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

Oh dear what did I do wrong?

20 replies

Julesnobrain · 06/07/2010 01:40

Sorry long.........

New AP started yesterday. She arrived at 9pm and I collect her from train station. (would have been airport but despite me asking her to book Heathrow or Gatwick she ignored me and choose Luton so she had to catch train to St Pancras).

Brought her home, showed her room, nice room, all clean DC had brought her flowers, we had done welcome card, fudge and shortbread biscuits. Made tea, chatted then she said she was tired and went to bed.

This morning all smiles, DC very excited to meet her. Intro her to old AP leaving to go on hols tommorow but here to show her ropes today. Come home at 4pm to do walk to school and find out she is floods of tears, wants to go home. She said she didn't realise I was at work all day and that the children were at school (they are 4 and 7) and that
we were not a welcoming family.

Now I have been called many things but not welcoming is not one of them. I am also annoyed as I have an incredibly detailed hour by hour schedule which I went through with her not once but twice at interview because it is so important for us our AP's have their expectations met and have a nice time in our home.

aghhhhhhhhhh what am I doing wrong??

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
booyhoo · 06/07/2010 01:51

flowers, card, fudge and shortbread and she thinks she wasn't welcome i would love to see a welcome in her house!!

it doesn't sound like you did anything wrong. perhaps she hadn't really paid attention when you were giving her the rundown.

MrsRhettButler · 06/07/2010 02:04

it sounds like she hasn't listened to anything you have told her!

you have done nothing wrong from the sounds of it, maybe it is just first night jitters? hopefully she will settle in tomorrow? not sure i'd want her looking after my dc if she's not very good at taking in imformation though....

what will you do if she goes?

bev2102 · 06/07/2010 02:13

I completely agree with booyhoo. Sounds like you're family have done everything in their power to make her welcome! I would've loved to have worked for a family like yours when I was a nanny. Instead I got a terrible family. I had to get a train from Leeds to London, then underground to Swiss Cottage then was told it was just a street away from the tube station (in reality it was a twenty minute walk - without 3 suitcases and a backpack!). At the interview I was told I would be in sole charge of a 3 year old and 2 weeks after start a 3 month old (she had a maternity nurse for baby). In reality the mother didn't work but employed a nanny, maternity nurse, 2 au pairs, 2 cleaners and a cook (all for a 3 bed flat!). The 3 year old was very naughty, if I told him off I was in the wrong, if I didn't tell him off I was also in the wrong. One day she dropped a tissue whilst I was seeing to her child and she said to me in a very stern voice 'If I drop something you run after me and pick it up!'.
I gave it a couple of weeks and told her I wanted to leave as things were getting worse not better. She promised to change so I gave her another chance but things deteriorated further after 24 hours of her 'changing'. To be fair I said I'd stay until she found someone else. As I wouldn't change my mind she told me to pack my bags and get out (it was 10.30 at night by then!). She refused to give me my wages as she said I'd run up a phone bill (I'd called my parents once for less than 5 mins to say I'd arrived safely and I'd asked permission!). So I was on the streets of London at 10.30pm with no money and no way of getting home!
Maybe your ap should try working for a family like that before criticising you - trust me there are plenty of them about.
Nearly forgot - she put an advert in Lady magazine a few weeks later saying 'present nanny highly recommends'!
Good look finding your family the ap you deserve and please try not to let this experience put you off.

frakkit · 06/07/2010 07:50

Erm? How good is her English? Is it possible she misunderstood the schedule? Has she been away from home before? What nationality is she - is it cultural for mothers to stay at home and have an AP? Does her own mother work?

I think you need to chat with her about expectations tbh.

Does she have classes booked? Do you know local au pairs? Does she have a map of the local area and know how to lock up the house?

Trying to think what else might help!

To be fair being left alone in a house in a strange country on your first day when you're tired and slightly culture shocked doesn't feel very welcoming, especially if you're an AP and not an experienced nanny who can be thrown in the deep end.

Perhaps in future it's worth booking the APs first day off work?

Strix · 06/07/2010 07:52

I don't think you want an au pair who needs you to stay home and hold her hand all day. Sounds to me like she is homesick and lashed out at you. Speaks volumes about her expectations of your role (i.e. on of parent rather than employer). It's a pity (and enitrely her fault) the she did communicate this sooner.

Is she staying or going?

DadInsteadofMum · 06/07/2010 08:44

I allow for a weeks handover, to enable new AP to settle in (quite often they are so tired they don't get out of bed on the first day), with the expectation that as soon as possible current AP should take a back seat and by end of week new AP is only AP.

That said I don't do flowers, fudge and shortbread, that all sounds very welcoming to me.

Sounds like she is worried about being alone during the day when you are all out. Has currect AP left a list of contacts in the area of other APs and similar?

Strix · 06/07/2010 09:51

oops.

correction:
It's a pity (and enitrely her fault) the she did not communicate this sooner.

NewTeacher · 06/07/2010 10:09

Its home sickness. Talk to her she'll probably be ok in a week or so. You havent done anything wrong.

I always get my new AP's to start in the summer hols as I'm off from work so she can get used to stuff and I'm home too, and can see how she interacts with the kids. I know that isnt possible for everyone but maybe take a day or 2 off so she can shadow?

I guess she's nervous and scared at being in a the deep end. good luck!

Treeesa · 06/07/2010 11:40

I've just been talking with my AP about this over coffee.. It sounds as if things did not begin well between the two of you.

From what you've written the problems she's mentioned are to do with her perception of the welcome (how/where she arrived, and that she thought you'd be around during the day).

