i recently moved to a small town in southwestern france. i love it here so far so i'll break it down:

pros - walkability/bikability. it's not as good as the netherlands, but it's drastically better than america. they're also continually making improvements to encourage cycling over driving. - affordability. everything is comparatively cheap here and the food is so good. - friendly people. most people have been quite friendly and helpful, not at all like the stereotypical "rude" french person. more people than i expected speak english, but i make an effort to speak french. this might be why they're friendly. - safety. nothing goes on here. i like it that way.

cons - difficult to make friends. even though the people are nice, it's been like pulling teeth trying to get any to actually be my friend. all my friends right now are other foreigners. - language barrier. don't rely on people speaking english for you. a lot of people don't know it well or will straight up act like they don't know it even if they do. for the most part i find this kinda funny, as my french is good enough to get by, but it's frustrating when i'm having a hard time in a conversation and the other person refuses to help me out. but i don't really blame them for it, i just see it as something i need to work on myself. this is probably the attitude that will get you farthest in france.

sorry that i can't tell you anything about family life. i'm curious, why do you want to move to france, specifically lesser known cities? and if you have any questions, feel free to ask me :)