Guns, healthcare, culture: why my children are better off in France

US actor George Clooney recently hit the headlines when he and his family were granted French citizenship. 

In an interview with Esquire magazine last year, he explained that a big part of the country’s appeal was that his children enjoy a “much better life” there.

Clooney is not the only American who has decided that France provides a better upbringing.

Former professional skateboarder Scott Bourne, 53, from North Carolina, fell in love with Europe, and Paris in particular, when he was travelling on the international skateboarding circuit. 

He eventually swapped San Francisco for Paris in 2004, where he met his wife Caroline, who had grown up in San Francisco with French parents.

Now a novelist, he has remained in France, and the couple have a 13-year-old son and a nine-year-old daughter. 

However, it has not always been an easy decision. 

“In 2012, when my son Tennessee was born, we were stranded here with no family, no one to help us, and we really thought about moving back to the States,” he said. 

It was trips home which paradoxically helped cement their commitment to stay in Paris. 

Big differences

The number one reason was guns. “It was a deal-breaker for us,” he said. “Going to North Carolina and seeing everybody driving around with a gun in their car… You don’t see that here.

“My wife showed me an article many years ago about bulletproof wallpaper that was being put up in schools, and I said we don't ever want to be in a situation where we go into a school building and have to ask: ‘Do you guys have bulletproof wallpaper?’”

Another deciding point was the cost of healthcare. 

“We had absolutely no insurance in the US. I’d just had knee surgery that costs about $100,000 in America – I got it done here for €1,000 at a private clinic, and most of that was reimbursed.” 

Many French people do not realise how privileged they are when it comes to healthcare, added Mr Bourne. 

“They think this is normal and that everybody gets this, but they don’t.”

Raising children

Choosing to bring up his children in Paris means they are having a very different childhood to Mr Bourne’s own.

“I grew up on a farm, the only house at the end of a dirt road. I’m a country boy at heart and I love the true wilderness,” he said.

“But I feel like they have these incredible opportunities that I didn’t have – I’m living the dream, I’m still mystified and captivated by it.”

The couple’s children attend a private school in Paris with international British and German sections. The focus is more on academic achievement than extra-curricular activities – a sharp contrast to US schools.

“It’s mind-blowing to me that there’s no sports, no football team or baseball team or school dances, but the academia is just fantastic.”

One major advantage of raising children in France is that they will inevitably be bilingual, but because of their international school, they have picked up other languages, too.

“Both my kids speak a bit of German, a bit of Italian, and my son is a little shy about speaking Spanish but he’s fluent.”

Read our help guide: Moving to France (US version)

Parisian culture

Being surrounded by Parisian culture means the children soak it up every day. 

“Paris will educate you – all the museums, the art, the architecture itself. The city is a living museum. My kids are getting a fantastic education not just from school, but from walking the streets, and from the many international friends their mother and I have.”

While he thinks there is “some posturing” involved in French protests, it has also been valuable for his children to see people stand up for what they believe in. 

“People take to the streets and make an impact. I think that’s a really important thing for my children to learn – you can assemble, you can stop these big guys.” 

The family have vowed not to travel back to the US under the current administration. 

“It’s too risky. I don’t want to send my family there and have some stupid thing happen like we’re seeing all over the media,” Mr Bourne said.

“It’s really disheartening to see such a fantastic country, that I think the world looks up to, being abused the way it’s being abused. The US has always held some sort of hope for the rest of the world and now it seems as if they’ve taken it away.”