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★★★★LEGOland in Carlsbad, CA is not the perfect amusement park, but for a kid at the right age (mine are 3 and 6), staying at the LEGOland hotel and getting passes to the LEGOland park can be a near-perfect experience. Here's what my kids did during a day:Waking up in the hotel - They get up, get dressed and run downstairs to the lobby of the hotel where there are giant pits of LEGOs for everybody to play with. There is a giant pit around a LEGO structure in the main lobby, and then there are multiple pits (large enough for half a dozen or so kids to be in them at any time) built around a castle in a separate, larger room off the lobby. My kids, left unchecked, will basically spend an unlimited amount of time here. It's LEGO nirvana. The kids build early entries for the LEGO competition they know is coming later in the day.Dining at the hotel - There is a free breakfast buffet which is excellent, but for which the line is terrible. It's a 20 minute, parents might want to rotate, kind of a line. This breakfast came with the hotel package and is free for all the guests in our party. For many large families (we have 6 with a grandmother) costs of meals are prohibitive, and this certainly helps.LEGOland amusement park - The park opens an hour early for people with any kind of a multi-day pass or hotel package. We take advantage of this and beat some of the lines. The kids hit like 10 attractions in the first couple hours. This is a pretty aggressive pace for any park. What we didn't count on is that the two main attractions weren't rides, but giant play structures. One of them is a giant, netted structure where there are different nerf-style cannons which shoot little foam balls with a puff of smoke and a loud noise. They did this for like a half hour, burning something like a million calories. We did a whole gaggle of rides before finding a giant outdoor play structure with climbing nets, ladders, and long and twisty slides. They did this for another 20 minutes and we had to beg them off of it.These kinds of attractions are what separates LEGOland from other amusement parks. If this is the kind of thing your kids might like, they'll probably have more fun at LEGOland than anywhere else. You can stand in line for rides, but the rides are almost exactly the same as rides you can get at any Tier-2 amusement park with the same kinds of lines. There is another attraction that's simply an elaborate sandpit with dinosaur bones and shovels and brushes with which to "discover" them. These kinds of attractions don't have lines, are totally interactive, so the kids are actually engaged, not passive, and basically the kind of stuff you'd want your kids to be doing instead of a) standing in line or b) riding on rides.Overall, LEGOland is much smaller than something like Disneyland, although it also costs about 50% less if you're going for more than one day, even cheaper if you're going to visit more than just LEGOland, will be staying at the hotel, etc.*.My family had Disneyland passes for a couple of years and really enjoyed it, although I think for the age my kids are at, LEGOland makes much more sense. The kids have literally never been more steadily engaged than they are at this place.Back to the hotel - After a day at the park there are a number of afternoon and nighttime attractions that seem like a hit multiple days in a row. (One thing worth mentioning at the end of a long day chasing kids around at an amusement park: the entrance from the park to the hotel seems like it's under 100 yards. I can't tell you how nice that is for people who've been walking all day.) Here are the highlights:Ice skating rink - from 4-6PM the kids went ice skating and had the best experience doing this they've ever had. My 6 year old can skate on her own and, unlike many local rinks, found this one to be slow enough and just crowded enough that she could put put along without having to worry about clogging the lanes or getting knocked down. My 3 year old can't skate on his own and doesn't really enjoy this, but couldn't stop asking to go back when we were done. I think this is mainly for two reasons: a) the skates are just these awesome, big dumb plastic beginner things with no laces and really thick blades b) there are these large, plastic seals that very little kids can push for balance or ride while being pushed, all with skates on the ice. This took all the pressure off having to learn to skate before your tailbone gives out. Just a really well-thought out experience.The Show - after rushing through dinner, we make it back in time for "the show", which involves an elf and a toy soldier (and an occasional princess) carrying on with the kids under the spire of the massive LEGO castle in the extension to the hotel lobby. Really, this is just the run-up to:The LEGO Competition - every kid, no matter how old, gets to enter something into the nightly LEGO competition. On an average night, there should be 20-25 entries. You approach the "council" at 6:45 with your entry, they give you a sticker, then you sit with all the other kids and parents in front of the castle at 7 to watch the contestants go up on stage to show off and explain their entry. 80% of the kids walk up with something very simple, like a toy gun or bauble, just something they put together themselves right before the show. About 15% of kids did some amount of fetching LEGOs and designing while their parents helped them. But a few kids in every batch spend hours on building something that looks like it should win a LEGO building competition at the LEGOland hotel. Last night these two brothers displayed a LEGO elf they spent two and a half hours building. For their efforts, they received raucous applause and a $5 LEGO blocks gift certificate. But all the kids got to:Spend as much time as they wanted building something with all the LEGO's they'd ever needEnter the thing they've built into a competitionWalk up on stage, carrying their creation, and answer a few questions about it in front of a group of incredibly supportive and attentive parents and childrenSpend much of that night and the following day thinking about their next entryA few observations on my own kids reaction to all this:They had to be asked to do this the first nightThey asked to do this the second nightThey didn't ask to stay for the announcement of the winners either nightHonestly, the LEGOland hotel is so much fun it's really a question as to whether we needed passes to LEGOland at all. At one point in the day we stopped back in the lobby, the kids started talking about building an entry for the competition, got carried away, and next thing I know it had been 90 minutes, we were two drinks in at the espresso bar, and the sun was going down.* LEGOLAND Tickets Prices* Disney Tickets Prices

