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Paid childcare

Discuss everything related to paid childcare here, including childminders, nannies, nurseries and au pairs.

Original poster

First Au Pair arrives in 3 weeks!

39 replies

ConstantlyCooking · 05/08/2009 07:29

Thought I would start a thread so those of us new to the world of au pairs could worry/prepare together.

I bought new bedding yesterday. After lots of thought I went for neutral stone-cream type colours with patterns and white towels with appliqued leaves on one edge so she could identify them easily. I felt overwhelmed by choice as generally stocks of bedding and towels just grow gradually. Am now worried that have not got the right things and will head to Ikea tomorrow where I have discovered they do much cheaper quilt covers which are v nice.

Also WH Smiths have paperback English dictionaries for 89p, so I bought one to add to her welcome pack.

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MrAnchovy · 09/08/2009 21:28

Sorry dreamteamgirl, I didn't mean that she should keep her German number, but (as others have clarified now anyway) she might want to keep her own 'phone but put a UK SIM in it. All of our German au pairs have already sorted this before they arrived (T-mobile and Vodafone are both big in Germany so I think they can do it there).

But whatever you do, do not expect her to carry 2 phones 'so I know I can call you if I need to'.

Millarkie · 09/08/2009 19:14

CC - I did map of the area - highlighted the car parks, labelled important places (school, tesco, library etc) and for the au pair who had to do a school run for a week or so I also marked on the route. Nothing is better than driving them round the area a lot in the first week though.

Original poster
ConstantlyCooking · 09/08/2009 18:35

Good point about transfering SIM cards. I am providing the phone so that I can insist that she keep it switched on when "on duty".I will also save all important numbers to the SIM so she has them even if using a different phone.
I was thinking about printing off maps of area and highlighting routes to Dcs'activities.

OP posts:
Millarkie · 07/08/2009 13:04

Re: phones, we provide a cheap UK PAYG phone, but our au pairs tend to move the SIM into their own phone - that way they get UK call rates (and we pay for first £10 each month) but get to use the other functions on their own phones (camera, whatever).
We have had new towels for each of our au pairs (now on third), partly because they get wrecked by the APs!! I have no idea how they manage to turn decent towels into mangled rags in 5 months but both of our ex-APs managed it.
We do the things that Quattro mentioned (not the wine though, our APs have been horrified by the suggestion of drinking alcohol (apart from very sweet cocktails in bars)). Also we now have a tradition where I buy the AP new slippers once they have survived their first week or so (we have wood floors caked in kid/dog grunge and the APs tend not to pack slippers). And we now have a growing welly boot collection for use during dog walks.
The other thing which comes in handy is trying to locate other local au pairs so you can hand over some email address or mobile numbers for them to contact - especially if they are either not going to language school or if they don't start at language school for a few weeks.

dreamteamgirl · 07/08/2009 12:46

MrAnchovy
I can see they would want to keep their own phone, but I am not paying to ring a German mobile, and neither will she want to pay roaming rates to recieve my call or if she cant find way home from park, or if I want to check on them when they stop at shops on way home from school surely?

Quattrocento · 07/08/2009 01:19

Just welcoming our third au-pair

My arrangements have been:

  1. Towels and dressing gown
  2. TV/DVD in her room
  3. Old but working laptop in her room, with skype set up so that she can talk to her friends
  4. Maps and dictionary
  5. House rules written in English and French (this was testing) but MN helped with this immensely - they need to know what you think about friends staying overnight etc
  6. PAYG mobile with credits
  7. Details of language courses and what we are prepared to pay for and how to enrol
  8. Emergency contact numbers
  9. Chocolates and wine to welcome her

Hope yours works out!

catepilarr · 07/08/2009 00:50

in the uk aupairs are mostly paid weekly. its nice to get paid as soon as you arrived, as i did a couple of times. i didnt need it moneywise but it was nice of them. but i think it might make you feel that you should pay a bonus at the very end.
agree with others, make sure you pay what you need to and on time, show her around the house and your village/town, help her to get a library card/register with doctor/get an account. maybe get bus/train timetibles and a map/guide of the /nearest/ town.
make sure she feels she can ask questions. let her call her parents. take her to supermarket to show her what she likes to eat. have the children to draw her a welcome picture. dont laugh or make weird comments if she does things in a funny different way to you.
thats things i have appreciated in the past.

MrAnchovy · 06/08/2009 21:59

Couple of comments:

Nearly all of our au pairs and nannies have arrived with their own phone which they want to keep using (because phone=camera=mp3 player etc) so I would ask her before assuming a PAYG mobile would be useful. Having two phones doesn't work.

I have never heard of an au pair (as opposed to a nanny) being paid monthly. If they arrive on the weekend we usually offer the first week's pay in advance so they have some money in their pocket: some have appreciated this, others have come with plenty of money from home.

Original poster
ConstantlyCooking · 06/08/2009 07:58

Hi DTG - Dh and I need to decide when to pay her first. (thanks for the question I hadn't thought about it). we are going to pay her from the day she arrives, but haven't decided whether to pay monthly or weekly. I think that a month is a long time without money, so prob weekly on Fri.so I guess will pay her pro-rata on Fri 28.

We are also getting her a PAYG mobile don't know if that goes in the welcome pack.

OP posts:
dreamteamgirl · 05/08/2009 23:15

I agree towels washed at at least 40 degrees

Will get her her own towels in a non blue colour- all ours are blue, so it defines them as HERS

Actually I have a local and London A-Z already so they will be good
Dumb q time. When will you first pay her?

MissSunny · 05/08/2009 22:38

Message withdrawn

Original poster
ConstantlyCooking · 05/08/2009 22:38

The dictionary is a paperback Collins English dictionary - I thought it might be useful back up for her if she comes across unusual slang or words not in her Eng-German dictionary (assuming she brings one). If she doesn't we have the v old German-Eng one I used for A levels and a v small one I have just bought for DS (he starts German at school in Sept).
Our au pair is 19 and German.
I thought new towels would be nice and having bought 2 bath towels for £12 in Matalan yesterday, I saw today that M&S have a cheap set of 6 for £7.50 or a nicer set of 4 for £12 so I think I may go for those instead.

So far the dictionary is the only thing I have actually bought for the welcome pack but I am going to get an A-Z and some other bits as well.
Any suggestions anyone?
I want her to feel welcome.

OP posts:
catepilarr · 05/08/2009 22:28

new towels are def nice - i only got them in one family, otherwise i usually used whatever i could find ;) i had one set on the bed and the other two in the chest of drawers. i like to keep my towels separate, as i like to have them washed at 60degrees and the family only washes at 30 or 40 sometimes.
btw dont worry, you do have the right things!

dreamteamgirl · 05/08/2009 16:32

Hey CC Thanks for starting this!!

Remind me how old is your AP? She is German same as mine isnt she?

Tell me all about your welcome pack as I have NOTHING yet!
Thanks for the tip on the dictionary- is that an English- German one or just a nice English one?

On towels, you have bought fresh ones yes? I thought maybe I should also, and was trying to suss out how to give them to her and tell her she could keep them in her room, but didnt have to I am going to rubbish at this I can already tell!!