Electronic Moratorium-Good or Bad Idea?

A friend's 14-year-old son is on his way to a four week electronic-free camping trip. Four weeks without a cellphone or a computer-no Instagram, Snapchat, Pheed, Keek, tweets, texts or selfies. In short, no electronic contact with friends or family other than a weekly phone call home to talk to parents in the old-fashioned way. My friend says it will be the best thing that ever happened to him. "It'll be good for him to learn to communicate without electronics," she says. "He'll learn some real life people skills." Her husband, on the other hand, is worried, "I'm afraid he'll be lost without that contact with his buddies," he says. "It's how he stays grounded." Which one of them is right? [read more]

Title: A Survival Guide to Parenting Teens: Talking to your Kids about Sexting, Drinking, Drugs, and Other Things that Freak You Out
By: Joanie Geltman
This is a smart, funny, honest, insightful, tells-it-like-it-is guide. It is full of useful information about communicating with young people, whether or not you're their parents. I recommend it to anyone with a close relationship with a teen. -Amazon Reviewer

Talk about how your family could build in an electronic time-out (both kids and adults) into your family life. Write out a schedule and post where everyone can see it.