An important asset to consider if you need an extra pair of hands around the house, an au pair typically represents a young adult that lives and works in your home as part of an international travel scheme; au pairs are usually aged 18-30, and can be from the EU or outside of it. Au pairs can provide a significant level of support for family life by completing light housework and childcare for you when you’re at work, and be a responsible figure in your house that can help a family with day to day task. It’s worth, then, thinking about the benefits of au pairs in more detail.
Au pairs generally arrive in the UK as part of EU based efforts to find work, or through 24 month visas if they’re travelling from outside the EU. It’s best to find an au pair for your family through an established agency, as this will reduce the risk of fraud, and will mean that you have a better selection of different people. A contract is typically drawn up with an au pair to work out what they’re expected to do – au pairs receive bed and board, which means having their own room, as well as about £70 to £80 weekly pocket money, and one day off to themselves a week.
It’s important to remember than an au pair is not a professional nanny, a cleaner, or a child minder – they are in the UK to gain experience of the country, and are usually also working on a language course. In this context, they’re not paid servants, and should only be expected to perform light cleaning duties, to the extent that you would normally do these yourself; these duties might include dusting, hoovering, wiping down surfaces, and tidying children’s bedrooms. An au pair contract can allow you to work out what’s expected as reasonable work. You shouldn’t, for example, expect an au pair to clean your bedroom, or tidy up after you all the time.
While there can be cases where an au pair may volunteer to do some heavier housework, or assist with DIY, they should not be in a position where they’re under pressure to do heavy duty jobs; one of the main advantages of having an au pair in the house is that they act as an extra adult that can spread out domestic chores so that you can divide your time more easily between work and your family. Agreements should be flexible, and au pairs shouldn’t be treated as a person to pass off all your work on to.
With childcare, au pairs shouldn’t have the same responsibilities as a nanny or a professional child minder; this means that au pairs are not allowed to look after children under the age of 2, and shouldn’t be left alone to deal with children for days on end. Instead, au pairs can be expected to babysit children, tidy their rooms, and prepare them light meals and snacks. If an au pair can drive, they can also take them to and from school and other activities through the week if possible.
The main advantage, then, of having an au pair living with you is that you have someone that you can trust to contribute to the running of your family’s life; over time, au pairs can become valuable members of your family, and the amount of responsibility that they’re willing to take on can shift depending on what you can agree on. In all cases, though, the right au pair has a valuable role to play in your home.
About the Author:
Olivia is a mother to one girl and one boy and has found that BusyBee AuPairs have been very helpful in supporting her and her hubby. She believes that with positive strong female role models young children today will have an open mind when they grow up.
