Reply to I don't get au pairs... it seems crazy

Forum Index » Childcare other than Daycare and Preschool

Reply to "I don't get au pairs... it seems crazy"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I don't get au pairs. Most of my friends have them. I get that cost wise it's much better. I totally get the advantage of cultural exchange. These are people who could easily afford to hire an experienced, professional adult to care for their kids.

But selecting a person whom you've never met in person, who is by definition young, by definition doesn't have a ton of experience with children (I know some have more than others) and by definition going through a major life change/transition being in a new country to care for your kids?!

And most people seem to have some sort of rematch...[/quote]

Omg thank you for this thread. I thought I was the only one who felt like this. My Sil pays her au pair the $195 weekly minimum which is like $4 an hour to take care of her 3 children who are all under 5 years old.How is that not exploitation? Sorry but I’m sticking with my American born nanny whom I pay a decent living wage. Sure she’s more expensive but at least I can sleep at night.[/quote]
Au pair is not cheap
[b]You pay about $7000 initiation fee to be part of the program[/b]
Then the cost of food, provide accommodation, cell phone, car insurance
Give them use of a car

Unless you live near excellent public transport, they have to have access to a car[/quote]

The au pair does not see a single cent of that $7000.   [/quote]

Not directly, but they get training, the plane tickets to and from the USA and a community counselor and group for support.  The agency does a lot to make the program work.  As a family, we gave our au pairs Christmas bonuses, six-month bonuses, bought them plane tickets for travel, gave them a car to drive (with gas paid for), an unlimited cell phone, public transit money, all food paid for, free vacations with our family, and allowed them to have visitors from their home countries stay with us when they wanted to invite guests.  They all loved us and their experience in the USA, and we still host them all every year when they want to visit and have visited all of them in their home countries.  [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics