Do you live in France?

[ggglimpopo]

Where do you live?
Why did you choose that region?
Why did you come here in the first place?
Do you work?
Do you regret it/love it?

Tell us all!

I live in Bordeaux.

I initially chose Montpellier and had everything (sort of!) set up there, but found it too hectic - and my original holiday accomodation was vile - so came to Bordeaux on holiday and stayed.

I came here post divorce!

I have had an epic time here - a very very rough ride, but life events rather than simply french ones, and am here to stay.

I love the region and will stay put in the south west. I would LOVE a house by the sea - dream on!

I don't regret it and have married a Frenchman to prove the point.....

Et vous?

Wanna swap Countess? [yearns for somewhere NOT france!]

Message withdrawn

Beetroot - I'm quite near, in Monaco.

We intend to move to Paris in 7-8 years, because we don't want DCs to enter adolescence up here.

It's heaven, though. I love living here.

Cod you must meet with GGG - when are you there>

We only stay for the holiday although I dream of living there Cote - guess I would be fed up within a month or two though and crave the city

Beetroot - That is why you should live in Cannes rather than Grasse

We live 5 mins away from Swiss-French border (Rhône-Alpes). It's too rainy & I miss the sea & sunshine. I would love to live in Provence or Poitou-Charentes or Aquitaine. Or Corsica!

I spent my 20s in Paris (loved it, most of the time) but wouldn't want to live there now, not with dcs.

I used to live in Pas-de-Calais and then Paris but moved back to good ole Angleterre.

I live in Provence.

Chose the region 'cause it's so damn beautiful.

Dh and I quit our (city) jobs and bought a rambling old farmhouse which we are renovating in an eco-friendly way. Ds came as a surprise along the way!

Renovation is taking all our time (with ds) but once the house is basically finished will probably go back to doing some freelance work.

I absolutely love the area, my house and the forest around it. I don't love much about the French way of doing things, and I hate the way most people around me treat their kids, so we'll be leaving before ds has to start school - though where I don't know.

I don't regret it though, we've had some amazing experiences here.

Ib, you must feel so strongly about the schools/parenting thing to leave your beautiful home.

Branflake, where in the PdC were you? (I asked you on a previous thread but if you replied it was after it had gone from my 'threads I'm on')

Oh I know what you mean, ib.

Some English friends of mine are leaving their lovely house this summer to move back to the UK partly because their eldest son is so unhappy at school and they have lost all confidence in the system.

It is raining here in sunny Aquitaine!

Unfortunately, I do . We have not found anywhere we can take ds to play, as in the places there are round here kids get shouted at and hit by their parents and no one bats an eyelid...we are just not comfortable with that.

Oh hello, again - all you people living in France! Nice thread - I have enjoyed reading all your stories and thank all the people that have spent time typing them out for me too on the thread othersideofthechannel made to make me feel so very very welcome. For anyone who doesn't know I am just outside Paris.

Oh hello, again - all you people living in France! Nice thread - I have enjoyed reading all your stories and thank all the people that have spent time typing them out for me too on the thread othersideofthechannel made to make me feel so very very welcome. For anyone who doesn't know I am just outside Paris.

Ib, I wonder if you are having a particularly bad experience or am I lucky?

Although the advice they give out re bringing up babies is a very different from in the UK, from what I have seen in practice the approach to young children is not what you describe.

I have seen a couple of parents smack their children just outside school for running off towards the road, but that's it. The only other thing that has bothered me is people talking about and labelling their children in front of them (both positive and negative). But then I have seen this done a fair bit in the UK too.

I wonder how much people 'bat eyelids' in other countries when parents smack their children in public? Wouldn't the standard response (where smacking is legal) be to leave the parent to discipline their child in the way they see fit?

Even if you don't agree with those discipline methods.

I think it varies a lot depending on where in France you are - we are just far enough from any major cities to make it impractical to go there. I suspect it's quite different in at least parts of the more cosmopolitan urban areas. Sending ds to school here would just have to be the local communal school, and tbh we worry a bit about what his experience would be like.

We have come across a fair amount of racism (dh is of Arab descent) and (dare I say it) some pretty brutal 'class' issues (we probably come across as more upper class than we actually are).

When it was just us we laughed things off without a problem (we've lived in enough different countries to be thick skinned about being treated as a freak show) but we really don't want ds to have to grow up with these issues.

I agree with you on the parenting, it may well be that we never noticed this in the UK as we didn't have children there. I was brought up in South America, where the whole attitude to children is very very different (and people would always have an opinion on how you treat your children, which is also very annoying as a parent).

Oh the smacking is definitely worse here. I've seen children (even teenagers)whacked for the smallest things, it makes me so cross.

Children are brought up in a much more regimented way generally. I know of several people who have left nearly newborns to cry at night, to "teach" them to sleep through very early on. Early toilet training is the norm, so they can be sent to school at 2 or 3. Agree Otherside that adults don't hold back from labelling a child and talking about their faults in front of them. It fits in with the "conform or die" attitude that prevails in the education system. It all seems terribly outdated to British eyes.

Gosh I sound bitter! There are things I like here too... honest

Yes, that's what I mean castille - conform or die. We don't do conforming in our family so don't see that working for ds...

I live in Savoie, (ponders name chnage...)

Moved here with DP who is Savoyard, he was missing his mountains.

Have been here one year and am mostly enjoyoing it.

Have dabbled with work, fulltime, partime, and not at all time at the moment

Will no doubt be staying here for the forseeable future.

Hi Belgianchox (fonduesavoyarde? equally delicious)

Yes, I agree the overall ethos of the school leads a lot to be desired, and I can see why you would consider moving for school reasons as the child gets older.

But as regards the regimenting of little children from day 1, it doesn't really affect how you bring up your own children does it? (As long as there is good old mn to find the information not readily on offer here).

Thinking about it, although I've not witnessed much smacking, I have heard a fair few threats of smacking. Ridiculous things like 'you're father will smack you when he gets home tonight' to a 3 year old at 8.30 am!

No, absolutely! We are bringing up ds our own way...they think we are mad and we don't care!

We haven't encountered almost any hostility to our way of doing things, just puzzlement at the big bloke carrying the child in strange contraptions all the time

We are just going to enjoy the last couple of years we have left before it's time to think of schools.

not all french parents are child thwacking monsters. Not all french schools are Dickensian.

I wasn't thinking about people being hostile to your way of doing things. More that it should be possible to continue your own way after your DC starts school. And for your DC to have friends where things aren't the same as home.

Mind boggles at strange contraptions! I can't think of what can you mean other than sling or baby back carrier, both of which don't cause any puzzlement at this end of France.