A screen free afternoon · Tips
A screen free afternoon in Gallatin: practical tips
None of this is complicated. All of it is the difference between a good hour and a difficult one.
Nobody has to ban anything. Children put the phone down on their own when the alternative is better.
If you are coming from Gallatin, treat it as a cross-town outing rather than a day trip. Go with a return time in mind and the day stays easy.
Before you leave the house
What replaces a screen has to be more interesting than a screen, which rules out most of the obvious answers. A machine a child actually controls is one of the few that works.
Weekday afternoons in term time are the quietest slot in the week. Weekend middays are the busiest.
When you arrive
The feedback loop is the same one games use - do a thing, see a result, adjust - except it happens with hands, in a room, with other people watching.
Screen free is easy to say on a Saturday morning and hard to do by two in the afternoon.
While you are there
Nobody has to ban anything. Children put the phone down on their own when the alternative is better.
Take the phone out of your pocket before they start rather than after. The moment worth filming is usually the first one.
On the way home
What replaces a screen has to be more interesting than a screen, which rules out most of the obvious answers. A machine a child actually controls is one of the few that works.
The feedback loop is the same one games use - do a thing, see a result, adjust - except it happens with hands, in a room, with other people watching.
Questions parents ask
Is there screen time involved?
The machines are levers and cables. The ice is ice.
How do I get in touch?
By phone on +1 (424) 387-6232 or +1 (615) 968-4925, or by e-mail at info@newlife-entertainment.com.
What are the opening hours?
10:00 AM to 8:00 PM Monday to Saturday, and 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM on Sunday.
Planning your visit in Gallatin
The drive back to Gallatin is where you find out what they actually thought. Children review an outing about twenty minutes after leaving it, never during.
Bring less than you think. Coats and bags are the part of the visit nobody enjoys managing.
Let the child lead the order of things. Adults optimise; children choose the thing that looks best, and they are right more often than they are wrong.
The nearest of the two centres to Gallatin is the one to aim at - Opry Mills in Nashville - and the drive is the ordinary sort rather than an expedition.
The practical details
- XCAV ZONE — 433 Opry Mills Drive, Nashville TN 37214: four child-operated machines over a ball pit.
- ICE PARK — 8111 Concord Mills Blvd, Concord NC 28027: a real rink with bumper cars on the ice.
- Opening hours — 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM Monday to Saturday, 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM on Sunday.
- Phone — +1 (424) 387-6232 · +1 (615) 968-4925
- E-mail — info@newlife-entertainment.com
If a visit needs planning around a date, a group or a long drive, the centre is easiest to reach by phone: +1 (424) 387-6232 or +1 (615) 968-4925.