Houseparents - what do they do?

[COCKadoodledooo]

Dh and I have been offered the chance to become houseparents at his school. I have no idea what this would entail! Would we be 'on duty' 24/7? Is it compatible with our own family life (ds1 is 7, ds2 is 1)?

Have to say I'm hesitant about having ds1 particularly exposed to teenage boys' behaviour at his tender age! But how much interaction would there be?

Anyone here a houseparent able to offer advice? Or have experience of houseparents through their DCs?

Any info greatly appreciated

Do you mean your DH will be a housemaster? He should know exactly what it will entail - why don't you ask him? You will be the responsible adults at night although there may be a matron there as well. You will probably have your own quarters behind a door - carved out of the house - but probably not massive. Teenage boys generally sweet with kids, I wouldn't worry about that at all. Your kids will be on your side of the door and in the common drawing room parts - they shouldn't be anywhere near the boys rooms/dorms

Honestly your DH will know all this. Talk to him

Thanks freshmint He's just mentioned it as a possibility (as that's how its been put to him) - mostly he told me as a throwaway comment, so I thought I'd find out more before we discussed it properly. As it's just a possibility I've no idea how much detail (if any) he has at the moment.

From my experience the Houseparents are always crap and do nothing. It is the Matrons and Dames that run the show, so fear not you will fit in!

As for the kids, the teenagers are highly respectful and it is a wonderful environment for young kids to be part of.

Desperately unfair Floreat. A good housemaster is a great thing.

I was housestaff briefly - whilst you can have a life outside school, it is very easy to end up eating, breathing and living for school during term-time.

If you enjoy that, it can be great fun.

I have been a house mistress , I really enjoyed it but as Donki said you can end up having no life outside of the school. I had my own house on site provided by the school.

My ds was very young at the time and it was a lovely experience for him.

I'm sure that there will be a formal job description before it is necessary to reply so the first step is to read that and see what the responsibilities would be.

At ds's school (prep), the houseparents have a flat in the boarding house. They (with help from under matrons) look after the boys' laundry, make sure that they shower and clean their teeth, organise pre bedtime fun and films on Saturday and are responsible at night (a tough job during last year's norovirus outbreak). They are also the ones who do a lot of the pastoral care when boys are homesick or have family problems. It is pretty full on during the term time; but the hols are very long and they do get some time off during the week.

Having good houseparents for ds has meant a lot to me: they were especially important when ds was settling in. Parents generally will be spectacularly grateful.

Current houseparents have two very small children, who sleep in the parents' flat but join in with the boys' much of the time, as though they have 30 big brothers. The boys are lovely with them. They also have the school grounds and facilities pretty much to themselves in the holidays.

It looks hard work to me; but satisfying and I think a school community can be a great place to bring up children

House parents are a very valuable role in a boarding school. My sons school has two house parents (a couple) and assist houseparent. They take turns and do one weekend on one off...they take the boys mountain biking etc at the weekends!
In the eve they do prep with them and then there are shifts with the two matrons and the gap students to do eve activites etc.
Good house parents can make all the difference to the childrens enjoyment of boarding...,our boys have a boarder have talent comp this week organised by house parents.
I think it is a very demanding job but hopefully enjoyable too.

I love my DCs houseparents, they are wonderful,caring and give my kids comfort when they are ill and we are 160miles away. They are an essential link between boarders parents and the school as well as being the surrogate parent when the real parents are miles away. Ours organise discos,talent shows, rock band performances (the kids make up the rock bands) and all manner of activities for the boarders over the weekend. Not sure I could do it myself, but ours get a lot of help from the gap students. If you love the kids in the school and can be there to support them then go for it, sure it must be rewarding. Oh one thing though I would invest in a good set of ear plugs if you venture into the boys boarding house :)