Au pair couples

[PixiNanny]

Me and my partner are looking at au pair coupling from next March onwards, I was wondering if any of you guys know of some websites where I can find couple work?

I don't spend £50 a week on food for me and DP! And I assume that would be for food when you're not working.

Oh I am learning, I failed a test last Weds so have to rebook again! That was test number four! I plan to have passed by Christmas (2020 maybe... :p).

Oh, I feel like a bit of a pig now lol Maybe it was because I was eating tescos super noodles mainly...? First time living away from home, thankfully I was only alone for 3 weeks before I started having my meals made for me again (PGL!) hehe

millarkie, i usually look for a summer job as a something in betwenn a nanny and an ap. next year i will even be available cca march to sept.
my apw profile number is 766130 in case you are interested to have a look.sorry to hijack your thread pixi but its too tempting /btw what happend to the finnish family?/

The finnish family needed me earlier than I could go, s'pose it's okay though, I would prefer the chance to do something watersports related! Lol.

sigh I'd do anything for a watersports/outdoorsy family

Hi Catepilarr - have had a look at your (v impressive) profile but we live in a village so for AP/semi-nannys mental health we need a driver (kids go to school and back on a door-to-door bus but I would worry about an AP having to rely on public transport. (maybe I worry too much, there are buses to local town and trains to big city 20 mins away).

So could I be a viable option then Millarkie?

& all, what is it with the families who say ont heir profiles that they'd accept a couple, yet when you contact them they say they don't want one? I've had no less than three emails in 24 hours from people telling me that they don't want a couple, even though their site says that they'd accept one Why lie and waste all of our time?!

I'm starting to think that I may end up staying in the UK at this rate Maybe I'll save and go gallivanting around Europe for a month or two before doing anything next year

Like the original plan and worry about it when I get back lol

Oh, and also, what is it with families who are rude to you for being a couple? They just assume that you and your partner are perverts?! I had a reply from one of those too last month, it was weird

People who live in cities (and don't need drivers) will generally live in smaller houses where they would feel 'overwhelmed' by two extra people, so might not want a couple. Couples will be wanted usually by rural folk (as in that advert).So driving is essential. Why not try to pass on an automatic licence only - if such things still exist - and then try to get a full manual licence later?

Then, what are you offering? For you to be a proper nanny all week (only doing the children's clothes etc) makes sense, but then what is your boyfriend to be? People willing to take couples will only do so if either they are overun with too many children (which cuts your potential market hugely), or if they can find some mix of nanny/housekeeper/handyman/gardener. I think your line about not wanting to do housework is possibly putting people off - most people wanting an AP couple will do so precisely because they want all their housework covered by one of you - otherwise they need to employ the pair of you and a cleaner on top which just gets too complicated. I have had a full time nanny (live-out) and an Au Pair at the same time and I would have struggled to find enough to keep them busy if I hadn't included all the family ironing and similar household chores into the mix. You might get lucky and find a big family, but otherwise you might have to accept that housework will be part of a couple package..

Other than that I think your profile looks pretty good. Have you put it into APW as well as GAP?

Maybe you should think a bit laterally: Your skills don't naturally dovetail into an au pair couple role, but have you thought about approaching boarding schools directly to see if there are any live-in roles for a carer and sports assistant/sailing assistant? That might open up a route you hadn't thought of.

FWIW, If you still want to go down nanny/AP route then I will have a vacancy in Jan (new AP due to stay until 31/12), and would pay what you are looking for, if it covered housework and if both of you could drive. We are close to lots of sailing clubs, but no mountains down here (near Whitstable). Check out my profile here. The profile is aimed at individual au pairs only, but we can expand the role to fit. DH is ex-military and a keen sportsman (rugby and triathalons) and we have a gym at home (not that you would think it to look at the pair of us... )

I'm going for manual because my current families AP car is a manual. And also it just makes it easier as I've learnt in a manual and I don't want to learn in a different car. I am a decent driver (I should hope so with the amount of lessons I've had! Lol) but I just keep doing silly little things on the test which obviously I can't get away with as I'm supposed to show that I'm perfect Just common driving mistakes that everyone does, doesn't bother me too much as I'm not too fussed about driving (I'd prefer public transport, better for the environment and cheaper!) but I would like to pass just so that I can arrange mine and my two's days a bit better this summer, and not have to worry about how to get places with them, as they get ill on PT

