I am very very new to this Au Pair Malarkey

[UCM]

I am having another baby in Jan and should be able to push my mate leave until sept so baby will be 8 months old. I also have a nearly ds aged 2.9 so he will be 4 by then. However due a monumental cock up on my side which involved me thinking that he will be going to school by then and now I realise that it won't be for another year, I am going to have to pay cm fees for both children. I am looking around the 750 per month mark which is going to kill the pair of us.

Recently some of the girls at work have been telling me that they are all using foreign Au pairs and not paying anywhere near that much.

We are not posh and live in a normal 3 bedroom house. I always thought live in nannys/aupairs were for the very rich, now I know they are not.

What do you wise people suggest. Is it worth it and am I mad to consider this.

I wouldn't expect anything other than they clear up after themselves & children. 10 weeks holiday per year and I don't work every week day as I often have days off during week.

Having had many Au pairs over the years I would never consider letting them have sole charge of a baby or toddler. Unlike experienced nannies that have chosen this career, Au pairs have not and regardless of whether they think they up to sole charge of babies, the reality so different. Our Au pair is 27 but I would not give her sole charge my toddler, she?s been with us for a while now, her idea of child care (based on her upbringing and culture) is so different from mine, but on the surface she seems great even the language difference can cause a catastrophe, She helps with the housework, walks the dog and picks up the eldest 2 children from school 3 minutes walk 2 days a week. Even doing this, she managed to give them food poisoning ? decided to ignore what I said to her earlier.

Agency literature describes Au pairs an ?older sister? for the children and this is really what most of them are capable off, needign lots of guidence and supervision in the begining. There are lots of things to consider, like living arrangements, use of telephone, can boyfriends visit when you?re not at home (or when Au pair is babysitting your children). This is a definite no for me, I now keep all are personal documents locked away ? sacked one Au pair for going through our stuff. TBH,if I have niggling doubt about an AP I would install a nanny cam.

What about a student that has just finshed college? They might live locally so wouldn't need to live in and would be qualified just with not much experience. The family i now nanny for did that when their chilren were 4 months and 7 yrs. Lots of people i was at college with did it too.