A screen free afternoon · First time
A screen free afternoon in Old Hickory: what happens the first time
The first time is the one that decides whether there is a second time, so it is worth getting right.
Nobody has to ban anything. Children put the phone down on their own when the alternative is better.
Families around Old Hickory who have done it once tend to plan the second visit differently: shorter, earlier in the day, and with the machine the child liked in mind.
The first ten minutes
Screen free is easy to say on a Saturday morning and hard to do by two in the afternoon.
Count on the drive home being the conversation. Children tell you what they actually thought about twenty minutes after leaving.
What children do first
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.
What usually goes wrong
Nobody has to ban anything. Children put the phone down on their own when the alternative is better.
Check the day of the week against the closing time before you leave. Sunday finishes earlier than the rest of the week and catches people out.
Making the second visit better
Screen free is easy to say on a Saturday morning and hard to do by two in the afternoon.
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.
Questions parents ask
Is there screen time involved?
The machines are levers and cables. The ice is ice.
Where is New Life Entertainment?
Two centres: 433 Opry Mills Drive, Nashville TN 37214, and 8111 Concord Mills Blvd, Concord NC 28027.
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 Old Hickory
Families searching from Old Hickory are usually weighing one thing: whether it is worth the trip for an hour of something the children have not done before. The honest answer is that it depends on the child, and the rest of this page is about telling which.
Go early if the choice is available. The first hour after opening is quieter than any hour that follows it, and quieter is easier for everybody.
Weekday afternoons in term time are the quietest slot in the week. Weekend middays are the busiest.
If Old Hickory is home, this is the sort of place you end up returning to rather than ticking off. That changes what a first visit is worth planning around.
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
Anything time critical is worth a phone call first: hours are 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM Monday to Saturday and 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM on Sunday.