Do you think an au pair is a good idea for our situation?

[Flamingoose]

Three children aged 12, 10 and 6. All at school full time.

Husband and I both work full time.

We need someone to get the younger two to school each morning (15 minute walk or 2 minute drive - she would have access to a car).

Nothing to do all day (I imagine language classes could be a part of the deal?)

Collect the younger two at 3, meet the eldest at home, ferry them around to various activities until 5. Husband and I take over for later pick ups and evening activities.

Evenings off except for occasional babysitting.
Weekends off unless we go away in which case cat feeding duties.

The room is small but adequate. We live in a dull suburb, but on a bus route and she could potentially use the car (though people don't in our city, public transport is king).

I imagine the worst thing about the job is that it will be pretty boring. She'd either have to have something to do in the daytime (eg study) or be very motivated to meet people and keep busy.

And what about when the children are sick and off school (thankfully fairly infrequent so far, but it happens) - can we ask an au pair to stay home with a sick child, or will my husband and I still be juggling that?

I assume that in the school holidays the kids will go to kids club and it will be business as usual.

Any thoughts?

We're not in UK, but in an English speaking country in a big city.

Hi, this is exactly what I use my au pair for - wrap around care and sick days. It works really well for us. All of our au pairs have attended english schoo although I live in London where there are plenty. In case there are no language schools near you then are there other ways for an au pair to make friends in your area so they enjoy their stay?

That would stil lie on your preferences but for me you guys definitely need na AU pair, because most of mentioned above is a thing that AU pair deals with.

This is exactly how my au pair is used and she makes the most of her time during the day. We aren't in the biggest city either but she has met lots of friends and always has something on. She is an only child and seems happy with her own company during the day (4 of our 5 have been actually- they seem to manage alone very well). And it's lovely to have the peace of mind for sick days etc too.

The au pair can do cleaning, tidying, ironing and food prep too. I had one when my DCs were of school age and age did all of this and was happy to do it.