She is finally here!!!

[Francezinha]

I just wanted to share this with you, since I have gotten a lot of help from all of you!
In our long quest of trying to find an au pair, looking at websites, talking to agencies, friends etc. In the end we decided to give the online search a go and found our very first au pair on aupair village, so of course, we are all pretty excited to see how it'll work out. Her name is Karen, 21 years old, from the Netherlands and she arrived today (it's been a loooong day). She loved our burgers, it was a lovely dinner and she has remarkable English, is very outgoing and seems very down to earth (seems more worried about her education than her fingernails!) - so I am very relieved about that part. So far she seems to be a great fit for us, I am very nervous and also excited to see how it goes. Do you have any tips for us for the first days / weeks? What are dos and don'ts? As always looking forward to your input!
Good night!

spend some time all together.
Let the children bond with her while doing fun things.

Write down address/ telephone numbers of important contacts, family, emergency care, schools, doctors

Write down 999 as emergency number
Also write things about the children. dob, allergies, likes, dislikes, comforters etc.

Set down things straight away, in the sense if what you expect from her. and in return ask her away she expects from you as a family.

Put a diary and communction book together and leave out.

Talk about bathroom rules, knocking and waiting, using the lock, not going in there while children are in there, depending on there ages, obviously...

Writing down names of sites like this one. Other contact details for au pairs and au pair sites etc.

I like the diary idea, makes it easier maybe to say things she might be unhappy about. We've already done a bunch of sightseeing, going to the zoo with the kids, etc. to get to know her and for us to get to know us. Today we had an "adult" meeting, to establish some ground rules. We made a list of everything that seemed important, printed it out and hung it up in the hallway. So far, everything seems great. I am sure we will get to some point where the first problems come up, but so far, I am very happy and relieved!

We have an au pair welcome pack that includes

• phone numbers: emergency, schools, doctor, mine and DH at work, local family members, DC's friends' parents

• weekly schedule: who needs to be where, when, what kit they need and what aspect is the responsibility of the au pair

• favourite recipes: for when she is responsible for cooking

• outline of chores: including an explanation for what I mean by "tidy the kitchen"!

• details of how her mobile phone and pocket money (GoHenry) card works

We acknowledge that the first few weeks will be hard sometimes. I always let them explore the house when we are all out in the first few days and tell them that no question is silly or stupid but not asking is! And don't let anything go - if it's not right say so, but nicely. And encourage her to do the same.

Encourage a good balance of spending free time independently and with you - we've found that too much either way is a recipe for disaster!

Help her with maps / college registration / doctors' registration / train and bus timetables / gyms / cinema

We're on our 10th au pair now and I have a few horror stories but many more great stories. Our current girl is just fabulous. She came last month and is here until the end of June. We're very fond of her already.

Thanks, as always everything is REALLY helpful! Our au pair seems to be VERY independent, she somehow already knew of people around here when she arrived and is already exploring the city with them - which I like.
I have started on a similiar list, explaining chores, duties, rules etc. I like that she is very confident and doesn't seem to have a problem addressing anything. I feel we were really lucky and it also helps getting many potential problems out of the way early. I like the recipe idea, too - that's great!
But I am curious now, what are the horror stories??

I'll tell you when you're past the honeymoon period OP!