to go to his room and stay there for the rest of the day except to eat dinner and use the bathroom.
    • Exaggerated when Lynn Sr. punishes Lincoln for fighting with Chandler and Martin by sending him to his room to do nothing for an entire weekend.
  • In Kyon: Big Damn Hero Kyon is getting grounded again after her mother learned he dangled another student out of a third-floor window (It Makes Sense in Context), telling him he's destroying his future. Then comes Tsuruya's father to thank him for his acts and promises him a position in his corporation after he finishes his education. After he leaves the following exchange happens:
    Kyon: Anyway, you were reminding me that I don't have a future?
    Kyon's mother: Go to your room! You're still grounded from attending your club!
  • In Stars from Home a character being sent to their room occurs multiple times. Usually, it is Xavier's way to make a student take time to calm down and collect themselves. Since Xavier has figured out that punishments like grounding and being sent to your room don't have the same impact on someone who wants to be at home and enjoys reading, when he's actually trying to punish Scott he tacks on, "And no reading."
  • These parodies of Steven Universe made before White Diamond's proper debut has her sending the other Diamonds to their silhouette-shaped holes.
  • This human AU of Steven Universe has White Diamond sending Pink to her room, only to remember that she has her toys and laptop in there. Cut to Yellow finding Pink laying in the bathtub.
    Yellow: What the hell are you doing in the bathtub?
    Pink: Being punished.

    Films — Animation 

    Films — Live-Action 
  • Parodied in Hudson Hawk while the title character is facing off with Diabolical Mastermind Darwin Mayflower:
    Hudson: I want to be treated like an adult.
    Darwin: That's fair. Now go to your room.
    [Alfred the Butler applies a Vulcan Neck Pinch to Hudson and knocks him out]
  • Lost Creek: Peter's mom tells him to go to his room when she calls him stupid for not listening to his trying to tell her about their neighbours' disappearance.
  • Subverted in The Ring by Rachel yelling this while freaking out over discovering Noah's corpse and realizing that they didn't stop the Curse at all, and doesn't want her son, Aiden, to watch her violent and tearful breakdown over the Cursed Video.
  • In Stand Clear of the Closing Doors, Mariana and Carla take out their grief and worry over Ricky's disappearance on each other. Mariana tells Carla to go to her room after one particularly nasty fight. Carla responds with a Door Slam of Rage.
  • The Odd Couple has Oscar say this to Felix, at the apex of a heated argument between the two, Oscar says this not as a punishment, but more as a warning to Felix to avoid getting attacked by him in a blind rage.
  • ...And Your Name Is Jonah: When Jonah won't stop throwing his food on the floor, Danny takes his plate away. Jonah responds by crying and banging his spoon on the table, so Danny marches him up to his room.
  • In Imagination, the twins' parents order them to their room when they won't stop playing with their food. They imagine their parents as being made out of vegetables.
  • In Molly (1983), Aunt Jenny orders Maxie to go to her room as punishment for disappearing all day, causing Jenny to call the police. Instead, Maxie shouts, "I hate you!" and runs off to continue looking for Molly.
  • Kill Bill: Downplayed. In Volume 1, in the middle of a brutal fight, Vernita's daughter, Nikki, arrives home from her school, Vernita pleads Beatrix to stop fighting. When Nikki enters the house and briefly talks with her mom as well as introducing each other with Beatrix, her mom orders her to go to her room out of protection from the risk of getting killed.
  • The Wasteland (2021): When Diego is caught spying on his parents as they discuss what to do with the soldier's dead body, Lucia orders this of him.

    Literature 
  • In Anne of Green Gables, Marilla's preferred method of disciplining the young Anne (for example, after Anne loses her temper with Rachel Lynde, or when Marilla wrongly thinks Anne wore her brooch without permission and lost it) is to make her stay in her room until she admits she did wrong and apologizes.
  • In The Berenstain Bears Get the Gimmies, Papa Bear sends both Brother Bear and Sister Bear to their room after they greet their grandparents by shouting "WHAJA BRING ME?!" As they're headed up there, he also declares that they're getting no treats for a week... a month... a year. Grandpa Bear then asks him if he's having a bad day and tells a tale of when Papa Bear had the gimmies just as badly.
  • Bored Nothing To Do: The boys' parents send them to their room for making a plane out of their things.
