We just spent a long weekend with monolingual German friends who have a son almost exactly our girl’s age. (More on the effects on that on our little girl’s bilingualism later.) These friends are clearly unfamiliar with the concept of bilingual families, but the question they asked proved interesting. It was fairly simple:

Why German, why not English?

That French would be part and parcel of our daughter’s upbringing was clear to them, given we live in France. But, they asked, wouldn’t it make more sense for her to become bilingual with English, which is such an important language in today’s world? (Yes, I know, we’ve all heard it before.)
To a bilingual parent, the answer seems obvious. But when someone actually asks the question, I find myself struggling to find the right words.

German is my mother tongue. It’s not just a language. It’s a culture.  It’s part of who I am, and I want to share that with my daughter. I want my daughter to understand me when I speak my mother tongue. (Let alone, communicate with Granny.)
And besides, being bilingual makes learning other languages easier later on.

Convincing? Hm…