It’s just across the Channel and a favourite destination for family holidays. But how easy is it to relocate to France? Tamsyn, who blogs at Anecdotes of a Manic Mum, moved there with her husband and three children, and now has four. She’s learned a thing or three about raising a family en France.
Having decided to quit England’s pastures’ green in 2006, with my son, 2 ¾, my daughter 16 months, and my daughter of 7 weeks…a few weeks later we hit the road, and 48 hours later, several ‘brink-of-divorce’ conversations, driving on the wrong side of the road, and not being able to communicate with a soul (no, I spoke not a word of French on arrival) later, we are in La France…I now have 4 kids, and an inkling of 10 things that you should know about raising kids in France.
1. You are neither obliged to use your indicators in France, nor stop at zebra crossings…so from a pedestrians’ point of you, this can be potentially a life-changing experience, in that you could be dead. Be extra careful when crossing roads.
2. Although school starts from 3 years old here, there is no school on a Wednesday. A friend of mine from England commented on hearing this that it must have been a man who made up that rule. You need alternative childcare in the middle of every week. Luckily there’s plenty of that about.
3. When your kids start school, they are a novelty. A real-live English kid, no way! The other kids take great delight in teaching them swear words, and as they, nor I, are none the wiser, you gaily let them chat to old women, later checking ‘that’ word he kept using, and going round with a bunch of flowers, and in helpless tears apologising for your child’s foul mouth.
4. You need your healthcare coverage sorted quick. We were stung for €5,000 (£4,500) for the birth of our daughter. There are many ways (that I shan’t go into here) to do this, but we happened to be in a complicated situation, and ended up paying for everything. I keep reminding my husband that if it hadn’t been for my out-and-out superb bravery and drug-free birth, the bill would have been €7,000.
5. Now, this I find sad. Food here is not altogether the same but not enormously different. However, the French do eat horses – you have been warned. On my dog walks with my littlest, we pass by a field with beautiful unsuspecting horses, so many in the one field, unaware of the fate that is to befall them. You could argue, as some do, that if you meat, then meat is meat, but I’m not convinced.
6. If you are a big cricket fan, you can forget about it in France. There are many regional sports – Pelote being one, which involves a giant wall, a curved wooden bat and a ball. But cricket, generally, there is not. So Kevin Peterson had better stay put (I nearly wrote “Tiger Woods”, but my husband shot me a most disapproving look).
7. You don’t have to worry about the kids picking up the language. Because they will, effortlessly. I have had nothing but proud moments as I have watched all mine becoming bilingual (except maybe that moment I mentioned earlier).
8. The family can enjoy the great outdoors. There is everything: sea for surfers (I moved here as a dutiful wife following a surf-mad husband), rivers, lakes, forests, mountains. Something for everyone (except Kevin Perterson).
9. The smoking that goes on here is phenomenal. Even community policemen/women at school zebra crossings smoke whilst on duty.
10. Your first name will never be the same. I have had so many variations of my ‘prenom’ (first name) that I will answer to almost anything now. My advice for those moving to France or considering it, think wisely before you name your child.
Photo credit: nostri-imago
“10 things you should know about raising kids in France”.
Having decided to quit England’s pastures’ green in 2006, with my son, 2 ¾, my daughter 16 months, and my daughter of 7 weeks…a few weeks later we hit the road, and 48 hours later, several ‘brink-of-divorce’ conversations, driving on the wrong side of the road, and not being able to communicate with a soul (no, I spoke not a word of French on arrival) later, we are in La France…I now have 4 kids, and an inkling of 10 things that you should know about raising kids in France…
- You are neither obliged to use your indicators in France, nor stop at zebra crossings…so from a pedestrians’ point of you, this can be potentially a life-changing experience, in that you could be dead. Be extra careful when crossing roads.
2. Although school starts from 3 years old here, there is no school on a Wednesday. A friend of mine from England commented on hearing this that it must have been a man who made up that rule. You need alternative childcare in the middle of every week. Luckily there’s plenty of that about.
3. When your kids start school, they are a novelty. A real-live English kid, no way! The other kids take great delight in teaching them swear words, and as they, nor I, are none the wiser, you gaily let them chat to old women, later checking ‘that’ word he kept using, and going round with a bunch of flowers, and in helpless tears apologising for your child’s foul mouth.
4. You need your healthcare coverage sorted quick. We were stung for €5,000 (£4,500) for the birth of our daughter. There are many ways (that I shan’t go into here) to do this, but we happened to be in a complicated situation, and ended up paying for everything. I keep reminding my husband that if it hadn’t been for my out-and-out superb bravery and drug-free birth, the bill would have been €7,000!
5. Now, this I find sad. Food here is not altogether the same but not enormously different. However, the French do eat horses – you have been warned. On my dog walks with my littlest, we pass by a field with beautiful unsuspecting horses, so many in the one field, unaware of the fate that is to befall them. You could argue, as some do, that if you meat, then meat is meat, but I’m not convinced.
6. If you are a big cricket fan, you can forget about it in France. There are many regional sports – ‘Pelote’ being one, which involves a giant wall, a curved wooden bat and a ball. But cricket, generally, there is not. So Kevin Peterson had better stay put (I nearly wrote “Tiger Woods”, but my husband shot me a most disapproving look).
7. You don’t have to worry about the kids picking up the language. Because they will, effortlessly. I have had nothing but proud moments as I have watched all mine becoming bilingual (except maybe that moment I mentioned earlier).
8. The family can enjoy the great outdoors. There is everything: sea for surfers (I moved here as a dutiful wife following a surf-mad husband), rivers, lakes, forests, mountains. Something for everyone (except Kevin Perterson).
9. The smoking that goes on here is phenomenal. Even community policemen/women at school zebra crossings smoke whilst on duty.
10. Your first name will never be the same. I have had so many variations of my ‘prenom’ (first name) that I will answer to almost anything now. My advice for those moving to France or considering it, think wisely before you name your child.
About Jennifer Howze
Jennifer Howze is the Creative Director and co-founder of BritMums. She blogs about family travel at Jenography.net, tweets at @JHowze and Instagrams at @JHowze. Previously, she wrote the Alpha Mummy blog at The Times and as a journalist has contributed to The Times, The Guardian, The Independent, The Wall Street Journal, Travel & Leisure, Budget Travel, CNN.com, Allure, SELF and Premiere, among others. She won The Maggie Award from the Planned Parenthood Federation of America for a health article in Seventeen magazine.
Bill Fathers
Monday 24th of January 2011
Great piece, Tamsyn, and a story that rings many bells with me. We moved to France (and back again) three years ago for various reasons, many of them directly concerning our daughter. Our experience of the school system was not good. Of course, we could have moved her to a different school and things might have improved but there were other reasons why we returned. If you're interested, I wrote an article for the Guardian about our experience. http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/aug/30/family?INTCMP=SRCH By the way, I smiled when I read your comments about motorists not stopping at zebra crossings. Foolishly while driving one day, I stopped to let someone cross and the driver behind me drove into the back of my car, and then behaved as if it had been my fault. And another thing, if you ever give way to an oncoming motorist in my experience they never acknowledge you. It's as if they assume they have priority and you're merely doing the correct thing.
tamsyn
Thursday 20th of January 2011
it's great finding out about other cultures, and now for me and my kids experiencing it first hand. it 'enriches' us all, and their development...Catalonia is just as smoking friendly is it?! how long have you been there?
Very Bored in Catalunya
Wednesday 19th of January 2011
How odd that there's not school on Wednesday, life in France sounds much like life in Catalonia, different language maybe and no horses eaten but a lot of similarities. Especially the phenomenal smoking.