I was raised with Western manners. As with most cultures, our manners are intended to show respect for others and convey a sense of comfort or welcome to our guests. Therefore, all attention is focused on their needs and comfort. Unfortunately, many parents failed to raise their children this way. In their homes, children are not allowed to talk at the table, and told to finish their meal quickly, collect their dirty plates, and leave the table.In my house, we were taught not to gulp our food and to wait until all others had finished eating before "asking permission" to leave the table; "May I be excused?". Usually, my parents stayed behind, lingering over coffee, so permission was granted, signaling the meal was over.A difference in family background was very evident with one friend who, when frequently hosting dinners, never spoke a word, shoveled her food down quickly, then left the table with her dirty dishes. Unfortunately, since it was her home, she would also collect anyone else’s dirty dishes and all serving bowls. Everyone took this as a cue that dinner was over and it was time to leave the table, leaving one or two behind to finish their meal alone, or not to complete it, while the hostess washed dishes in the kitchen. Smokers went outside to do their thing and the others joined them.Needless to say, I was always the last at the table, so never finished a meal. I felt like I was 7 years old, again, left sitting at the table until I ate all my food. In fact, I fully expected to be handed my coat and rushed out the door. "Leaving so soon?" Although it was not her intention to make their guests feel unwanted, that was the end result. As this lady was a dear friend, I understood what was behind her behavior and just chalked it up to differences in upbringing. Her parents were abusive people who never wanted to have children to begin with, so just wanted them out of their presence as quickly as possible … until they were adults and could be used as servants. Too bad they didn’t practice better birth control.ETA Good heavens! I’m stunned at the positive response I’m receiving. I just assumed people would think I was an old fuddy-duddy and ignore me. Do you think that the near extinction of family dinners where children are taught appropriate table manners is being felt in our society?

Back in the mid 80s, when my parents were 20 years younger, they went to town to do grocery shopping. (They live in the country) It got late and they were hungry, so on the way out of town they stopped at one of their favorite places to eat… a place called “Moo-Moo’s Drive In”. You can drive through or go inside to eat. It was dark and the weather was warm and humid so they decided to go inside to eat.They went inside and found a place to sit. The dining area is very small, maybe 6 or 8 tables for four. They placed their order and sat there, quietly talking while they waited for their food. Then, in walked a man, just another customer, or so they thought. The man went up to the counter as though he was going to place an order, then before the server could walk up to him, he turned and went over to my parents table and sat down. Suddenly, my dad felt something hard being jammed into his stomach, and then removed; the man then showed my dad a small pistol and said, “Do what I say and my little friend here will be nice to you” and he stuck the pistol back in my dad’s stomach. The robber then told my dad to hand over his wallet, which my dad did. Then he told my mom to hand over her wallet, and my mother, being stubborn like she is, decided to try to talk some sense into the man. There were people all around them, eating and laughing and talking, and none of them realized that my parents were being robbed at gunpoint right in front of them.My mother opened her purse and pulled out her wallet, but instead of handing it over, she opened it and showed him that she didn’t have any cash in it, and then she showed him pictures of her grandkids. This angered the robber, who hissed at her, “I ought to just shoot your white bitch ass right here and now.” But he got up and left, carrying my dad’s wallet with him.As soon as the guy went out the door, my parents raised the alarm by telling the clerk that they had just been robbed at gunpoint. There was some confusion, because nobody had paid any attention to the man sitting at my parents’ table. But then the police were called, and a report was made, a description of the man given, and then came the turmoil of having to cancel credit cards and get new driver’s license, and other important documents, such as his retired military ID. Dad made an appointment to go down to the police station and look at books containing mug shots of people, so he might identify the robber. Dad looked and looked, but he never saw the face of the robber in those books. Much to my dad’s dismay, the officer in charge of the case fixated on one man in those books, and did his best to convince my dad that this was the guy who put a gun in his belly. However, my dad knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he wasn’t the one, and despite the officer almost insisting that Dad point his finger at the man he kept showing my dad, Dad refused to name him as the robber. He told the officer that he wasn’t sure, and that if he wasn’t 100% sure it was the right guy, he wasn’t going to point the finger at him. The officer wasn’t too happy, but couldn’t force my dad to say the guy robbed them, so Dad went home, and that was basically the end of the story. The man was never caught, none of my dad’s items from the wallet were ever recovered.To me it is a sign of the times when a person can’t sit down and eat a meal in a crowded restaurant without being in danger of being robbed, or worse. Since then, I have become much more aware of my surrounding when I am in public. It could happen to anyone.It is also disturbing to me that an officer of the law was so intent on charging the wrong man with the crime. It seems he had it out for that particular man, and was determined to ruin his life. A crooked cop. So sad, so scary.Since that incident, my parents have been very diligent about getting out of town before dark, although I’m not sure that it would have mattered to the robber what time of day it was; he saw an opportunity and took it. Thank God my parents weren’t hurt physically.EDIt 11/5/2020: It has been brought to my attention by several readers that my math is way off. And indeed it is. I stated that back in the 80s my parents were 20 years younger, when in fact they would have been 40 years younger. Am I the only person who makes these kinds of mistakes? Time passes quickly for me as I get older, and I tend to lose track of the years. I certainly wasn’t trying to spark any controversy by my innocent remark. Just got the actual number of years wrong. Y’all forgive me please.