Welcome Letter to the Au Pair
Presentation
Please read everything as we explained everything in detail here, so that you know what to expect before the interview.
Hello,
We are a family of 3. I, Arthur, 33 years old, work as a seafarer with a 2 months on / 2 months off schedule.
And I, Irina is 29 years old, work as middle and high school English teacher.
And we have a daughter, Olivia born September 2024.
We live in the countryside of a lesser-known region of France, Haute-Loire, which doesn’t take away its charms, but you won’t be like Emily in Paris. It’s a rural area and the only way to get about is by car.
Job description
We are looking for an au pair girl from USA, Canada, Australia or New Zealand age 18 to 24 to take care of our baby daughter and help around the house. We want someone who will engage with our child in various activities to help her develop best through a lot of communication and simply paying attention to her.
We want someone who shares our views and values (we value patience, kindness, benevolence, creativity). We’re also against screens for babies before at least 3 years old, therefore we would like you not to be on your phone around our child nor show it to her, she can listen to things however.
There’s multiple reasons we are taking on this process of hiring an au pair :
Language immersion for our child (and the whole family) at the age where she develops language
Having a familiar face taking care of her and not different workers in order to build a trusting relationship with her
Getting our child the attention that she probably wouldn’t get from a daycare or a nanny (here they take on 3 to 4 kids at the same time)
In our words we want someone who is as interested in our child as we are, and someone committed whose main purpose is caring for our child rather than becoming an au pair to travel somewhere (of course you will have days off or even weeks off to travel if you wish).
We want you to become part of the family (nobody wants a stranger living in their house), we think that communication is key to a healthy relationship, and we prefer someone with that state of mind who will not bottle up feelings and not say if something is wrong.
Work schedule
What we offer in terms of schedule might seem a bit unconventional, as I am gone 2 months at a time, we want someone who will also help during at least half a day of the weekend.
And for long term we want someone who will stay minimum 3 months (one month with the father present and 2 without) and maximum 12 months. While the father is on holidays you would not be as needed and could take your holidays, but you would of course be welcome to stay.
Requirements
You need to have drivers license and some experience with manual gearboxes as the only way to get about is by car.
Environment
House
You will have your own 12 sqm room with a queen size bed. However, we will share a bathroom.
House is 3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, 2 toilets and a big living room.
We are situated in a very rural area with lots of nature around, there are plenty hikes to do; the main city of this area is Le Puy-en-Velay (please google and see for yourself if this could be a dealbreaker for you beforehand). The people in the city can be quite close minded, but obviously not everyone is the same.
We have starlink so you won’t be disconnected from the world, and you can get a SIM card for 20 euros per month and get unlimited calls(to France, USA, Canada and China), text and 350Go of data in France, plus 35Go in plenty countries around Europe and the world.
Situation
To get to Lyon (3rd French city) it’s a 2h drive and about the same in train and costs about 30 euros, and it’s the closest international airport.
To get to Paris it’s a 6h drive and about the same by train and it costs about 80 euros.
To get to Marseille it’s a 4h drive and 5h by train and it costs about 100 euros.
If you want to travel on a budget know that we once went to Sicily from Lyon for 19 euros, round trip for 2 adults.
What will be expected of you in terms of work:
You will be expected to take care of our baby while we are at work or busy, the mother works around 30 hours a week away from home and around 10 from home.
We would also like for you to help around the house, like help clean up the table after eating, maybe wash a few kitchen things, but we have a dishwasher. And help maintain the cleanliness of the communal areas, like the bathroom and the living room/kitchen. You won’t be the only one doing the work, we would share the responsibilities.
You would be provided with a car, of which you would be responsible, in case you need to take the baby somewhere and for your personal use on your days off if you wish to go out.
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