Au Pair?

[CrunchyGirl]

Has anyone used an Au Pair? We are living in an area where providing our children with any sort of Spanish immersion experience is going to be nearly impossible. Because we are self employed and both ultimately have to work 30-40 hours a week (from home thankfully) we require childcare. I'm thinking an Au Pair might be a good way to solve both problems.

 

Any experience would be appreciated :)

[HejKatt]

We have had 2 au pairs over a period of 2 years - one from China, one from Sweden, in both cases we wanted language immersion. I assume you have seen the requirements for hosting an au pair - educational stipend/classes, private room, maximum 10h/day and 45h/week (http://j1visa.state.gov/programs/au-pair/).

 

Assuming those factors are covered, here are some factors to consider if an au pair would be a good match:

 

1. Au pair's cultural preference: I don't know if your family speaks Spanish at home. Most of the au pairs we met wanted to practise their English, so although they didn't mind speaking their home language, they would prefer to have opportunities to practice so you could consider if your environment has those opportunities.

 

2. Family/Au pair personalities - it can be like having an instant teenager added to your household, who has a lot of freedom but who doesn't have a shared background to help you relate. So it takes discernment to communicate with each other.

 

If you do decide to go with an au pair,

1. Agencies - First, I think you will need to find agencies which are available in the area you serve. Namely, they will need to have a co-ordinator who lives close to you. This co-ordinator organizes events for the au pairs, checks in with both the au pair and the host family monthly to make sure things are going well. I find the co-ordinator to play a critical role, so I would first talk with that person.

 

BTW I have also searched privately through sites like greataupair, but personally find it easier to work with the agencies which have a standard interview process so it is easier to compare applicants.

 

2. Geographical area

I think all the agencies now allow you to browse some of the available applications without a login. Some agencies seemed to have stronger backgrounds in a region, e.g. Cultural Care had many European applicants, Au Pair Care had several Latin American applicants. Things probably have changed, but if you have a choice of agencies, then I would check their webpages to get a feel for where their recruitment strengths are.

 

3. Selecting an au pair

In-country vs out of country au pair: The agencies will have a smaller pool of au pairs who are already in the country because they are finishing their first year, or need to rematch (a variety of reasons). They are easier to interview and check references, but you will need finesse to determine if the reason they are seeking a rematch would also apply to your family, and make a decision within a short time. With an out of country au pair, you may have to deal with timezone differences, inability to check references but you do have a lot of time and many applicants to choose from.

 

All the best in your decision making - please feel free to PM me if you have more questions. It's a topic I am happy to chat about. :001_smile:

Edited October 20, 2012 by leeyeewah

[CrunchyGirl]

Thanks Leeyeewah! That is extremely helpful. DH and I are trying to figure out if this will be a good fit for us.

 

I do have concerns about the language thing. I suspected what you mentioned (that they might not be too keen on full immersion for us since they are hoping for English immersion). I need to figure out how we balance that. I'd like DH and I to learn too but the kids are the priority. I suppose being extremely clear in our paperwork for what we are looking for might help.

 

Great info on the in-country vs. out-of-country!

 

Thanks again! I'm sure I'll have more questions as we progress through the process.

 

ETA: We are in Sioux Falls so at this point I can only find two agencies who will work with us/have coordinators in the area so we are going to be limited on selection.

[Lanny]

I know a young Colombian woman who was an AuPair in the USA. I think she worked for that family for 1 or 2 years. She interrupted her university education to do that. She is now a Chemical Engineering graduate. She is looking for a job here, like a lot of university graduates in the USA are doing.

 

You got a lot of excellent information, from previous posters in this thread.

 

I would echo that probably if someone from Colombia goes to the USA, that they would want to study/improve their English. And, probably study other things. If there is a university where you live, community college, etc. that would be a "plus", for anyone coming from Colombia.

 

Living in a tropical valley, as we do, I can only imagine how someone from Colombia would adapt, to the climate in South Dakota. I know what Winters in the USA are like (I lived there most of my life), and I would not do well in South Dakota. :)

 

You would need to have a lot Winter clothes that you could loan to someone coming there, to work there, temporarily, because those kind of clothes are not available here and someone coming from here, to work for you as an AuPair, could not afford to purchase them. GL

[Joan in GE]

Having once been an au pair myself I'd have to echo the above posters who talk about au pair's wanting to learn the language of the host country....

 

The kind of person who you are looking for would need to be 'very' mature, giving and responsible....A lot of them are there much more for what they can learn and experience.

 

I wasn't into drinking or anything, had experience babysitting, helping in youth groups and outward bound kind of stuff, but when it came to younger kids - before I had my own, I was not into their educational best. In fact I was fairly lazy - putting them in front of the TV after school while I did something else. It's not like I was into TV myself - so I'm not sure how you would weed out people like I was...:001_huh:

 

There are all kinds of adjustments that someone has to make coming from overseas - it can be very disorienting in a way....so that people who have been responsible might become less so....

 

Joan

[HejKatt]

I can't answer to the cultural adjustment/maturity question, but one metric I liked to use was to ask 'what-if' questions to see how comfortable they were with children,

 

e.g. what would you do if

- A child refuses to eat his vegetables at mealtimes

 

- You want to take the children out for a walk, but one of them balks, and refuses to listen

 

- You are out walking with a child, and he falls and scrapes his arm so that it bleeds.

 

I found these open-ended questions to help determine if their philosophy toward child rearing matched mine, and how experienced they were. I once interviewed a girl who answered, "I would call an ambulance" for the last question, so she was definitely more protective than I. :tongue_smilie:

[Joan in GE]

I can't answer to the cultural adjustment/maturity question, but one metric I liked to use was to ask 'what-if' questions to see how comfortable they were with children,

 

e.g. what would you do if

- A child refuses to eat his vegetables at mealtimes

 

- You want to take the children out for a walk, but one of them balks, and refuses to listen

 

- You are out walking with a child, and he falls and scrapes his arm so that it bleeds.

 

I found these open-ended questions to help determine if their philosophy toward child rearing matched mine, and how experienced they were. I once interviewed a girl who answered, "I would call an ambulance" for the last question, so she was definitely more protective than I. :tongue_smilie:

 

These are good ideas! I had been asking on this thread about books or links for 'how to babysit' or be an au pair type of thing...Maybe I need to look at parenting sites for how to choose a babysitter? Do you have any sites to recommend?

 

Thanks,

Joan