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:

• Millennial parents want to give their children a ‘90s kid summer. What does that mean? [USA Today]

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