There's no such thing as a 1980s summer in the 2020s. The closest we get is sending our kids to our ILs in rural new england for a few weeks, where they don't have streaming television or air conditioning and the wifi sucks enough to make ipads not worth their time.

I can't recreate the 1980s here at home when everyone in the neighborhood is zooming from house to house on ebikes to film tiktok videos and play xbox.

Anonymous wrote:I was a kid in the summer in the 80s. I was super jealous of my friends whose parents could afford to send them to camp. I did do a lot of reading and some creators and cooking but mostly I watched a lot of TV. Which included:

Sale of the century (game show on after 12 pm local news)
A roasting schedule of Donohue, Sally Jesse and Oprah depending on the year
General Hospital
Mash reruns
Star Trek reruns
Gillian’s islands reruns
Brady bunch reruns
Old movies on turner classic movies or TBS (Ted turner basically was my version of summer camp)
I probably watched at least 5 hours of TV a day, not including prime time.
People really didn’t just go out and play. It was hot. Maybe once a week I’d see a friend and go to the mall or hang out and swim.

Depends where you live I guess. I was in ninth grade before knowing someone who hadn’t gone to camp. I asked what she did all day. She and her siblings played most of the day outside and stayed in for a couple hours around lunch to eat and cool down while watching tv. Then they went out again

Anonymous wrote:You cannot recreate an 80s summer. Kids all have screens. Even if yours don’t, the rest do. It just isn’t the same.

Screens definitely make it harder, what i can't understand is that parebts complain about too much screen time, kids don't go outside anymore, socialize in person ect...but then do nothing about it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You cannot recreate an 80s summer. Kids all have screens. Even if yours don’t, the rest do. It just isn’t the same.

You can arrange activities with no screens. Have your teen invite a couple kids to the mall but they have to leave their phones in the car. Same with going to a pool or lake.

Ha - those are two places where I think having a phone is actually most important incase of an emergency. Ideally screen free is at home or somewhere else under the supervision of adults (camp, or mall, movies with a supervising parent)

This is the time to remember people survived going to the mall without a phone. In middle school the parent could be milling about on the other side of the mall. High schoolers could handle it. I don’t know what could possibly happen at a mall or pool that would require a phone.

I was one of those people. Malls had pay phones and my mother had me keep quarters in my purse, as a standard practice, so I could use a phone whenever I needed one. Do malls still have pay phones? Does anywhere? I can’t remember the last time I saw one, but maybe I just haven’t been paying attention.

It's also still possible to buy a phone with very limited functionality instead of giving your kid an iPhone...

I had a SAHM in the 1980s. She couldn't drive, though. We would often ride bikes to the town pool and would stay there for a few hours most days. We'd walk to a local 7-11 and get Slurpees. Walk or bike to a friend's house. No academics, but we would go to the library a lot. I started occasional babysitting around 14 and had a steady summer gig when I was 15 and 16.

My kids have had a mix. When they were younger, I was home for a few years, and I'd let them each choose the camp they most wanted to do. So, I'd get down time with the ones who weren't in camp.

When I went back to work FT, we put them in a structured camp together so that we'd only have one dropoff and pickup. But we would do that for about one month, then spend the rest of the time with either DH or I off for the week, but in charge of the kids, or all on vacation together.

They do get lots of down time, although I obviously drive them around much more than my parents drove me around!

Anonymous wrote:I read this and rolled my eyes. You're trying too hard to be cool lady. No one cares.

I had a sahm mom in the 80s, so never attended camp but it wasnt an agenda. I think it's silly to try and take a stance. Just do what works for your family and move on.

Yes, stances are so ridiculous!

eyeroll

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You cannot recreate an 80s summer. Kids all have screens. Even if yours don’t, the rest do. It just isn’t the same.

You can arrange activities with no screens. Have your teen invite a couple kids to the mall but they have to leave their phones in the car. Same with going to a pool or lake.

Ha - those are two places where I think having a phone is actually most important incase of an emergency. Ideally screen free is at home or somewhere else under the supervision of adults (camp, or mall, movies with a supervising parent)

This is the time to remember people survived going to the mall without a phone. In middle school the parent could be milling about on the other side of the mall. High schoolers could handle it. I don’t know what could possibly happen at a mall or pool that would require a phone.

I was one of those people. Malls had pay phones and my mother had me keep quarters in my purse, as a standard practice, so I could use a phone whenever I needed one. Do malls still have pay phones? Does anywhere? I can’t remember the last time I saw one, but maybe I just haven’t been paying attention.

I was a kid in the summer in the 80s. I was super jealous of my friends whose parents could afford to send them to camp. I did do a lot of reading and some creators and cooking but mostly I watched a lot of TV. Which included:

Sale of the century (game show on after 12 pm local news)
A roasting schedule of Donohue, Sally Jesse and Oprah depending on the year
General Hospital
Mash reruns
Star Trek reruns
Gillian’s islands reruns
Brady bunch reruns
Old movies on turner classic movies or TBS (Ted turner basically was my version of summer camp)
I probably watched at least 5 hours of TV a day, not including prime time.
People really didn’t just go out and play. It was hot. Maybe once a week I’d see a friend and go to the mall or hang out and swim.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You cannot recreate an 80s summer. Kids all have screens. Even if yours don’t, the rest do. It just isn’t the same.

