You know that expression “ A Day At The Beach? ” It implies that something is easy or simple right?
We spent a day at the with our kids at a beach in Le Pradet in the South of France in the Winter. It should have been fun and easy but it wasn’t. To me that day at the beach symbolizes what Life abroad can be like. Living in France isn’t going to magically make your children agreeable or enthusiastic about the same things you are enthusiastic about no matter how great you think it is. You just have to roll with the punches and move on.
Here is what we saw at our day at the beach.
We saw a boy on a unicycle playing the guitar and we walked, talked and took in the scenery.
We wore our galoshes.
We saw the tinyest Yacht Club ever
It was cold and windy but we enjoyed the sounds of the Mediterranean Sea.
We looked around.
We walked around
We wished we had Sea Kayaks.
But then the Moody Teenager emerged
He did not like the day at the beach in the south of France
So we decided to go home.
The air was thick with tension as we waited for the bus.
But we made it home and the grumpy teenager was happy again.
That was “A day at the beach in the south of France” in the winter with our kids!
There is a lesson to be learned when travelling with other people
Things are not always black and white when you travel with other people. “A DAY AT THE BEACH” is not always the proverbial “DAY AT THE BEACH”.
If the kids aren’t into it, if the kids would rather be somewhere else doing something else…it can ruin an otherwise lovely time and a day at the beach can turn into a day in hell.
This was a true story:
In all fairness, my son Kieran isn’t always grumpy, I just wanted to make a point! And In case you are wondering where we were, the beach is called “Plage De La Garonne” in a town called Le Pradet. It’s a beautiful small beach town here in the south of France just five minutes on bike from where we live. A great place to spend time or spend a year or more on your next career break or family sabbatical.
Here is a link to the office of tourism in Le pradet.
