In the United States, more than a third of children get their first smartphone by the time they’re nine years old. That number is trending younger every year. Parents often say they’d rather wait, but once a few kids have a phone, the pressure builds. Nobody wants their child to feel left out.

In Greystones, Ireland, parents came up with a solution. They call it "It Takes a Village".

The idea is simple: parents of primary school children agree not to give their kids a smartphone until they reach secondary school, around age 13. The agreement began about three years ago, led by Principal Rachel Harper of St. Patrick’s National School. She says it gave parents something they were missing—support.

“I think it got conversation going,” Harper told me. “Parents were having coffee together, or

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