Anyone ever had an English au pair?

[CoffeeAndCarrotCake]

Our lovely (and occasionally over eager) Polish au pair is going to be heading home to Poland in the new year, and I'm thinking about taking on a young English au pair. She's 20 and wants to au pair for a couple of years before possibly trying to get onto a teacher training course. I had reservations about having an English au pair initially as I thought a large part of the job was to get the opportunity to learn English, so with that incentive gone, surely there's limited appeal?

Anyway, does anyone here have any thoughts or experience?

Thanks!

Can't see why an English person can't be an au-pair. Are they wanting an au-pair salary, such as £70 a week? Maybe they just want to get away from their family!

Yes - she knows what the money would be like. I guess there'd be the advantage of fewer "lost in translation" moments!

if she wants childcare experience then that's one way of getting it.

Very few people will take on a "Nanny" with no experience or qualifications.

I had quite a few english girls email me when i advertised for an au pair just for the experience and that all important first good ref!

I would think that it is not very different from having an aussie, kiwi or english-speaking canadian au pair. Do they live very close to you already or would they (at least) have a new area to explore?

technically she would not be an aupair but an inexperienced mothers help. but that doesnt make any difference in what she helps wiht.

It is a totally dfferent area Millarkie - we're near London and she's up north. Good point about the comparison with kiwis etc. Right, here we go again... (actually feeling a bit sick at the thought of the whole new au pair routine and it'll only be no. 2. With DD not yet 2, goodness knows how many times we'll go through it. )

Hello C&Ccake. I'm an English Au-pair. I can help you with any further questions if you have any.