Au pairs - what EXACTLY do they do????!

[oneplusone]

Hi, am thinking of 'trying out' and au pair in the next few months. I have 2 DC's aged 4 and 2. The 4 year old is at school full time, the 2 year old goes to nursery 2 days a week, the rest of the time he's at home with me.

The reason i think i need an au pair is i basically feel i need some more help at home with the kids and the house. I have a cleaner who comes once a week which i don't think is enough. My DH works full time in a very pressurised job so i can't expect much from him. I do bits of work from home when i can and i also want to start a part time course at the local college in september.

Recently i seem to have caught endless colds/infections and feel i am burnt out and completely run down with trying to do everything myself pretty much singlehandedly. I have also had a huge amount of emotional turmoil in my life recently with various family problems (have another thread to deal with that!) and it has taken it's toll on my health i think.

So what can i expect from an au pair? What sort of hours do they do? What are the rates of pay? (I live in Surrey) What are the pros and cons? Where's the best place to start looking for one?

We are having a loft conversion done soon and will have 2 extra bedrooms and a shower room. The au pair will have one of the loft rooms.

I would very much appreciate the benefit of your experience. TIA

When I was an aupair I did the weekly shop, cleaned children's bedrooms, ironed children's clothes, collected youngest child from school (3.30ish), cooked a meal for children, gave youngest child a bath, and usually finished at about 8pm. I babysat one night a week.

However, as the family lived in an apartment in Paris I had my own room on the top floor of the apartment building (with bathroom and cooking facilities) and didn't spend evenings with the family/they didn't hear me come in at 1am.

As bigshopper said, you are likely to be coping with somebody who has limited experience of the world in a foreign country (memories of misspent youth flooding back), so be prepared for a few ups and downs.

Beware of au pairs whose only childcare experience is having a much loved niece or nephew. They will get a shock when they actually have to live with children as opposed to just buying them teddy bears.

I have had two lovely Polish Au Pairs, and one quite terrible Norwegian. Not so sure it was a cultural thing though, more of a personality thing.

Be aware of girls who just wants a gap year before going to University (especially if they did not get in first time around and need a year of SOMETHING before they can apply again) and who are quite clear they have no inclination of working with children past their aupairing year. I only learnt this after she got here, I clearly did not ask her enough questions at the interview stage...

I have had it with gap year students, they think the world is their oyster and they are only in my house to further their own wonderful careers.
well ok that is a bit of a generalisation but I am not risking any more gap year students and being left in the lurch.

No, they clearly regard themselves a cut above the rest of us. My last one was a 20 year young immature know-it-all. She even gave my toddler hot mugs of caffeinated tea to keep him quiet so she could enjoy her cuppa in peace reading a book....

I soo agree with you both!