Walk into some homes in Oceanport, New Jersey, and you might think you’ve time traveled.
Landlines are tethered to playroom walls, and radios are playing music. The reading on-tap is Beverly Cleary's "Beezus and Ramona," and Friday nights are marked with TGIF TV — think "Full House" and "Family Matters" — with parents and kids sharing living room couches, watching together after dinner.
Blink, and you’ll think you’ve stepped into 1995.
But it’s about more than just nostalgia. On playgrounds in New Jersey, in living rooms in Seattle, and in text chains between moms across the country, a shift is unfolding. Some millennials parents want to raise their kids with the kind of carefree, phone-free, independent play they grew up with. And they’re doing it.
“We are in a sweet spot where we know life before, we know life after,” says millennial mom Holly Moscatiello. She’s the founder of The Balance Project, a non-profit that aims to help kids balance independence and mindful technology usage. “We had the ability to watch what happens if you go too far. Now we have the opportunity to take the step back, and we're taking it.”
