Birthdays are the best!

Especially because growing up I knew that they meant a trip to Bischoff’s, a quaint ice cream parlor in Teaneck, New Jersey.

Huddled into a booth, my sister, mother, and I dug into huge sundaes with marshmallow topping (homemade and amazing!). My dad looked on while eating soup. To this day I don’t understand how anyone could pick a bowl of soup over ice cream!

Throughout the experience, the four of us would laugh and tell stories. We were just like the other families in the restaurant.

I recently went to Bischoff’s with my parents and although the ice cream was the same insanely, creamy amazingness, the patrons were different. Kids played games with their iPads and parents scrolled through social media on their iPhones. They looked at each other when it was time to go.

This was so sad to me!

Is this what family time has become? Family members are in the same place but are not actually engaged with each other?

I know you want to bond with your small being. I know that you know family time is important and that staring at screens for hours at a time is not good for small beings.

But I know it’s hard to get kids off technology. This is one of the most common parenting challenges!

So I got my friend, a nine-year-old actress, to help me demonstrate the best way to remove kids from technology. These are some surprisingly simple strategies that you’ll enjoy using!

Click below to check them out!