  • In Colin Fischer, Susan Fischer says this first to Colin for lying about his whereabouts, then to Danny for calling Colin retarded.
  • In both the book and television versions of Franklin's Bad Day, Franklin is sent to his room for a time-out by his mother after he arrives home cranky, throws his dirty and wet skates and mittens on the floor, and refuses to pick them up. He gets so mad once inside his room that he kicks down his block castle and Mr. Turtle discovers him in his room crying. At that, Franklin reveals that he made the castle with Otter, who's just moved away, and Mr. Turtle comforts him.
  • In James and the Giant Peach, James is locked in his bedroom by Aunt Spiker and Aunt Sponge, to keep him out of the way while the visitors come to admire the giant peach. At the beginning of the book, being locked up in the cellar with the rats for a week is among the terrible punishments promised to him.
  • In Lucy & Andy Neanderthal: The Stone-Cold Age, Lucy and Andys' Dad tells Andy to go to his room after Lucy and Andy get into an argument and Andy breaks her necklace. Andy says the joke's on him because he can't go to his room because they live in a cave, at which point, the Dad tells him to go sit in his spot in the cave.
  • This is pretty much the entire plotline of Robert Munsch's Mortimer, as first his father, then his mother, then his entire family, police (and neighbors) try to get Mortimer to go bed and be quiet.
  • In Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Nico is sent to his room by his father, Hades.
  • In The Wind in the Willows, Toad's friends Ratty, Mole, and Badger lock him up in his bedroom when he refuses to promise to give up driving.
  • In I Think I Love You, Petra's mother punishes her for sneaking off to a David Cassidy concert by shutting her in her room for three days and leaving food outside on a tray.
  • In Tornado Brain, Frankie's mom orders her to her room for yelling at a police officer. Instead she goes outside for a Cathartic Scream.
  • In Call Me Sunflower, Sunny's mom says, "Sunny Carson Beringer!" and orders her to her room for insulting Grandma Grace on TV and then to her face.
  • In Babylon's Ashes, as the Rocinante crew and their allies seize back the Medina Station from the Free Navy, they find out there's not enough space in jail for all the enemy personnel, so they lock up just the highest-ranking officers there and put the rest under house arrests. Jim Holden can't help but compare that to kids being told to go to their rooms as a punishment for misbehaving.
  • Can You See Me?: In Ways to Be Me, Nell insults Tally, and Tally attacks her and yanks out some of her hair. She's ordered to her room for it.
  • In The Nowhere Girls, Trista's father punishes her for her involvement with the Nowhere Girls by installing a new doorknob on her room that locks from the outside. She's only let out once every two hours to go to the bathroom. Her mother brings her meals and prays with her.
  • Things I Should Have Known: After Ethan runs off from Chloe's house, wanders around all night, and is possibly mugged, leading his family to decide to institutionalize him, his stepmom Margot forces him to stay in his room all day until he leaves for the institution so it doesn't happen again.
  • Roys Bedoys: In “You’re Grounded, Roys Bedoys!”, Mrs. Bedoys sends Roys to his room for stealing an eraser.
  • In The Mermaid's Mirror, Lena tells her parents that she's seeing a movie with her friends when she's actually surfing, which her father has forbidden her from doing. When she gets home, her parents order her to her room, then ground her for the next few days.
  • Haze: When Madeline's tyrannical mother finds out she's visited Seb at his house, she punishes her by throwing out all her clothes, furniture, and everything else in her room except a mattress, and then locking her in for three days. She feeds her bread and water and only lets her out to use the toilet twice a day.
  • In Truth or Dare (2000), Patrick's father used to punish him by banishing him to his room. He hated being confined and would try to escape, so his father installed a lock on the outside of his door.
  • In Dolphin Song, Melody comes home in a bad mood because of Alpha Bitch Priscilla and gets in an argument with her stepmum Felicity. Felicity says, 'If you're not in the mood to behave in a civil way, why don't you go straight to your room.'

    Live-Action TV 
  • In an episode of 3rd Rock from the Sun, Mrs. Dubcek catches Harry "painting something awful on the side of the house", which he claims is "a post-impressionist urban mural." Dick responds, "Well, I promise you, Mrs. Dubcek, Harry will not go unpunished. He will sit in his room and think about what he did while you repaint your house!"
