In an age dominated by screens, more parents are looking for ways to give their children something they feel has quietly disappeared: freedom, confidence and much less time. attached to devices.

A fast-growing parent-led movement is taking hold in communities across the country, reframing childhood around independence and real-world experiences instead of constant digital stimulation.

The Balance Project, a non-profit organization, launched just over a year ago in Little Silver, New Jersey, and has already expanded to more than 100 communities. His message is simple: technology is not the enemy, but childhood should not revolve around it.

“I think our message of balance, and recognize it technology plays a fundamental role in our children’s lives, it’s a key part of why people are willing to come on board,” founder Holly Moscatiello told FOX Business.

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Balance Project founder Holly Moscatiello and her daughters. (The Balance Project / Fox News)

Moscatiello created The Balance Project after noticing how quickly excess screen time was reshaping her own children’s behavior and after reading “The Anxious Generation” by Jonathan Haidt. The data backs up their concern: 40% of young children now have their own tablet, and more than half of children under the age of 8 have personal devices, according to Common Sense Media.

Instead of pushing strict rules, The Balance Project focuses on replacing screen time with richer, offline experiences and promoting Haidt’s “four rules”: no smartphones before high school, no social networks pre-16, phone-free schools and more independence and responsibility in the real world. The goal is simple: change the default from “device” to “independence”.

Chapters combine parent education with practical alternatives, such as outdoor playgroups, phone-free sports sessions that teach breathing and posture, neighborhood bike rides, book clubs and old-school free games.

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That message resonated with Jason Wyatt and his wife, who began to worry when their daughter entered fifth grade, the age when most children in their community have smartphones.

“We felt like we weren’t ready yet,” Wyatt told FOX Business. “When we talked to The Balance Project, we found out we weren’t alone. … It gives you a playbook, some knowledge, some things you can do.”

Their daughters have embraced the alternatives: biking around town, bouncing between friends’ houses and “exploring” in ways the parents say have become rare. A spring event, a frog hunt, made the biggest impression.

“You bring kids out in such an organic way,” Wyatt said, adding that the friendships and problem-solving that are formed in the mud “are real-world experiences they’ll need someday in school and in business.”

Interest is spreading. Friends of Wyatt’s university and law school Circles have seen their family’s experience online and are considering launching chapters in their own cities.

One of The Balance Project’s most popular partners is Sticks and Sprouts, an outdoor playgroup where “kids get dirty on purpose.” Sessions emphasize unstructured nature play: climbing logs, digging trenches, splashing through “mud kitchens” and finding solutions without adults entering.

The Balance Project offers children activities that help them disconnect from their smartphones. (The Balance Project / Fox News)

FOX Business visited a fall session where kids mashed pumpkin pulp into “pumpkin pie,” stirred slushy “cranberry sauce,” collected sticks for a campfire and made a full Thanksgiving “feast” straight from the dirt. The kids left stuck in the mud and completely uninterested in the screens.

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Parents also create community. They stay back as quiet “lifeguards,” watching their children explore and connect with each other through book clubs and screen-free social outings, giving adults their own opportunity to unplug alongside their children.

The parents of the Balance project in a book club. (The Balance Project / Fox News)

For high school students, the group partners with programs that take students to the gym to work on breathing, posture and movement.

In a class at Little Silver, sixth-grader Brook Missig told FOX Business that she actually feels happier without her phone.

“I look forward to it every day,” Missing said. “When I do dead weight, I have to keep my back straight. That’s something I’ve been working on a lot lately.”

Critics argue that unplugging simply isn’t realistic as technology becomes more embedded in everyday life. But the movement’s parents say the goal is not to eliminate the digital world, but to teach children to thrive beyond it.

And schools are starting to pay attention.

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“Working day in and day out in our schools, we see how technology is affecting the environment,” Holmdel Township Superintendent Scott Cascone told FOX Business. “It’s a big part of the conversation that’s happening public education“

Cascone said The Balance Project’s efforts helped “strengthen our resolve to intensify efforts that were already underway” and solidified the district’s belief that “a synergistic effort with the parent community was essential” to an effective policy. Holmdel schools already ban the devices for K-8 students, while the high school is more flexible. Now, the district is actively reexamining where to draw the line.

As the movement spreads, many parents say they are relieved to know they are not an outlier, but part of a national shift. And for families across the country, the return to bikes, mud and face-to-face connection is not a step back. It’s a reset they didn’t know they needed.

“It’s really just about getting back to basics and giving kids a chance to be kids,” Moscatiello said.