I'm offering to be an AP Couple, not a nanny. I will be qualified yes, and that is an asset to me which is why I put it down, but I also state somewhere that I want to share the responsibilities with my partner, which is truly what I want to do, I want to work with him and alongside him and he wants to work with kids too, which is why I'm looking for a AP couple job rather than a 'me nanny, him gardener/housekeeper' job

I was trying to joke about the housework in a "kidding but not kidding too" inda way but I can see how it comes across badly, it's on my list of things to edit I've also been trying to do more housework where I am now too, just so I can get used to it and get it into my routine, though I admit I've been working on this for a few months now! It's slowly getting easier and more habitual!

I tried APWorld but they're causing me a lot of grief, if you're on Nanny Job there's a thread in which I'm complaining about their treatment of me if you're curious lol. Basically though, after weeks of no answers or help I called them and the woman started telling me that I obviously don't want to be an au pair because I want to travel and refused to listen to me, told me to email her instead(?) and then insisted that I make Andy a separate profile (which I've not seen another couple do before?!) so I gave up lol though it is one of the better sites for getting work and I'm quite annoyed about it still!

I hadn't thought about boarding schools, though I didn't think schools were allowed to do outdor pursuit sports for PE or anything? :/ I'll definately look into it though

& Andy doesn't drive, we're hoping he can learn when he gets home from PGL in November (by doing a quick course, as he already did a course in the army but failed his theory), I'll look into your profile though

Squiffy: I like the sound of the job, I'd be happy if you sent an email my way: nixinox [at] hotmail [dot] com

OK will drop you a line tonight.

Thank you

Pixi - I've spoken to dh - the lack of driving is an issue (as Squiffy said - we have space for a couple because we live in countryside, but 2 non-drivers would mean a lack of flexibility. The other thing dh pointed out is that sailing club is on Sundays and climbing is a weekend trip (up to peak district and camp overnight generally) and we are mean enough to ask APs to work at weekends
Other issue at the moment is that our new AP arrives next week and although she is meant to stay until next spring we are going to be a lot less tolerant of madness with this one (search for the thread - 'au pair woes' to read about current situation) so don't want to assume she will last that long until at least a month in.
(Looks like you'll be off to Squiffys anyway )

I hate being a non-driver sometimes I'll be glad to get it finished/over-and-done-with though, need to book a test before summer really (I have the kids full time then!) but I haven't been lucky enough to have found one yet!

Aw, that sucks then lol IYes I remember your thread about the AP woe-ness, I didn't reply I don't think but I was following it, I sincerely hope your new AP is better for you and isn't a terror like the current(?) one lol

I meant ' we are not mean enough' by the way!!

Good luck with the next driving test (took me 3 attempts!)

The better drivers are those who take longer to pass :p

millarkie,i cant get my head around this i-worry-about-my-ap-not-driving thing . i was told this by many families. i guess it might be a problem for some people, but i personally am happy to get around on bike and public transport. i even lived in places without public transport. well, i am thinking about getting a licence anyway, before i am too old to learn to drive ;)
pixi, have you had any replies from ireland? i had families in the past wanted someone keen on watersports. and waht about australia? i would have thought there would be lots of sporty people?

forgot to say if the driving is needed for the job that a competely different story.

after reading about some aps i guess you cant believe everyone when say they dont mind using the bus.

Can't get a visa for Aus as you can only work 3 months with one family. And I'd like to visit Ireland, but not live there :/ And also, lack of couple jobs going, it seems that England and Scotland are keen on couples, but I've rarely seen them advertised elsewhere.