You can arrange activities with no screens. Have your teen invite a couple kids to the mall but they have to leave their phones in the car. Same with going to a pool or lake.

Ha - those are two places where I think having a phone is actually most important incase of an emergency. Ideally screen free is at home or somewhere else under the supervision of adults (camp, or mall, movies with a supervising parent)

This is the time to remember people survived going to the mall without a phone. In middle school the parent could be milling about on the other side of the mall. High schoolers could handle it. I don’t know what could possibly happen at a mall or pool that would require a phone.

I got lost or forgotten multiple times. Dad thought mom was getting me, vice versa. I needed a pay phone to contact someone.

That’s a parenting problem not a phone problem.

Accurate. But I'd say it's a common problem that still exists today.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You cannot recreate an 80s summer. Kids all have screens. Even if yours don’t, the rest do. It just isn’t the same.

You can arrange activities with no screens. Have your teen invite a couple kids to the mall but they have to leave their phones in the car. Same with going to a pool or lake.

Ha - those are two places where I think having a phone is actually most important incase of an emergency. Ideally screen free is at home or somewhere else under the supervision of adults (camp, or mall, movies with a supervising parent)

This is the time to remember people survived going to the mall without a phone. In middle school the parent could be milling about on the other side of the mall. High schoolers could handle it. I don’t know what could possibly happen at a mall or pool that would require a phone.

I got lost or forgotten multiple times. Dad thought mom was getting me, vice versa. I needed a pay phone to contact someone.

That’s a parenting problem not a phone problem.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You cannot recreate an 80s summer. Kids all have screens. Even if yours don’t, the rest do. It just isn’t the same.

You can arrange activities with no screens. Have your teen invite a couple kids to the mall but they have to leave their phones in the car. Same with going to a pool or lake.

Ha - those are two places where I think having a phone is actually most important incase of an emergency. Ideally screen free is at home or somewhere else under the supervision of adults (camp, or mall, movies with a supervising parent)

This is the time to remember people survived going to the mall without a phone. In middle school the parent could be milling about on the other side of the mall. High schoolers could handle it. I don’t know what could possibly happen at a mall or pool that would require a phone.

I got lost or forgotten multiple times. Dad thought mom was getting me, vice versa. I needed a pay phone to contact someone.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You cannot recreate an 80s summer. Kids all have screens. Even if yours don’t, the rest do. It just isn’t the same.

You can arrange activities with no screens. Have your teen invite a couple kids to the mall but they have to leave their phones in the car. Same with going to a pool or lake.

Ha - those are two places where I think having a phone is actually most important incase of an emergency. Ideally screen free is at home or somewhere else under the supervision of adults (camp, or mall, movies with a supervising parent)

This is the time to remember people survived going to the mall without a phone. In middle school the parent could be milling about on the other side of the mall. High schoolers could handle it. I don’t know what could possibly happen at a mall or pool that would require a phone.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was alive in the 1980's and went to 8 weeks of camp every summer from 3.5 to 13.5.

I can't relate to the people who talk about no seatbelts, riding their bikes wherever all day, etc. I was allowed two houses to the left of ours and two to the right, for 15 minute increments maybe two times a day. I've never ridden in a car without a seatbelt and can distinctly recall my carseat.

I was born in 1967, and have never ridden in a car without a seatbelt. Car seat until about 5/6 yrs of age. No idea where this no seatbelt nonsense comes from, except that many many people had stupid parents apparently. I'm sure my infant car seat in 1967 was relatively worthless all things considered, but probably better than nothing.

.

Here’s a timeline for seatbelts from AAA

1968 – Seat Belts Become Nationally Mandated but not three point seatbelts.

1983 – Seat Belts Reach the Supreme Court. First Reagan revoked the law for car makers to put in 3 point seatbelts. Then in 1983 then Supreme Court ordered the law reinstated.

1984 - New York was the first to require front seat drivers to wear seatbelts.

Currently New Hampshire is the only state that does not require adults to wear seatbelts. About 20 states do not require adults to wear seatbelts in the back seat.

We do a mix like others have said. We hire a college student most summers for the first 4-6 weeks and the kids do swim team, hang around the house, hang at the pool with friends, very low key and we keep it low screen. Similar cost to camp. I find it more relaxing to me to have a break from the routine of drop offs and pick ups and my kids were pretty wrecked after camp days, I think just their personality. Camp is a ton of fun too, slower days just seems like the medicine our family needs. Kids also spend time with grandparents.

Last weeks of summer there are a couple weeks of camp (sleepaway soon) and vacation. It’s definitely a little harder now that many kids are in camp but there are enough swim team kids to have kids and friends around the pool.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You cannot recreate an 80s summer. Kids all have screens. Even if yours don’t, the rest do. It just isn’t the same.

You can arrange activities with no screens. Have your teen invite a couple kids to the mall but they have to leave their phones in the car. Same with going to a pool or lake.

Ha - those are two places where I think having a phone is actually most important incase of an emergency. Ideally screen free is at home or somewhere else under the supervision of adults (camp, or mall, movies with a supervising parent)