Your Au Pair Options
What can I request from my Au Pair?
This depends totally on your needs as a family. Au Pairs are advised that it is senseless to compare families by hours, number of children and pocket money. Both sides need to find the best possible match. This is the hardest bit and that is why we are here to help.
Please keep always in mind that an Au Pair can never replace a kindergarten or pre-school program.
Au Pairs are mainly young people, mostly female and recently also males, who would love to experience another culture and improve their English language skills during their gap year. They all have a genuine interest in children but most of them do not have a formal qualification, but more than not are experienced babysitters.
Au Pairs live with you as a family member for a limited time and help you with all child related tasks from waking them up in the mornings, changing nappies, dressing them, preparing breakfast, school lunches, lunches at home, doing drop-offs and pick-ups to and from schools and day care, taking them to afternoon activities and also tidying up behind the children, washing their clothes etc as long as it can be regarded as light and child related housework. To test whether you have the right expectation, simply ask yourself, what you would expect from your own child that age.
It is not unusual that Au Pairs love to take over the overall house cleaning for some extra remuneration but this should not become the rule and needs to be addressed and agreed upon well in advance. An extra cleaning contract should be given if this really needs to be offered. We rather discourage you to give extra cleaning duties to the Au Pair as it would be too hard to give up this "extra income" and lines become blurry. Maybe find another host family close by and swap Au Pairs for those house cleaning offers.
As long as your Au Pair knows all the details of the deal and agrees to it, that should be fine. Please always check that your Au Pair can cope with the work load, especially if children have a few more "moments" of their own.
On the following pages you will find some general descriptions of different Au Pair agreements, which will enable you to determine your needs and select the right candidate.
Demi-Pair - the peak hour help
Granny-Au Pair - mature and experienced
A more detailed checklist is available for members of Au Pair Assist.
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