After pandemic free-for-all, parents struggle to reinstate screen-time rules

Carrie Mengelkoch, a mother of three in Gainesville, Fla., wants her kids to do what she did during her childhood summers — go outside, find some other kids, be bored and ride bikes. But she has noticed there just aren’t many other children outside anymore for them to even play with. Her kids — ages 10, 13 and 15 — are still on screens up to six hours a day, though she’ll negotiate an hour of Mario Kart for an hour outside.