Check any kid’s itineraries in 2025 and you’ll see there’s no end to: summer camps, sports, traveling athletic leagues, practices, showcases, and literally a million other things that need to be planned and paid for. But some parents of a certain generation are yearning to give their kids the one thing they could count on during the summers of their own youth: boredom.
Having grown up in an era before cellphones and 9/11 meant having a degree of freedom, and a lack of programming, that doesn’t seem to exist for many middle-class kids these days. Millennial parents are trying to replicate that for their kids, but is it even possible? If it is possible, is it even a good thing? Brian and Andy dive into the topic on this week’s episode of Millennial Dads!
Links:
Chapters
00:00 Welcome to Millennial Dads
01:16 Navigating Parenthood Challenges
03:30 The Nostalgia of Parenting
09:40 The Over-Scheduling Dilemma
14:24 The Importance of Boredom
18:45 The 90s Kid Summer
24:30 Cognitive Bias and Parenting
29:45 The Return to Analog Experiences
35:19 Generational Differences in Nostalgia
40:54 Instilling Values in the Next Generation
46:43 Driving Lessons and Technology
52:39 The Changing Attitudes Towards Driving
56:00 Reflections on Parenting and Nostalgia
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