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Pros and cons of hosting an Au Pair
Do you wish to have a 36h day to get everything done? If you are a parent, you probably do. Being a parent is a full time job and if you are additionally professionally active - congratulations, you deserve a PhD in physics for space-time bending.
Jokes aside, hosting an Au Pair will be the right solution for you family under one condition:
you have a spare room for the Au Pair. Beside this, there is literally no obstacle keeping you from hiring an Au Pair and enriching your family life.
In this article you can learn more about advantages and disadvantages of the Au Pair program.
You are looking for a childcare solution for your kids, but neither nursery, nor nannies and babysitters suit your needs? Maybe
hosting an Au Pair will be the right solution for you! An Au Pair is a young person who is interested in living with a Host Family for some time abroad, looking after the children and getting to know the local culture. As everything, the Au Pair program has its own pros and cons.
Pros of hosting an Au Pair
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Flexible time. As the Au Pair lives with your family, you have the flexibility to assign responsibilities to her/him any time of the day upon your necessity within the maximum allowed number of working hours.
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Cultural exchange. Your family will get to know more about another country and culture. You will also raise the cultural awareness and tolerance in the children.
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Another language. Your family has a chance to learn another language by hiring a native speaker.
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Variety of tasks. In addition to childcare, an Au Pair can help with some light housework (though he/she is not a cleaning lady or a nanny).
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Cost efficient. An Au Pair is often more affordable than a nanny or nurseries. Learn more about the cost of hiring an Au Pair.
Cons of hosting an Au Pair
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Loss of privacy. As the Au Pair will be living with the Host Family, the family’s privacy will be influenced. It will take a bit of time to adapt to a new person.
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Cultural gap. It takes some time for an Au Pair to adapt to a new place and country. It will also take time for your children to accept a new person. Sometimes the cultural gap is bigger than expected or the Au Pair might feel homesick, thus the Au Pair contract might be terminated earlier.
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It’s not professional childcare. The main goal of the Au Pair program is cultural exchange, hence most of the participants belong to different profiles and do not necessarily have any professional childcare skills.
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Specific requirements. The Host Family needs to provide an Au Pair room, full board and other conditions that are foreseen by the Au Pair Program.
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Organizational efforts. As a Host Family you will need to provide all required support and documents for visa, insurance, registration and other formalities.
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