Is her English very good? If it's just intermediate or basic then maybe she can't express herself as she would like to. Maybe she doesn't mean she expected you to be at home all the time - but maybe she was expecting you to be there on her first full day with you - maybe you told her your previous AP would be there but she understood this incorrectly and thought you emant yourself.

With the airport arrival - it also sounds like this wasn't as she expected/wanted and not what you expected/wanted.

From what you have writen it would seem you hoped she would have fly into Heathrow or Gatwick (presumably because it's more convenient for you).

Heathrow I'm sure doesn't have low cost airlines flying here like Ryanair & Easyjet, so this option may have been out of the question especially if she was paying for her own flight as flying scheduled airlines like BA would be to oexpensive.

Not sure what other options she would have had have but I know the last few au pairs we've had have only got the option of flying into Luton airport with Wizz Air. So she possibly didn't choose to ignore you but had no other option.

Did you discuss travel arrangements in advance. If she came through an agency then they should have been involved in all of these logistics. My agency once went and collected someone in person when we couldn't pick them up ourselves.

Most families do meet the au pair at the airport. So if you put yourself into her shoes - she has arrived in a foreign country with all her luggage and then had to find out how to get the train to London. Luton is very local to me and I know it's a bit complicated because the train station isn't at the airport so she would have had to have found the right courtesy bus, then got to the train station, bought the right ticket, then found the right train.. Often you have to get a separate short train from Luton airport parkway to Luton town station.. so she may well have been very flustered or even annoyed you weren't there to meet her.

Another issue may be on the travel costs.. Did you buy her a ticker for the train in advance (like an e-ticket) or did she pay for it with her own money. Travel costs in the UK are expensive compared to most other countries so this may have taken away all of her spending money that she came with. This cost shoul dalso be covered by the family so is it possible that this is an outstanding issue for her but she is unscomfortable about asking for it back?

So if she's said you weren't very welcoming then maybe she is talking about this part and not referring to all the lovely things you'd got waiting in her bedroom for her.

I'm sorry if this looks as if I'm taking the au pair's side, but my own AP thinks these extra issues can really make a difference in those first few days - especially if someone is feeling nervous or confused.

Missus84 · 06/07/2010 12:07

Agree with Treesa about the travel issue - she may not have had much choice about where she flew to and it probably made her arrival quite stressful for her.

Is she young and away from home for the first time?

Karoleann · 06/07/2010 22:14

TBH i think you're trying a bit too hard, leave her alone for a bit and if she's still being awkward remind her she's here to work! (in a nice way of course).
I think you've been lovely so far and she's not here on her holidays!!

Julesnobrain · 06/07/2010 22:39

Hi sorry. Thank you for all your comments. Been v stressful day.

So AP is 22, Swiss german. Well travelled, she has just returned from an 8 week backpacking trip with her boyfriend in Canada. Intermediate to advanced English.

I asked why she chose Luton airport and she said she had not been paying attention and just chose the cheapest which was London Luton !! I did worry about how she would get to St pancras but had sent her detailed instructions ie no 1 bus stop outside main terminal bus to London Parkway etc etc.

Having talked to her more yesterday I understand she is missing her family. She came straight from Canada here via only a few hours stop over in Zurich, she also made several cultural type comments (eg You should only eat hot food at lunch time, your house is very small do all english people have such small houses etc etc) which made me think she was not mentally prepared for the role/ cultural change.

Anyway she has gone home. I booked her flight last night and she left today at about 11.00m. She plans to spend some time at home while looking for another 'clearly more welcoming' London family with a larger house ... than a 5 bed one in the burbs !!

OP posts:
Missus84 · 06/07/2010 22:41

Sounds like you've had a lucky escape

frakkit · 07/07/2010 03:37

Very lucky escape!

What will you do now though?

Strix · 07/07/2010 11:18

What a spoiled little brat.

at small 5 bedroom house.

Laquitar · 07/07/2010 12:49

I thought Swiss offen live in appartments, no?

Horshamchildminder · 08/07/2010 06:53

Totally agree with strix - spoilt brat!

StarExpat · 08/07/2010 09:33

spoiled brat indeed!
Compared to US and candada, houses in the UK are very small, but as we've been here for 5 years, I now see it as the norm. And I would have never commented on it in anyone's house when it was foreign to us when we first arrived. That is just plain rude. She clearly has no manners at all.

I saw a pic of a friend's new home in the US on fb yesterday (which cost the same as our tiny 1 bed maisonette we're trying to sell currently to get ds a bedroom) and it looked enormous! . But, I know, if she came to ours, she wouldn't make comments like that!!

sunnydelight · 09/07/2010 08:30

Poor you, pour yourself a large glass of wine and be grateful that you have had a lucky escape. Hope you weren't expected to pay for her flight home!

EmMum06 · 09/07/2010 08:59

in a previous life, i worked briefly in france as an AP. i needed a change in life, the job was advertised in the evening standard, i had loads of experience of working with children of all ages including disabled and special needs. the dad interviewed me in london and explained that mum was pregnant they already had one little girl and needed a mother's help but they wanted a long term placement. i had never been any kind of live in help and didn't know what was the norm so i accepted, packed up and moved to france.

it was a complete nghtmare. he was a know it all bully who even admitted that he had told his wife when she was pregnant with their daughter that if the child was born with anykind of disability he would leave her. mum only worked 2 days a week so we were supposed to spend a lot of time together but she had no people skills (nothing against the french but she was the steriotypical surrly french woman). the last straw was him wondering around the house naked!!! he tried to tell me that we were on the continent and it was normal!!! yuk!!

i waited for mum and dad to go to work, i packed up and when she came home i told her i was not staying another moment. although she worked for an airline she dropped me at the bus station with a ticket and a very long coach and ferry journey ahead of me (we were on the french / german boarder.

never mind we live and learn.

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