This is such a hard topic. My kiddos are 22, 20 and almost 17. I would say hold out as long as you can if there are people you can band together with that also hold out. We waited until 6th grade to give them phones, 7th grade instagram and 9th grade snapchat. One of my daughters was bullied in 6th grade and left out because she didn't have snap chat and was left out of social things. So that is something potential to think about managing if your child is the only one in the group that doesn't have a phone and/or the social media account they are communicating on for weekend plans, etc. Once you give them phones and social media, be prepared to manage it. It unfortunately becomes a part time job. We didn't allow them to be on their phones in cars and when they would have friends over, they all had to turn their phones in for middle school sleepovers. It helps to have other parents have the same policy on this so you're not the only one. Honestly, managing phones and social media was one of the hardest parts of raising teens but in the long run it's so worth it to have adult children who have social skills, can carry on a conversation, don't pull them out at the dinner table and know how to self regulate on their phones! Hang in there - this too shall pass and will just be a season! xo

When my kids were all little I would do the 4,5,6,7 routine. At 4:00 I would set a timer for 10 minutes. I would put music on and try to make it fun and we would all pick up as quick as we could. Then I would start dinner. Bath time was at 5:00, dinner at 6:00, bedtime at 7:00. Once they were all asleep I would tidy anything still out and everything was in order when we woke up. I really only focused on common areas once a day. The key was making sure everything for the most part was put up before I went to bed. As they got older I used natural consequences. Chores had to be done before they could have any privileges (screens, friends over, etc)