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Paid childcare

Discuss everything related to paid childcare here, including childminders, nannies, nurseries and au pairs.

Dutch Au Pair available - preferably close to London - Available now

40 replies

stressed2007 · 29/10/2008 14:22

We have been liaising with a very nice Dutch girl with a view to her becoming our au pair. We have now secured someone else (an au pair who we thought had let us down but is in fact still coming) and want to try to help the other girl out. Her spoken English is great. She is currently with a family in Kent but without going into details they seem like a total nightmare and very weird and she is not surprisingly very unhappy (I am sure she will fill you in on the details). Effectively she is doing no childcare at all now but being asked to do 35 hours a week cleaning while being watched by the mother! She is in a room with no curtains etc. She is looking for a new position as soon as possible. She is 18 and has extensive babysitting experience with all ages and has been with this family nearly 3 months. She is now really looking for a position with a more balanced split of work. She is interested in going anywhere but particularly would like being somewhere she could get to London from so she could do a bit of sightseeing while she is in the UK. She does seem to be a very sweet girl.

If you are interested please can you contact her on charly_lovygirl at hotmail dot com. Please could you mention in contacting her that you got her details form mumsnet as I told her I would put her details on here. Her host family has left her for 3 days in the house so she is able to come to see a prospective family during that time if you are not miles away.

I hope that someone is interested as she seems genuinely very nice.

OP posts:
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whooosh · 29/10/2008 14:26

Well she might be just the girl we are looking for!
Will email her.

whooosh · 29/10/2008 14:27

Oh does she drive?-before I get too excited....

Anna8888 · 29/10/2008 14:35

Quattrocento needs a new au pair.

stressed2007 · 29/10/2008 14:40

not sure... she is a bit young to drive and be Dutch - I think it is a huge palava to get qualified in Holland ..let me check.

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Romy7 · 29/10/2008 14:43

lol anna, was just going to say that...

whooosh · 29/10/2008 14:45

Just had an email from her-you are right-she doesn't drive

stressed2007 · 29/10/2008 14:46

cant she take a bus.....?

she wrote to me:

" I don't have a driving license but I'm willing to learn how to drive(actualy, I would love to!!)"

what a shame

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stressed2007 · 29/10/2008 14:47

can someone let Quattrocento know about her please?

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Anna8888 · 29/10/2008 14:49

I've already posted a link to this thread on her thread about her current au pair who has just resigned...

whooosh · 29/10/2008 14:50

She sent me the same line Stressed but on the odd occasion DD would need picking up from school-ther is no bus .

Hopefully Quattro doesn't need a driver [hopeful emoticon]

stressed2007 · 29/10/2008 14:57

if it is on the odd occasion can't it be a taxi? probably work out much cheaper then having her insured on a car she wil hardly use - that has got to cost £100'S (I got quoted £700 for my last au pair - yeah right!)

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stressed2007 · 29/10/2008 14:57

where's the thread about the resigning au pair?

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AtheneNoctua · 29/10/2008 14:58

Does no one else think that "charly_lovygirl " makes for a.. well.. odd e-mail address.

Pardon my scepticism, but she sounds a bit like an au pair who was hired for household duties, but has shown up and wants to do childcare instead... I could be wrong. Did they lead her to believe it was a childcare job and then change the terms without consulting her. Or did she have false expectations?

zeee · 29/10/2008 15:00

Sounds like a fairly ordinary teenager's email address to me

stressed2007 · 29/10/2008 15:03

how harsh are you?

yes childcare job and now no childcare..the amount of childcare has got less and less - school age kids and she was supposed to look after then before and after school but they are at clubs til night and at friends when not so she never sees them..then told she must make uo all this time by housework...mysteriously the copy of the contract she signed can not be found by the family either!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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MarmadukeScarletbloodstains · 29/10/2008 15:10

I am in Kent and looking for an AP, non driver OK. Less than 1 mile to MLS for a 45 - 50 minute commute to London.

stressed2007 · 29/10/2008 15:19

Marmadukescarletbloodstains - send her an email? I have not met her but spoken on the phone and she seems perfectly nice to me - the issues she has with the current family are things I woud have hated too if I was her. Send her an email/call her and see what you think?

What is your mame all about?

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MarmadukeScarletbloodstains · 29/10/2008 15:20

I forgot to mention we are lovely in a very laid back, slighly eccentric (she'll have to put up with me singing in the car!) way.

Our AP room is very pretty with hanmade lilac ginham blinds (blackout lining) with velvet ribbon trim and a jali pelmet - to reassure on the curtain front!

Ingles2 has met me, and will vouch for me I'm sure! (Has anyone seen her recently? Or is she another from The Body Count?)

MarmadukeScarletbloodstains · 29/10/2008 15:23

Marmaduke Scarlet is from The Little White Horse - a fave childhood book. I wanted to be Maria Merrywheather but it was taken (for a total of 5 posts some while back so a complete waste!)

I was trying to think of a spooky name for the competition and added the bloodstiains (as blood is scarlet) a bit naff and uninspired generally, but I made an effort!

stressed2007 · 29/10/2008 15:26

what competition?

Oh you do sound nice..do give her a try...do you have her email address

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stressed2007 · 29/10/2008 15:28

oh flippety flip..she is in Leatherhead not kent (my mistake)..she doesn't mind moving location as long as she can get into london occasionally though.

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whooosh · 29/10/2008 15:33

Fair point on the taxi vs insurance!
But we have the "nanny" car and would be a shame not to use it-would also be good for taking dd swimming etc.

If the AuPair you are taking has messed you about-why are youtaking her and not this Dutch one?

stressed2007 · 29/10/2008 15:39

good point..it is still under consideration..it is just that the other one we have been speaking to for weeks in fact months...and my husband says she sounds nice. So though we like this Dutch girl and may end up woth her coming we may not and I want to help her so posted on here ..so if she finda another family on here first before we do anything then just tough on us. Guess I am just a nice person???

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Febes · 29/10/2008 15:48

how much do you pay the AP? Sory just jumping in here but I've always wanted to know. Do they do full child care or just mother help?

MarmadukeScarletbloodstains · 29/10/2008 18:05

Hallowe'en name competition on here.

Have emailed AP.

Febes, an AP usually earns between £55-75 for a AP (25 hrs + 1-2 nights babysitting) or £75-95 for AP+ (35hrs +2 nights babysitting). Live in.

An AP usually should not be left in sole charge of under 2's, help with childcare and light housework.