male au pairs, would you recommend?

[kittywise]

I tried to find a way of writing a title that didn't sound like something out of a Carry on film!!

Anyway, has anyone had a male au aupair. Any good? There double entendres r us

Why wouldn't they be?

Had a male aupair and a female aupair when I was little. Only name of an aupair I had as a child was his, Pierre.
Is gender an issue? Any concerns about an aupair, you will have equally with a female aupair - are they good at cleaning, tidying, will they socialise enough so they aren't around every evening, will the children like them, etc.

Well because on the whole men aren't well known for their housework!

Well I've had one male aupair who was brilliant and fantastic with the children yet independent and not needy and good company and was tidy and funny and could play tennis

My current (female) aupair is a Dementor AuPair (credit to Squiffy for coining the term Dementor AuPair) who does nothing with the children because she does not like them, won't go out ever unless ferried, is untidy and blardy well sits in MY STUDY knitting all day.

Some blokes can be good at housework, others terrible. Same applies to women.
Remember an aupair is likely to be in their late teens and many may have little prior experience of doing housework, due to it being their first time away from home. If you want someone good at housework, aim for someone who has been an aupair before, so you can ask the previous family how good they actually were.

quattro, I've had a couple of them. i get rid straight away,. can't be doing with it!
Well, this guy from Slovenia has applied. He sounds nice and I think the boys would like to have a male around. He is older, 25 I think. Not sure how I'd feel about having a bloke washing my undies though

You could always chuck out your knickers and go commando. problem solved.

I didn't think au pairs did your laundry anyway, just the kids stuff?

zeee - that's just nannies. Au pairs usually do general light housework as required.

I need an au pair plus. God do I need one, my house has fallen to pieces[hshock].
My au pair should do: laundry, ironing, tidying, washing, all the stuff that needs doing in the house. It's working alongside me.

we had a male AP from Italy - OMG what a disaster. He told us he was independent, had his own flat etc. and he was 24. Anyway he turns up, perfectly lovely guy BUT his flat was an annex in his 'mumma's ' house - he put his washing in a shute and it was delivered washed and ironed, his 'mumma' cooked for him and pretty much did everything except wipe his backside.
He was such a lovely guy but just did not have a clue - we perservered for 5 weeks then had to let him go - during his 5 weeks he put a metal can in the microwave and blew it up. Mowed through the cable for the lawnmower (god knows why he was mowing the lawn he only had to do school run and kids dinner), he cleaned my car with the rough side of a scourer - I hear you all giggling but trust me at the time it was not amusing - the last straw was when we booked some football tickets to take him to see his Italian team vs Newcastle. We booked the hotel, train tickets etc. and then he got 'food poisoning' - his 'mumma' had sent him lots of Italian food in the post which he proceeded to eat despite warnings from us. Anyway to cut a long story short he decided not to come as he was too ill to make the journey (his throwing up was the most dramatic and hilarious thing i have ever heard in my life!) BUT get this - we come back to find that he called 999 for an ambulance - i kid you not. he called an ambulance for bloddy food poinsoning!
he had to go - i am sure that they are not all bad but NEVER again will i have a male AP