.. good bad plus minus good places to find good au pairs where not to look etc.
Does this sound OK ?
We have an old house with 2 ensuites and no 'family' bathroom - DCs guests usually use 2nd ensuite so au pair could have en suite room and we'd share our bathroom with the DC and guests - not perfect but quite manageable, DC have a separate toilet by their bedroom. Room is big enough to have bed wardrobe bedside table and shelves- can put a TV in aswell.
Have 3 DC all school age so need help first thing to do school run (walking distance) and after school till I get home. Rest of time ,weekends and school holidays I'll be at home. What else could I expect her to do - tidying hoovering DCs rooms/ toilet / washing/ ironing - or would that be extra? If one of the DCs were poorly would I be able to leave them at home with her? What's the going rate in the south west? What other costs apart from extra food?
We live in a village but walking distance to small town and good buses trains to larger towns cities nearby to go out. There are likely to be other au pairs around but not sure where to find out where they are to help with finding friends - what would you normally do?
Sorry its a lot to ask but I'm completely clueless so just need some advice from people who have au pairs to find out what it's really like. DH reckons it would be annoying having someone in the house but seeing as I need help and he's not around to help most of the time and doesn't help with that bit anyway I'm not exactly sure of the alternatives - this way I'd be able to get myself ready for work like he does without having to sort the DC out too. I'd be leaving too early for a CM and if I found one that would take them I'd have to get the DC up really early to get them to one before I left for work - DH often abroad so I couldn't get him to do the drop off.
All advice very much gratefully received - thank you.