Tell me all about au pairs..

[OurGlass]

Please can you give me a low down on au pairs? Can you tell me exactly what their role is, how much they need to be paid and what I must do to make them as happy as possible? It's only a few hours of childcare a day we need, nothing to strenuous. Is an au pair what we need?

25-35 hrs per week. Own room, all meals, treat as a family member. 75-130 per week pocketmoney depending on amount of work, children etc.
Use aupair world to recruit. There are agencys but its alot of money for a few hours work you can do yourself, and you can choose someone you like and gel with with similar values and outlooks rather than the first girl on the agencys books. Choose an au pair from a country that interessts you, and ask for a level of english spoken that suits you. Does your child do French in school? Then get a french speaker.
How to make them happy? Lay down the working hours and tasks to do, and be very clear on your expectations. Make a list of houserules. (Its easy to relax the rules later on than start with none and then try to tighten them)
Help the ap to start to get around and make friends. Send them on a 2 day paediatric first aid course, get them to join the gym, join local fb aupair groups. Provide any extras relevant to the job and your budget ie merlinpass, oystercard, mobile, gymmembership etc. Check out language schools and local colleges.
Finally, treat them like an adult daughter/son. Respect and kindness. If you spend some time on recruiting the right person you will have an amazing experience.

Thank you so much, I really appreciate it x

We have an au pair to cover before and after school, 4 days a week. So she does between 16 and 20 hours. We pay her £80 a week plus travel card.

It has been brilliant. I just love her and can't believe she's going! She's young (21) and I think the important thing to remember is not to expect much cooking and cleaning wise, but as far as having a safe pair of hands who is lovely with the kids: perfect.

I thought it would annoy me having a stranger in the house but she needs her own space as much as I do. She's out a lot and when she's in we have such a nice relationship where we can do companiable silences or chat. So it's perfect. I can't believe she's going in 2 months.