Thanksgiving

Why We’re Thankful to Be LA Parents

We know why we love raising kids in LA (we asked our writers and they have some inspiring answers!). Now we want to know why YOU love parenting in LA.

By Erica Groten October 16, 2015

All Smiles

When you sit down to your Thanksgiving meal and give thanks for all your blessings, give a moment to appreciate this amazing and diverse city we live in. It’s the perfect place to raise kids! We polled our writers to find out what they’re most grateful for about being parents in LA, then add in your two cents. Then get out there and enjoy the sunshine, arts, culture, ocean and food that we all love.

Diversity, Thy Name is LA

I LOVE that my kid will grow up around so many cultural resources—he's been to more museums at the age of 3 1/2 than I did by 19.
I think the parks in LA are abundant and for the most part, really well taken care of. We live in a city and not everyone can afford a home with a backyard. So it's a lifesaver to be able to walk or drive a few blocks and find lots of green grass, sand, and a clean playground for my kid to climb on for free.
Last winter we wanted to show our son snow so we drove 90 minutes to the mountains and were able to do it. When it's too hot we go to the beach with an even shorter drive. Later this month we hope to be camping in the mountains. The fact that we can get almost every season in some direction is pretty awesome (though I do miss those fall leaves from the east coast).
People watching. Oh man. Are there people to watch.

—writer Andrea Kagey

photo: Megan Rosenbloom via flickr

So, why are you thankful to parent those amazing kiddos of yours in LA? We can’t wait to hear from you in the comments below.