OUR WHY

At The Perch, our story begins with a generation of parents who didn't know what was coming.

Our founder raised her children, born in 2006 and 2009, right when smartphones entered our hands and the internet moved into our pockets.

Like many families, we thought we were being productive. We thought we were staying connected.

We didn't realize what it was quietly taking from us.

Now we have language for it.

It's called parental technoference and parental phubbing, when devices interrupt connection. Rates of anxiety and depression among today's teenagers are nearly 50% higher than they were among millennials at the same age. Researchers point to a generation raised alongside smartphones, and the interrupted presence that came with them, as a significant contributing factor.

Looking back, we can see it.

The moments that felt small… weren't small. One more notification, one more quick check, one more pop-up. The "just a second" that became disconnection. We didn't mean to trade connection for convenience.

But many of us did.

And that's why The Perch exists.

Not just to talk about the problem, but to be part of the solution. To help families step out of distraction and back into connection. To create space for eye contact, laughter, movement, and presence. To give parents and grandparents simple, meaningful ways to engage, right alongside their children.

At The Perch, everything we do is built on four values: Presence, Grace, Connection, and Slowing Down. In a world that is overscheduled and overstimulated, we choose a more intentional, countercultural way.

Because it's not too late to change the story. Because childhood is still happening, in this new generation.

And families can do this differently, together.