  • Doctor Who: In "The Doctor Dances", the Doctor tries to escape the gas mask zombies by ordering them to go to their room. It works. Turns out the person controlling them is a four-year-old boy.
    The Doctor: I'm really glad that worked. Those would have been terrible last words!
    • It leads to an Oh, Crap! moment while they're investigating said four-year-old boy.
      The Doctor: I told it to go to its room... This is its room!
  • This exchange from Family Ties:
    Steven: Up to your rooms, now.
    Alex: Uh, Dad, I think I'm a little old to be sent to my room.
    Steven: You're also too old to be whining in the car the whole way back.
    Alex: [whining] I wasn't whining...
    • Another episode has him saying this to Mallory, who almost complies before suddenly realizing that she's 18 years old and he has no authority to tell her this.
  • The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air has a hilarious variation when Uncle Phil accidentally reveals that Will slept with his girlfriend's mother, who Phil also used to date before marrying Vivian:
    Ashley: (imitating Uncle Phil) Ashley, go to your room!
    Carlton: (enthused about the revelation) Oh, I love this!
    Ashley: (imitating Uncle Phil) And take Carlton with you!
    Carlton: Oh, I'm not going anywhere!
    Phil: (while giving Carlton a Death Glare) You heard what I said!
  • Friends:
    • In an early episode, Joey's dad is staying with him, and his affair is revealed, so Joey makes them stay with him anyway to keep them from sleeping together. When his dad protests, Joey yells to him "Go to my room!"
    • During the final season Phoebe asks Joey to give her away at her wedding. Joey is so touched he starts to cry and decides to invoke this trope to cover it up
      Joey: I don't want you to see your father this way, go to your room!.
  • Game of Thrones:
    • Tywin Lannister, being very much the Dragon-in-Chief, orders King Joffrey to bed after Joffrey implies that Tywin is a coward. Tyrion notes this with amusement.
  • In Married... with Children, after Bud fails an exam because (unbeknownst to Al) his hot new neighbor April keeps sneaking in through his bedroom window to have sex with him:
    Bud: Dad, you can punish me however you like, but whatever you do, please don't send me to my room.
    Al: Bud, go to your room.
    Bud: You're a hard but fair man. [rushes upstairs, grinning]
  • Not so much a parody, but Uther does give Morgana a version of it in Merlin: "You will go to your chambers!"
  • One episode of The Odd Couple has Oscar yelling this at Felix after losing his patience with him. Felix replies that he doesn't have to take this and that he's going to his room.
  • Person of Interest. In "SNAFU", the Machine has a glitch and keeps sending Team Machine to stop potential murderers who are Not so Dire. John Reese barges into one house waving a gun, only to find the perpetrator is a frightened boy who called in a bomb threat to get out of a maths test.
    Reese: How old are you, 14? Get the hell back to school.
    Kid: School's closed. The bomb threat.
    Reese: Well, then you're suspended. Go to your room!
  • Occurs in an episode of Power Rangers S.P.D., during a scene where Mora ticks off Emperor Gruumm.
    Gruumm: Mora, go to your room!
    Mora: But this is my room!
    Gruumm: Then go to my room!
    Mora: But you told me never to go in your room...
    Gruumm: GO!
  • Said by Providence's Tina to her son Pete after he mouthes off to her about her upcoming wedding. He actually does this with no argument, as he'd rather sulk. Unfortunately, he outright barricades himself in there, leaving him trapped when a fire breaks out.
  • Pyramid: On The $25,000 Pyramid, host Dick Clark would snark "go to your room!" to someone offstage who gives a goofy or punny clue after the bonus round is finished and discussed.
  • ¿Qué Pasa, U.S.A.?: Juana and Pepe are constantly sending Carmen away to her room whenever they deem the subject unfit to her teenage ears. It even turns up as part of the Comic Role Play episode. As she protests in one instance:
    Carmen: ¡Yo siempre me pierdo todo! (I always miss out on everything!)
  • Star Trek:
    • In the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "By Any Other Name", the Big Bad of the episode, Rojan, orders one of his subordinates to confine himself to his quarters after he throws a drug-induced tantrum.
