I need help on whether an au pair is suitable for my kids now

[boysandmoreboys]

My 3 boys are 16,14 and 11 and my husband and i both work full time (and rarely get back before 7pm) although he works at home on a Tuesday and I on a Friday afternoon. I'm out at work engagements probably 1-2 evenings a week.
We've always had live-in nannies but she's just resigned and I'm wondering whether I can move to an au pair plus. I want someone who will pick the youngest up from school and persuade him to do homework (but he can do it on his own) and then cook us all a meal that we eat together when we're all back. I'd want the kids laundry done, uniform organised, the odd admin task (house stuff, dry cleaning etc) and we have a cleaner. Long school holidays are always a bit of an issue which is why I've stuck for so long with the very expensive option of a live in full time nanny (although for long periods of the day she wasn't doing much).

Does anyone else have similar age kids, work long hours - and if so at this stage in your kids lives what is the best childcare option?

A vast portion of our income goes on childcare and it would be great to save money but i feel guilty that the youngest might not have such professional childcare for so long - but it does seem crazy when she doesn't have much to do for long portions of the day.

So how many hours OP (excluding evening babysitting)? Do you need to au pair to drop off at school in the morning and then tidy up breakfast stuff/wipe down surfaces. Most au pairs want to do around 30 hours max.

Otherwise, the only other issue you may have is the cooking, all my au pairs have not been that adept in the kitchen. But au pair world has many people looking to come to the UK and its just finding the right fit for your family. I'd also suggest that you look for someone significantly older than your eldest child.

Pu an ad on au pair world and see what responses you get. If you're in London an after school nanny could also be an option.

What about an after school nanny?..paid on an hourly rate..

That sounds a bit much for an au pair plus.

All of the au pairs I have had have done wrap around care for the kids only. They don't do cleaning, laundry, cooking etc nor do I ask them to do this.

None of them have been able to cook well....

What about a junior live in nanny?

Housekeeper with some childcare duties?

It' a long list of jobs and your kids are getting pretty old now - could this not be a time to prepare them for Uni by teaching them to take responsibility for some of these tasks themselves? In 2-4 years your eldest 2 could be living alone at Uni.

If there is no disability involved the kids should be able to do laundry and sort their clothes and cook a meal etc