Au pair disaster!!!

If you want to find someone already in London, get on Facebook find the group au pair in London 2011 and put up an ad. There are loads already here who for one reason or another want a new family. This way you can meet them and do an interview face to face.

I agree with Harrietthespook, I think the really good au pairs want more responsibility really to get on the nanny career ladder, and the non-nanny career path au pairs are scared of having twins, I think that although thejob description is clear here they might worry that the job is not quite as described and that it would involve more sole charge.

We had a qualified kindergarten teacher for 11 months as our au pair and I honestly think she was bored senseless as she had so little to do compared to the au pair friends she made here, as she only had the nursery run to do, not even the extra time involved in after school care. She was very nice and lovely with the children but clearly spent all day on the internet and eating junk food, so that's why I say I think she was bored.

I do not think she is imposing. I was just wondering if the drop offs were so quick when she would do the other hours, and was wondering if that was putting off potential aupairs. Like you say it sounds standard, the room sounds nice, it is odd she is not getting any decent candidates. I wonder if the OP got feedback from the other aupair.

IT is now for the OP to reply on her behalf - we are just speculating.

In our house, though, I had to allocate close to two hours per day of our APs time in the morning, even though I was there. She was helping with breakfast, dressing etc. This quickly added up to ten hours.

If she's doing a similar thing at the end of the day - collecting at 5/half five from the childminders, with helping with baths and dinner, you're quickly at another two. So, it's easy to see how you get to the hours allocation.

I can't see at all how she would have loads of spare hours to find where she's imposing on this au pair. She only said the 'sole charge' was 15 miutes.

And incidentally, it's equally possible the au pair is put off by not having ENOUGH to do because the children are at the CMs. In my experience - although limited to three and a half au pairs - the au pair often feels they are up to more responsibility than the family may think it's appropriate for them to have.

harriet,
Yes but the OP says it is only about 15 mins or so each way for the drop offs pick ups so that is 2.5 hours per week, yet the role is 25 hours per week with the days and weekends free. So aside from the drop off/pick up, when are the 25 hours, if they are not in the day, not at the weekend then they must be in the evenings. And aupairs only do very light housework, but if the days and weekends are free then the aupair would not be doing housework then anyway, which takes us back to the question when are the actual hours.
If the OP is having problems with not getting enough good candidates applying, it could be because there is confusion about the hours required. If the OP has stated in her advertisement it is 25 hours with days and weekends free aside from drop/off pick up people would assume it is mainly an evening role, and that could be putting some people off from applying. It sounds like a normal aupair role, so long as the housework is light, so I cannot see any good reason why there are no good candidates applying, so it is worth looking over the advertisement again and perhaps going to an agency to get them to tweak it.

She is helping in the morning get everyone out the door, and pick ups in the evening. AU pairs also do housekeeping. It's an entirely normal AP role.

harriet, The OP says the days and weekends are free, and it is a 25 hour week. So I can only assume the hours are in the evening. If the days and weekends are free, when else is the aupair doing her 25 hours (the drop off and pick up will only take half an hour per day)?

Kelly - the childminder has all three children.

Nowhere on this thread has the OP said anything like what you're suggesting she is planning on doing.

yep, you are right I missed the childminder bit - but is that just the twins. Also if the days and weekends are free, then presumably the aupair is looking after them in the evenings so I would assume that at some point the aupair will look after the baby even if the parents are there.
I really would advise emailing the other au-pair back and asking for honest feedback about why she turned down the job. If the advert looks as if there will be a baby to look after that could put people off, and some people might not like working in the evenings (although I would think that would be ideal for a part time student). What exactly are the hours? Have you thought about going through an agency, they should be able to weed out people who are unsuitable, and help you tweak you advertisement.

Kelly, you got it wrong then. The children are with a childminder during the day.

Littlefish,
The impression i got was that yes the aupair would only be fully alone with the children for a short while, but would be looking after them the entire time, just with the parents in the house.

about

Kelly - have you read the whole thread? The op has repeated a couple of times that the au pair is only in sole charge for a out 15 minutes, twice a day.

