My Kids Have Very Different Opinions About a Month in France

Getting three kids excited about spending a month in France has been...interesting.

My boys are completely on board.

My 7-year-old isn't worrying about spending all day at a camp where he may not understand much of what the other kids are saying.

He's focused on one thing: It's a soccer camp. In FRANCE.

So as far as he's concerned, this is basically the greatest idea I've ever had.

My ever-growing, always hungry 13-year-old is also excited.

His primary focus? The food.

Not worried about the French language. Not navigating a new country. Maybe some dread about sharing a room with his brother for a month, but I've promised to get an extra air mattress so they aren't sharing a bed, so I think we're good.

And then there's my daughter.

She'll be going into her senior year, and she has a very different list of concerns.

She's going to miss her boyfriend. She's giving up a summer when she could be making money at her hostess job. And she's being asked to learn French, which currently ranks somewhere around doing chemistry homework and cleaning the toilet.

And then she wants to know, “Why can't we just stay in Paris?”

She's already found approximately 7,000 TikToks showing her all the places to shop, restaurants to try and things to do in Paris. And we're only spending 3 days there.

Meanwhile, she's convinced there will be aaaaaabsolutely nothing to do where we're staying.

“Can I just come when Dad goes?”

So while I'm over here talking about cultural immersion, independence, language learning and seeing the world from a different perspective...

My kids are thinking about soccer kits, food, boyfriends, money and Paris shopping.

And you know, that’s fine. They're exactly where they're supposed to be.

They're going to experience this trip differently because they're different ages, with different priorities and very different ideas about what makes a good summer.

And maybe that's part of the point.

I don't need them all to understand why this trip matters before we go. I just need to get them there.

The rest, I'm hoping, will come with the experience.

If you’re just finding this series, we’re taking our 3 kids to France for a month next summer, and I’m documenting the whole process—from why we’re doing it to choosing where we’ll stay, figuring out the budget, and eventually getting on that plane. Start with Why We’re Taking Our Three Kids to France for the Summer to get the full story behind the trip.