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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]No. One day? Sure. Two hours each day? Probably. But three weeks? No, that’s asking for trouble. [/quote]

If you can afford camps great, but most people do leave teens home over the summer because they can't afford hundreds of dollars a week in camp fees.  Life has still continued for those kids.[/quote]

If they're too old for camp then they're old enough to get a job. They can work while their parents are working. [/quote]

What job employs a 13-14 year old from 9-5 all summer? [/quote]

Why are people so afraid that their kids have unscheduled time? You all need to chill out. My summers from age 10-15 or so involved the following: sleep until 11am, watch The Price is Right while eating sugary cereal. At noon, I rode my bike about 20 minutes crossing major streets to get to the pool. I'd lather up with baby oil and spend my afternoons tanning and reading. If I had any money, I'd buy a snowball and candy at the snack bar. I'd go home at 5pm and start (or make) dinner for everyone. Once a week, I'd mow my lawn and my neighbor's for $10. [/quote]

I mourn this too, but the summer you describe was in the pre-smartphone era.
I would love to give my teens an unscheduled summer, but they will be on YouTube/social media/games 10 hours a day.  Yes, we lock down devices, but it's whack a mole to really lock things down that they can't get around.  Much easier to just schedule them so they have to be out of the house and around other people.[/quote]

I posted about my fun summers. Here’s an idea. Don’t give your kids these devices at those ages. If they don’t have them, they won’t be addicted to them. It’s very much under your control. [/quote]

PP here.  They didn't get smartphones until 8th grade, and that was on the late side compared to friends. And I didn't give it to them - they saved allowance, babysat, did odd jobs, and paid for them. 
I don't know if you have a kid in high school, but by that age it's not practical to not have a smartphone  - sports teams use apps to communicate, clubs use Instagram, the kids use certain apps to text.  We lock it down, have time limits, etc. to the extent possible, but it's not like they can use just use the landline and have an OK social life.[/quote]

It's really good that you had them at least wait til 8th. The real problem is kids are addicted to screens. The longer you can wait the better, kids are missing out today.[/quote]

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