Au pair 50+ or granny au pair?

[captainsmom]

Hello all,

Sorry for my lack of knowledge in the subject but do you have any experience with older au pairs? Or how they are called granny au pairs?

This is for my mom, which finds herself over 50 y.o., in retirement, single and no grandchildren (Yes, that's my dog's name as username ).

I have been looking into some websites for older women that would like to take care of children and at the same time, have a new life experience.

If any of you have any experience with that or can recommend agencies/websites...that would be great.

Cheers,

Au pairs are usually young people experiencing a new culture who can afford to work for their bed and board plus a little pocket money. Most older people have bills to pay and cannot afford to work for pocket money below minimum wage.

If she needs to pay bills etc then she should look at classified ads (perhaps Gumtree etc) for a "Mother's Help" which are often older women who help out with childcare and housework.

Another possibility would be to advertise her services as a before/after school nanny - although it can be hard to earn enough to pay bills.

I think it would be illegal for an older UK national to work under au pair pay and conditions, and of course they always live in, which I’m guessing wouldn’t be her choice, so “au pair” isn’t really the word.

But there’s nothing to stop her working part or full time as a mother’s help or part time nanny. Neither have professional required qualifications (although being a registered nanny may make you more desirable for tax reasons). She should think about what her required earnings/preferred hours are and her preferred age range and duties and build a profile accordingly.

A grandfather of one of my son's classmates works as an 'after school' nanny and has done for some years, and it seems to work very well for him. Wraparound carers for school-age kids are like gold dust - your mum wouldn't be short of work if she wanted it.