    • In fact, "confined to quarters" is a fairly common punishment on Star Trek shows, seen on every version of the show except the animated series. It seemed to be a general purpose punishment employed basically to keep Status Quo Is God, as opposed to something more major like a stripping of rank or placing someone in the brig. In a couple of cases, though, it was for other reasons, such as security during an emergency.
  • Star Trek: Voyager
    • In "State of Flux", Joe Carey falls under suspicion of being The Mole for the Kazon and is confined to quarters for the duration of the investigation. While he turns out to be innocent, he doesn't appear for the rest of the episode. Then the scriptwriters apparently thought he'd been killed off and didn't reuse his character until Season 7, causing fans to joke he'd been locked up in his room the entire time.
    • In "Collective", Seven of Nine encounters some Borg children and in obvious reference to this trope tries ordering them to their maturation chambers. They do not comply.
  • Defied in Supernanny; Jo Frost discourages having children do time-out in their bedrooms, at is the place where they sleep and play.
  • The Vampire Diaries has an example of this when Damon sends Jeremy to his room in season 4.
  • One sketch in The Whitest Kids U' Know features a kid on the first day of homeschooling. His mother (the teacher) runs into some problem when she has to give him detention, and so must tell the kid which room is detention hall (she doesn't want to send him to his room, as that would be too little like school). Her first try is the washing room, which falls down she has to wash clothes. Then she suggests the garage, followed by outside (both of which fails because the kids mention things he could do there). Finally, she just gives up and tells him to go to his room, which quite obviously is what he wanted all along.
  • Said by Who's the Boss?' Angela to Samantha after the two get into an argument. Samantha refuses, declaring, "You're Not My Mother", prompting Tony to step in, declare that he's her father and order her to obey Angela.
  • In Young Sheldon, Mary Cooper laments to husband George that the usual threat to a maladjusted child — grounding them or sending them to their room — has the opposite effect on Sheldon Cooper, who would simply thank them for allowing him to stay indoors and avoid the loathed Out There.

    Puppet Shows 
  • Wimzie's House: In "Babies Have It Made" Wimzie gets sent to her room for making Bo cry (after he threw her favorite plant on the ground) and refusing to apologize to him.

    Theatre 
  • In Fancy Nancy: Splendiferous Christmas, there's actually a song called "Go, Go, Go to Your Room", which is all about the various times that Fancy Nancy's little sister JoJo was sent to her room for crazy stuff she's done like trying to use her father's shaving cream to make snow or drawing a tattoo on one of Nancy's dolls with permanent marker. The latest incident is throwing a tantrum because of not getting a necklace that she wanted. The song has a brief reprise later in the play after JoJo removes a branch from the family Christmas tree and decorates it as a mini-tree of her own, however, this time she actually doesn't get sent to her room because her family finds it creative and they even end it up planting it to make it look like more of a tree.
  • A variation in Maurice Ravel's opera L'enfant et les sortiléges. When the titular little boy refuses to do his homework, his mother makes him stay alone in the sitting room until suppertime. The boy responds by throwing a tantrum and trashing the room, resulting in all the damaged household items coming to life to teach him a lesson.

    Video Games 
  • Klee from Genshin Impact is often sent to solitary confinement by Acting Grand Master Jean for fish blasting and other explosive-related things.
  • In Mass Effect 2, if Anderson has been made the human leader/represenative of the Council, his assistant Udina will walk in and berate him for what he perceives as a mistake, at which point Anderson will tell him that he is in charge, and to "Go to your office, and think about that for a while."
  • In Sam & Max: Freelance Police: "Chariots of the Dogs", after Sam and Max cause a catastrophic temporal anomaly, the spaceship's computer AI orders them to go back to the spaceship "To think about what you've done."
  • Parodied in Samurai Warriors 2, where Tokugawa Ieyasu of all people ends up on the receiving end of this phrase from Nene in her dream stage.
    Nene: Ieyasu, get back to Edo, and go to your room!

    Webcomics 
  • In Katamari, the King of All Cosmos starts to send the Prince to his room after he breaks a lamp. However, he rethinks this and sends him to Earth instead.
  • TENACITY: A non-punishment variant of this trope. After Kinley nearly gets herself killed, Yuriah tells Willow to go to her room so that she can avoid the ensuing fallout.

    Web Original 
  • The Tourettes Guy did this to his son in one video.