I think that looking after toddler twins, and a baby is a lot of work for an au-pair role, as it is quite intense. An au-pair is only meant to be a light role. What about a nanny?

Hallo there,I have a good au-pair,she came to work for us about 6 weeks ago and i just find aut that i will be made redundant from September.She is very good with my 5 year old son and my 3 year old girl,sole charge,she feed them,take them out,entertaine them with games,readingbooks.If you say she will not be on sole charge with all 3 then she will be a good fit for you.Please let me know if you are interested,maybe we can meet,to chat.I really want a good family for her as she is special,honest,clean.Were about in london are you?Thank you.

Oh yes, in my experience (which admittedly is limited) Germans have really good English. Better than most English nannies I have met.

I recruited my first au pair earlier this year and searched Mumsnet and found people regularly praised Just Au Pairs, so I used them and found them brilliant. They found me a lovely girl for the summer and I await my Sept girl next week and they were fab with her too, and she seems brilliant. FWIW both girls are German and speak fantastic English.

"Au pairs" come in all shapes and sizes. Some are 17 and have only ever had sole charge experience of the family dog. Other have had "babysitting" experience, which up on further investigation is actually akin to a full-time live-out nanny. You can find both of these extremes on Au Pair World. You have to sift through, and ask a lot of questions, but it is possible.

I am in the process of hiring my second "au pair" from Au Pair World (I find the Great Au Pair website to be far superior - from a techie website point of view - to Au Pair World, but far more suitable candidates in abundance on Au Pair World), both of whom are somewhere between a traditional au pair (which no longer exists, and neither does the requirement for you to buy them an English class) and an entry level nanny.

My children are 8 months, 8 yrs, and 6yrs. We have a childminder who looks after the baby during school hours, term time only, Tuesday through Friday. The "au pair" has the baby all day on Monday. We hire in September so that she can do the "au pair" role through the year and then transition to a full time live-in nanny for the summer (with appropriate pay increase).

When we embarked on this au pair / childminder scenario last March I wasn't entirely sure it was going to work. But, with the advantage of not paying outrageous nanny taxes, we gave it a go. And it has actually worked out brilliantly. I love our childminder and really like that DS2 gets to spend time in her busy house with lots of kids who interact with him. And our "au pair" has been great too.

So, I wouldn't get too hung up on the "au pair" versus "nanny" debate. I would seek out the person with the appropriate experience with which you are comfortable. And then worry about what to insert into the contract under "job title".

... to help us with the drop-offs and pick-ups every day (kids are with childminder during the day).

Must have missed that bit

Would you consider a male pair? Even temporarily? My brother (aged 22)is looking for a host family, ready to fly ASAP. He was an aupair 2 years ago in wandsworth for 1year, speaks good English and has references. If interested please email me and I forward him your details, he can send you more details. He has driving licence, first aid certificate, crb. My email is [email protected]

Do any of your friends have late teen kids who are off to uni in October and could step in for a month to give you a bit of breathing space? I did a similar job just before university and although I might not have been the most knowledgeable/skilled mother's help ever, I absolutely loved the kids and was nice to them, plus I had my own mum on the phone for questions and tricky moments.

You should search GAP and APW using the criteria (1) 'available immediately', (2) nationality any you like except British (to sieve out the nannies you won't be able to afford), (3) salary less than $200 and (4) currently living in the UK

That search will get you (among others) all the APs who are in UK and looking to switch families so with immediate availability. some of them will be suss, some of them will be living with rubbish families. You'll have to trust your judgement as to the circs.

Don't despair I found my very best Au pair in a similar situation. Au Pair world AP stopped contacting me with three weeks to go to arrival. I found A through Agency she had been just told by the college that she was due to attend in France that her English was not good enough - I find all their english is ropey on arrival, but improves rapidly.
A was the youngest AP I ever had at just 18 and very very naive, but my situation was urgent. After not very long A was more confident and english improved dramatically. She was fab and she visits us and we visit her still years later.