From watching The Vampire Diaries to updating a Facebook status, from checking email to casting a vote for the next American Idol…the list of daily distractions and stationary activities your child faces is endless. A shocking number of eight to eighteen-year olds spent 7.5 hours a day using entertainment media – not a week, a day! As parents, we’re just as busy; shooting off an email here, running to a meeting there. We ALL need time to take a step back and breathe in some fresh air.

New Jersey is home to many marvelous hiking trails. Hiking is not only an inexpensive family activity, but also an incredible bonding experience. So introduce your brood to nature and its beauty; it may not be easy to get them to put down their cell phones, but the rewards will be well worth it.

Let’s face it; our days of bar hopping are over.  To take their place, we have discovered a new way to fill our weekends: park hopping.  New Jersey has some of the coolest playgrounds for kids and over the years my family has become a connoisseur of parks, if you will. We can turn park hopping into a full day event then stop at a great pizza or burger joint and rate the parks we visit. Read on for our interview with the moms behind the website NJ Playgrounds and a chance to win a FREE NJ Playground Guide!

At the risk of sounding like one of those organized moms who always plans ahead (something I'm rarely accused of), I'm happy to share our picks for Mother's Day brunch spots in NYC a full two and a half weeks before the big day. We actually have our readers to thank for the awesome choices, so check it out and see if your favorite restaurant made the cut (and if not, add it in the comments).

We continued our spring culture coverage with a roundup of the best new museum exhibits for families and we wrote about two of our favorite free seasonal events happening this weekend: East Harlem's Street Games and the Tribeca Family Festival Street Fair.

Our sister sites are also buzzing about the best things to do and see this season. New Jersey has a roundup of cool exhibits for kids this spring and Connecticut has a list of amazing outdoor festivals in case you're looking for a fun day trip. Further afield, our Los Angeles site shared a very thoughtful post about things to do during Screen Free Week, and why a total technology tune out isn't necessarily beneficial for our kids. If you're looking for an exotic family vacation destination, we've got an enticing slide show of Avignon, France or the slightly less exotic, but cool Cleveland on our Travel site.

Here's what else we shared this week on our NYC site.

(Image courtesy of Cinema Arts Centre.)

Long Island is celebrating Spring and Arbor Day this weekend (let's hope the weather holds up...). Heckscher Park will be holding its Spring Festival, there's a Spring Fair at the Cold Spring Harbor Fish Hatchery, and Stony Brook is having a Spring Appreciation Day. The Planting Fields Arboretum is having an Arbor Day Family Festival, and Old Westbury Gardens and Bates House in Setauket are also celebrating Arbor Day. Also, Gustafer Yellowgold will be at the Cinema Arts Centre in Huntington. Have a great weekend!

Apps—is there a parent left who doesn't love 'em? Regardless of what your kid's into, there's probably an app or two or 100 out there for them, and chances are it's inexpensive or even free.

Of course for kids with special needs, apps are more than just a fun pastime. Apps can be a lifeline that helps them connect to the outside world and allows them to pursue interests they didn't even know they had. So for the April edition of my monthly special needs posts, I decided to share some apps that have really engaged my son Jake, who has autism, and other children with special needs.

It’s not til next week and I’m already stressing. I speak of course of Screen Free Week, in which parents are encouraged to turn off (TVs, Blackberries, iPads) and tune in (to the great big world out there).

Luckily, smack dab in the middle of (sensory deprivation) week is Cinco de Mayo, so there are mucho family friendly activities to get you out of the casa. You can find the best of them in our rundown of Cinco de Mayo Celebrations. What is Cinco de Mayo about anyway?  I’ll just look it up on Wikipedia…

There’s perhaps nothing more antithetical to being a couch potato than hanging ten on a bodacious wave. Is that an actual surf term? I haven’t a clue.  But I bet I could find out, if I enrolled my kid in one of the totally rad Summer Surf Camps for LA Kids our intrepid camp reporter has uncovered.  Maybe I’ll get inspired by finding some cool surf footage on YouTube…

…or if that doesn’t work, we could hearken back to a time before screens dominated our every moment. Sure, a couple of decades might suffice, but we at Mommy Poppins like to go all in, so how’s about a trip to the 1500s, as suggested by our editor’s review of ye olde Renaissance Faire.

Regardless of your approach, there’s one screen usage even the most avowed Luddite couldn’t begrudge, and that’s logging onto Mommy Poppins to find the ultimate scoop on family fun activities. So friend us on Facebook, sign up for emails and tweets, or go old school and type in our URL; Mommy Poppins is here to help you through. To get you started, keep reading for our favorite picks for this weekend…

Boston families will find plenty of fun and free things to do in and around town this weekend. From the 25th Annual Sheepshearing Festival at Gore Place in Waltham and the Fifth Annual Bookish Ball in Cambridge to the Boston College Arts Festival and Astronomy Day celebrations in Brookline and Topsfield, the weekend is filled with festivals and celebrations. Read on for more of our weekend picks, and be sure to check our Events Calendar for more ideas.

Looking for more things to do? We have some ideas of great places to hike with kids in the Boston area. And don’t forget Mother’s Day in two weeks - we’ve rounded up some brunch ideas, and would love to hear any other recommendations.

Enjoy!

This weekend I am organizing a 14th birthday party for an 8th grade class complete with a teen size bouncy house as well as planning to attend our school auction. It's going to be a busy one and there are so many fun events to add to the mix. Thomas lovers won't want to miss Thomas the Tank Engine during his only visit through CT this year at the Essex Steam Train and Riverboat.