    Danny: Aw, fuck you! You're grounded!
    Son: What for?
    Danny: 'Cause you don't think the garbage disposal sounds like Chewbacca taking a shit, that's why! Now go to your room!
  • A frequent trope in GoAnimate videos, wherein certain videos often end with misbehaving cartoon kids and teens being sent to their rooms, often for ridiculously long times or the most trivial of reasons.

    Western Animation 
  • Arthur:
    • Arthur gets sent to his room after scaring D.W. out of the bathtub in "D.W. All Wet". D.W. tells him that he can't come out until she says so.
    • D.W. gets sent to her room in "D.W. The Picky Eater" due to the incident at the restaurant where she splattered her salad all over the waiter, resulting in him quitting.
    • In "D.W.'s Baby", D.W. soon becomes jealous of all the attention Kate is getting, and taking the advice of the Tibble twins, tries to pin the blame on Kate for various bad things so her parents won't love the baby anymore and get rid of her. When her Dad later finds his new shoes in the dishwasher, D.W. immediately blames Kate, claiming that she saw her do it. Dad obviously doesn't buy for a second and sends her to her room, telling her that he'll be up in a few minutes to discuss it with her.
      Nadine: He said "discuss". You know what that means.
      D.W.: Yeah. I'm in trouble.
    • In the episode "Go to Your Room, D.W.", which later got adapted into a book, (as pictured above), D.W. is sent to her room after she threatens to pinch Baby Kate. The trope is played perfectly straight as D.W. considering it a horrid punishment, moping about being treated like a slave and trying to slip out of her room approximately every few seconds, getting sent back each time. For added entertainment, D.W.'s room also happens to be Kate's room — that's where she has her crib. So when Mom needs a break she ends up sending Kate to the room too, asking D.W. to look after her sister. This results in D.W.'s muttering about being asked to babysit the enemy, but also leads to the happy resolution of the story.
  • Played for Laughs in the Avatar: The Last Airbender episode "The Headband", Sokka snaps this at Aang after pretending to be his dad when Aang suggests throwing a dance party for the kids at the Fire Nation school.
    Sokka: (puts on his fake beard) "GO TO YOUR ROOM!"
  • The Ben 10: Alien Force episode "Grounded" is based around this trope.
  • Big City Greens:
    • In "Space Chicken", when Cricket causes destruction to the city for trying to launch a chicken into outer space, Bill tells him he's grounded and has to stay in his room for the rest of the day; Cricket then tries to get Bill to change his mind, but to no avail. Then Remy (the boy he met earlier) asks if he should go with him, but Bill just grimaces and he does so.
    • In "Fast Foodie", a pudgy Cricket is sent to his room by Bill when he finds out he has been secretly asking Remy to sneak some Burger Clown food over to him.
    • In "Big Trouble", Tilly reveals she is responsible for dirtying up the house, not Cricket; it is that point Bill punishes her for the first time ever, resulting in her sent to her room.
    • In "Country Side", after Cricket and Remy are caught by Bill, they are sent to Cricket's room as punishment; Bill even boards up Cricket's window so they don't escape out.
    • In "Honey Heist", Cricket, Remy, and even Tilly are grounded to Cricket's room after Nancy supposedly rats them out for stealing the honey; however, this was just to distract Bill so she can take some for herself.
  • Happens in the Courage the Cowardly Dog episode "Little Muriel", where Muriel is de-aged into a bratty three-year-old. After Courage finally has enough, he shouts, "That's it! Go to your room!" (made even funnier that the farmhouse is completely in shambles from the tornado that caused all this) which makes Muriel cry, "I DON'T WANNA GO TO MY ROOM!!!" and throws a temper tantrum. A HUGE one that it made the ground shake. Courage immediately feels guilty about this and tries to calm her down.
  • Darkwing Duck, "The Quivering Quack" is no exception.
    Drake Mallard: That's it! No more arrows, no more sidekick! NO MORE QUIVERING QUACK! And I was right to begin with, you aren't old enough to handle being a hero, now go to your room!