I understand the driving thing, as though it isn't important to me either, theres also the case of if something happens to the child whilst they are in your care in the midde of the countryside, if your AP can't drive how the hell are they going to get help? And what if you need to run a quick errand, you needto wait for busses and things. So though I'm not keen on being a driver myself, I understand the need for it and the families wanting it, which is why I'm trying to get my test over and done with and will make damn sure lightly encourage my other half to do so when he returns from France

catepilarr- I'll try to explain the driving thing. The village we live in has a train station which has trains every 30 mins to a big city (20 mins) and in opposite direction to a nice town (cinema, good shops etc, also 20 mins). It has hourly buses Mon-Sat to the local market town (where the kids go to school, library, small independent shops, gym/pool). There are no buses on Sunday. I can only go from the experience of the APs we have had and number 1 AP would've been happy using bus/train during the day but needed the car to meet up with friends to go to cinema etc in the evening (didn't want to use public transport in the dark). AP number 2 was horrified when she found out that the buses were hourly ('OMG you'ld have to know when you wanted to go somewhere' was her comment) and uses the car rather than the train to visit the city. And there are often clashes at weekends when she wants to use the car at the same time as me (our agreement is that she has the car 8-4 weekdays and has to negotiate for it in evenings/weekends although I have never said No so far). I haven't had the impression that anyone would be happy living here without access to a car. Although thinking about it, if the car wasn't an option I would guess we could provide a season ticket for travel between village and town so they could get to library, gym, etc using train. Our APs tend to work about 17 hours a week at the moment so have plenty of time to go out and about during the day.
As I said, the kids go to and from school by bus but it has been handy having the AP able to drive the car the couple of times ds has left his swim kit/lunch bag behind and it needed dropping at school, and the week I had a important meeting outside my normal working hours and AP was able to take ds to Karate..so it does increase flexibility.
Costs me a fortune though (insurance,fuel and at least 1 new tyre per au pair so far), so do you think you would be happy with public transport in that situation? If so maybe I'll take 'driver' off my requirements!

I personally would find not being able to drive when living in the country side a massive problem for a job, especially if you do something like miss the bus, what happens then? You're screwed really! I'm a huge advocator of public transport, but at the same time I'd worry about things like that :/ I haven't visited Cheltenham yet because I don't know my way around it and if I miss a bus home I'm in trouble!

millarkie - in my view you have every good public transport with trains every half and hour. /in fact better than i ever had where i lived in the uk apart from london/. trains also tend to run late at night, or should i phrase it run until later then busses. a season ticket i would consider a nice perk but would not dream of expecting it. when i first came to the uk as a 20yo aupair, the busses ran about every 2.5 hours with last bus was leaving the city /50 min on the bus/ at about eightand at ten on a friday. we never found it a problem. perhaps we were different.or had different expectations.

pixi - if you miss a bus, you either wait for the next one, walk, or get a taxi. dont see a problem there. you just need to think differently when you live in the country to when you live in the city where you can hop on a bus every 10 mins, thats all.

I don't know about you but I've never been able to afford a taxi unless necessary I have lived in the countryside (3/4 miles from the nearest town, I did often walk it as there was no public transport from it) and now I live away from big towns, I also went to high school in a small town in the country, which has most definately made me appreciate public transport, but in this job, I'd feel safer with a car during the day when I may have to go pick a kid up from school if they're ill, or something similar. I can't afford to wait for a bus to do that and if I went to Cheltenham for the day I'd have to pay £25 for a taxi home, which is why I would prefer a car if I were in a country house in the middle of nowhere, I just couldn' afford it otherwise. Emergencies just cannot be done if you have to rely on public transport and taxi's with limited money. I worry now what I'd do if my two charges were to hurt themselves at home, I'd have to go with a taxi but I don't have that kind of money just lying about often (nearly a tenner to get to the hospital I've been told!) so I'm perfectly happy with parents who want drivers, it's fair enough really!

same here, i cant afford taxis unless absolutelly necessary either.
my reaction was to 'i worry about ap's social life' side of things. aggree with you that for emergencies is the driving useful but we were not talking about that. when i worked as an ap for 50 guid a week i had a list of friends/neighbours/grandparents numbers for emergencies but would not have a problem paying for a taxi to the hospital if it came to it.

I'm an anti-social girl lol, I maybe could beg money off of the shops in our courtyard but then what about the days that they aren't there or after 5? I have no neighbours and don't know any people nearby who I could contact as we live in the middle of town and there aren't many people living in the town itself and we're the only ones in my courtyard, the rest are shops. I'm thinking way too deeply into this now haha, it's got me thinking though because I have never thought so deeply into the driving thing properly before