Au Pair's job

[OD]

I have had 2 au pairs to help with my 2 under 2's. Responsibilities were cleaning, ironing, babysitting, dressing kids, playing, cooking kids tea, laundry. I don't want them to play with the kids, as that is my job. I want them to help with the housework, so that I can enjoy my kids. Is it OK for them to do all housework, and not much childcare? Or does it depend on the person you get?

What do you mean ALL the housework? Do you mean everything there is to be done or do you mean whatever they can fit in in their 25 hours a week? If the former, I think it is unfair; if the latter, I guess theoretically it's OK but in practice most aupairs expect to have some interaction with the children in the family and the aupair will probably get pretty fed up if they seem to be acting as a very lowly-paid servant while you have all the fun. Having said that, if you make it clear when recruiting that you really want someone for housework, then at least the aupair knows whey they are getting into. How have your two aupairs to date felt about it?

Do you have 2 au pairs at the same time or one after another ?

The first one I had did 25 hours, and it was all housework and kids cooking, whihc she did within those hours. she was happy as far as I know, but had to go home for 'family reasons'. the 2nd one did and au pair plus job - 40 hrs a week. 25 of those were housework, the rest were childcare etc. But she left, unexpectedly. She had previously complained that there was too much housework. But I thought we had sorted this out. And 25 hrs a week is SO long to do housework! she should have done it an far less than that, using the other hours to play, or whatever with the kids. But is this a usual / happy circumstance, as most au pair postings talk about how they love kids, not how much they love housework!

I would think that as long as you are very clear when recruiting an au pair about their duties then you should be ok.
Annh - do you really spend more than 25 hours per week on housework..blimey I'm slovernly!
Au pairs are meant to be treated as part of the family so I guess there will be interaction with the children..but not the responsibility of it being their job to entertain them?

OK. So I have to be clear. I thought I was with no.2. Anyway, must try harder next time. Unless anyone has another solution to the eternal problem of housework / ironing / babysitting, and having a life of your own, without taking in another child to do the housework for 2 months, get unhappy and leave.....

Why not get a cleaner?

A cleaner won't cover me whilst my baba sleeps, and do babysitting (very hard to find round us), and also give me some time off from the little darlings. I'm sure I'm not the only one to be exasperated at never getting a thing done, as the little voices keep calling me!

yes - it can be hard to fit it all in and a full time job as well

It's fair to ask them to do housework, but the websites tend to make the point that the more housework you ask people to do, the less likely they are to want to be your au pair. Childcare is much more fun and, I always thought, the primary function of an au pair. Our au pair does day to day tidying, cleans the family bathroom and hangs out the washing, but I wouldn't expect her to do everything or any really nasty jobs like washing the tiled kitchen floor. Guess it's all about clearly setting out what you want/expect when you're looking for au pair and sticking to it.

If they are happy to do it then that's fine. But I think most au pairs would get pretty cheesed off with just being a house keeper. My au aupair does a mixture of both and it works out well.

As previously suggested you should get a cleaner.

Agree with mumbump. You have to be crystal clear about what the job entails - bear in mind that au pairs' English isn't always perfect, so you may be misunderstood.

If it's the lack of playing-with-children time that's bothering the au pairs, why not let the au pair spend more time with the children?

You could always have an au pair and a cleaner, rather than an au pair plus...

I have a very very flexible cleaner, she does anything for me, cleans, iron, looks after the kids and she even cooks delicious meals if she has time. I guess I'm just very lucky. Got no friends in town do, she might feel a bit for me!