  • In Dexter's Laboratory episode "The Old Switcharooms", Dexter and Dee Dee were sent to each other's rooms in order to learn respect for other peoples' property after an argument they had causes them to bump into their father, making him drop his bowling trophy and causing it to break. Dexter fears that Dee Dee is trashing his secret lab like she usually does, and makes a stealth suit to investigate. It turns out that Dee Dee hadn't done anything, and when she and Dad see how badly Dexter savaged her room (in the process of making the suit), he gets sent to the doghouse... while the dog runs wild through the lab, wrecking it.
  • DuckTales (2017):
    • In "The Secret(s) of Castle McDuck!", we're told that Scrooge rebuilt the eponymous castle for his parents after he became rich. So when, during a blazing row with his father, he's told to go to his room, his response is "I never lived here!" Fergus retorts that he can pick the one that's furthest away and go there.
    • In "Beware the B.U.D.D.Y. System!", Gyro says this to Fenton when the latter almost unveils the Gizmoduck armor before it's ready.
    • This happens in 'Timephoon' when Della finally grounds Louie after his scheme (stealing lost treasures via the Time Tub just to make easy money) endangers his family and upsetting the flow of time.
  • Early episodes of Family Guy had a Running Gag where Peter would send Chris to his room (said in a very bored tone of voice) for some minor reason.
    • Made funnier by the fact that there is an "Evil Monkey" in Chris's closet. This becomes a bit of a running gag, the series even going to far as to explain why the monkey is evil.
    • Lois herself has done this. When she had to home school the kids, Chris tried to pass a note to Meg saying "I think Mrs. Griffin's hot". Lois immediately tells him to go to his room in the same bored tone Peter uses.
  • In one episode of Jorel's Brother, Mrs. Danuza forces her son Jorel's brother to eat his broccoli which he hates and his mother scolds with "Go to your room, you're grounded without toys!"
  • In King of the Hill, this is the standard punishment Hank gives to Bobby. When the Souphanousinphones move in next door, Hank finds nothing in common with his Laotian neighbor, until the two get angry at their kids and scream "go to your room" at the same time, and they realize they're not that different. It also helps that they both men refuse to ever spank their child.
  • The Looney Tunes Show episode "Rebel Without A Glove" has Bugs Bunny transform into a thuggish biker bunny after donning fingerless gloves. Seeing Bugs in such a hoodlum persona, Walter Bunny forbids his daughter Lola from meeting with Bugs.
    Lola: But, Daddy, I love him!
    Walter: Gasp! Go to your room!
    Lola: I don't even live here any more!
    Walter: (beat) Well then, go to your old room that your mother turned into a scrap-booking room.
  • In Miraculous Ladybug, at the end of "Mega Leech", Adrien is ordered to go to his room by his father, Gabriel, for taking a stand and protesting against his "environmentally-friendly" project. Adrien tried to explain to his father it wasn't his intention, but Gabriel refuses to listen to his son.
  • Candace in Phineas and Ferb is told by her mother to go to her room both of the times she’s grounded. ("The Secret of Success" and "Candace Gets Busted")
  • Rugrats (1991): In "Runaway Angelica", after Angelica destroys her dad's study and fax machine, Drew finally actually tells her "You're gonna stay in your room and think about what you've done!" He then goes downstairs musing, "Well, I did it. I actually did it! I disciplined Angelica." Since Angelica's not used to it, she's completely outraged and decides to run away from home.
    Charlotte: I hope you weren't too hard on her.
    Drew: Oh, no. Our daughter's a fairly mature girl. I think she'll take it well.
    (Cut to Angelica's bedroom where she is destroying things in a fury)
    Angelica: IT'S NOT FAIR! IT'S NOT FAIR! IT'S! NOT! FAAAAIIIIIR! (panting)
  • The Simpsons:
    • Used frequently ("Bart Vs. Thanksgiving", "Bart the Daredevil", "Bart Gets an Elephant", "Homer Vs. the Eighteenth Amendment", etc.) with an interesting inversion in "Lisa the Vegetarian":
      Lisa: If you'll excuse me, I'm going to my room!
      Homer: That's it, go to your room!
    • There's also used to end an argument about Stampy the Elephant.
      Lisa: All of you are missing the point: it's wrong to have such an animal in captivity!
      [Beat]
      Homer: Lisa, go to your room.
    • Subverted in another episode, which has Homer sending Bart to his room, before he realizes he shouldn't send Bart there as punishment seeing how many of his toys are in there. He instead tells him to go into the garage. A few moments later Bart passes by the window on a lawnmower with several police cars chasing him.
