An Au Pair's point of view (Childcare in general)

Member Name: zoe_page_1

Product:	Childcare in general
Date:	30/05/01 (536 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Travel opportunities

Disadvantages: Being over worked and underpaid

To start with, a little background. I have been working with children since I was 15. I have been a gymnastics coach, a kindergarten assistant, a play scheme leader, a babysitter, an English teacher and an au pair, the latter of which I'm now going to bore you with details about.

I wanted to spend last summer working abroad, and since I was only 17 years old, my options were limited. I could speak basic Italian and so though that might be a nice place to go, especially since it was one of the few places in Europe that I hadn't been too. Another thing that prompted me to au pair was the BBC documentary broadcast that January. I figured that most of those girls were doing a bad job and that that was the reason bad things happen to them. I also assumed that no matter how bad I was, I couldn't be worse than most of them.......

Well, I had fun, and the family were nice enough, and 2 of the 3 children were great to be around. But, that being said, I was working a lot of hours (more than my contract) for very little pay. I had to pay for my own flight and travel on my days off since I wasn't given the use of a car. Another problem with au pairing is that since you live with a family, your time off is never your own. How do you explain to a 2 year old that you can only play with them from 9am to 5pm? You can't, and so you play but you begin to resent it. The pay rate's not that good that you can afford to spend all your time off out of the house doing interesting things.

Basically, I was not that happy and so left after about 5 weeks. My advice to people who are thinking of taking on an au pair, is to talk things through with them before they arrive. Make sure you draw up a contract and stick to it, as it's the only fair way (and the only way to try and ensure your au pair will stick it out, hostfamilies).

Finally, au pairs are people too. Little 'gifts' now and then, like an extra hour off, or an ice
cream when you buy one for the kids, goes a long way!

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