    • Kirk Van Houten says this to his son Milhouse after trying to translate a writing on the wall that he wrote on (Trab Pu Kcip) in "Brother from the Same Planet":
      Kirk: What did we tell you about writing on the walls? Go to your room!
    • In the aforementioned "Homer vs. The Eighteenth Amendment", Marge and Lisa learn that Homer and Bart were sneaking beer hidden in bowling balls. Rather than chide him, Marge actually commends him over how clever the scheme is, how ridiculous the law of outlawing alcohol is in the first place and is happy about the extra income it brings in. However when Lisa still tries to explain how "wrong" the action is, Homer, Marge and Bart all simultaneously order her to her room.
    • At the end of "Itchy and Scratchy Land" Lisa lobs a shoe at Bart in an attempt to show Marge that violence can be funny if it happens to somebody else, and Marge sends Lisa to her room... but not before laughing first.
    • In "Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie", Marge is concerned that Bart misbehaves often because Homer is a pushover. When Marge walks in on Bart tearing up the living room carpet with Homer casually watching TV while he does it, Marge orders Homer to punish Bart which Homer simply says in a bored tone: "Bart, go to your room." without taking his eyes off the TV. Bart casually walks away unfazed.
  • South Park: Cartman is sent to his room near the end of "Coon 2: Hindsight" after being grounded by Liane for beating up his friends and treating them unfairly.
  • Star vs. the Forces of Evil:
    • This is said by Ludo to Buff Frog in the episode "Mewnipendence Day" after the latter is sabotaged by Toffee into failing a seemingly idiot-proof plan to steal Star's Magic Wand.
    • In "Puddle Defender", after a squabble between Queen Moon and Buff Frog, they come to the conclusion that both are parents and care for their kids — and thus Buff Frog changes his mind about letting Star escape behind Moon's back. Caught in the act of trying to sneak away, Star is then sent to her room — by both Queen Moon and Buff Frog.
  • Steven Universe:
    • In "Legs From Here to Homeworld", White Diamond sends "Pink Diamond"/Steven to Pink's old room before he can even get any words in.
    • In "Change Your Mind", Steven has gotten through to Blue and Yellow Diamond, leading them to Heel–Face Turn and help him, Connie, and the Crystal Gems escape Homeworld. Just as they get to Pink Diamond's spaceship, however, White Diamond, in the form of her mind-controlled Pearl, arrives and orders them all to go back to their rooms. Blue asks what rooms they should go to, and Yellow snaps that they shouldn't make her any angrier than she already is.
  • SpongeBob SquarePants:
    • In the episode "Mid-Life Crustacean", in his efforts to feel young again, Mr. Krabs joins Spongebob and Patrick's panty raid, without knowing they were doing it in the house of Krabs' mother. When she finds them, Spongebob and Patrick run away and Mrs. Krabs sends her son to his old room, grounded for the rest of the night (note that Mr. Krabs is both a grown man AND doesn't live with his mother anymore). Spongebob and Patrick come to see him from his window to apologize for getting him in trouble, but Mr. Krabs tells them that being there has actually succeeded in making him feel younger.
    • Happens again a season later in Enemy In-Law. Mr. Krabs is none too thrilled when he realizes Plankton is dating his mother. After ruining their date the night before, Mrs. Krabs tells her son to "Go to [his] office" for meddling with her life, and he reluctantly does so. Though shortly after, the two of them break up, much to Mr. Krabs' joy.
  • A railway variant in Thomas & Friends; The Fat Controller / Sir Topham Hatt would often send engines to their sheds whenever they misbehaved and/or caused confusion and delay. Some examples include in the beginning of "Troublesome Trucks / Foolish Freight Cars" where James had been in the sheds after making a leak on one of his coaches, and in "Trouble in the Shed" when Gordon, Henry, and James were shut up in the sheds for a couple of days for their harassment of Edward and their vehement protests that "tender engines don't shunt".
  • When WordGirl is "mega-grounded", she gets sent to her room, but in a subversion of the usual way of the trope, it's been stripped of her favorite toys, games, or anything else that would make it not a punishment.

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After Grace forbids Anne from saying that there are "intruders" which causes the latter to angrily breathe, she orders her to go to her room with "no dessert for her today".

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