This is just an excuse, right?

[Anonymous]

Why are you keeping your 2 year old in daycare for the first 4-5 months? She may be concerned that you're going to be using her primarily for household tasks related to children, and not for caring for children, which could be boring if she really wants for her on duty time to be spent directly with the kids. Split schedules are also undesirable for many au pairs, as another PP mentioned. Some au pairs really want to be part of a family that eat dinner together every night, and she may be seeing a split schedule with little kids as indicating that you're working very long hours and won't be around in the evenings or spending much family time together.

[Anonymous]

It is a tension. We need 45 hours of infant care which we use up be Friday. Evenings/weekends are free. This is unpopular and split schedules are unpopular. So - what is popular?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is a tension. We need 45 hours of infant care which we use up be Friday. Evenings/weekends are free. This is unpopular and split schedules are unpopular. So - what is popular?

I do not think split schedules are unpopular. Numerous other posts have indicated that this is the most desirable schedule and it is usually au pairs working 10 hour days that asked for a rematch over exhaustion and hours, not those on split schedules.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is a tension. We need 45 hours of infant care which we use up be Friday. Evenings/weekends are free. This is unpopular and split schedules are unpopular. So - what is popular?

I do not think split schedules are unpopular. Numerous other posts have indicated that this is the most desirable schedule and it is usually au pairs working 10 hour days that asked for a rematch over exhaustion and hours, not those on split schedules.

It’s true that maxing out hours is also unpopular but split schedule often means no family dinner which APs tend to hope for (at least that’s what they think before they get here).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. About 25 hours initially.

We do have a little bit of flexibility in how we structure the hours. For example, DS1 could take the bus to and from school, or the AP could drive him. We could also pull DS2 from daycare earlier or later. I was having such a hard time to even get someone for a first interview, that I thought I should emphasize the less hours as a perk. But now I'm 2nd guessing myself.

So, ask the AP if she would be more interested in gradually going from 25-40 hours over the course of a month. DS2 can gradually have less time at daycare and more time at home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is a tension. We need 45 hours of infant care which we use up be Friday. Evenings/weekends are free. This is unpopular and split schedules are unpopular. So - what is popular?

I do not think split schedules are unpopular. Numerous other posts have indicated that this is the most desirable schedule and it is usually au pairs working 10 hour days that asked for a rematch over exhaustion and hours, not those on split schedules.

It really depends on the au pair. We have littler kids so our au pair is on duty for 9 daytime hours a day, Monday through Friday. One of our au pairs mentioned later that evenings and weekends off were important to her and she declined any connection requests with a split schedule. Another of our au pairs extended for a second year with a family with a split schedule, was miserable, and quickly ended up in rematch. I'm sure that there are other au pairs who love a split schedule - just not ones who would interview with us! There are a lot of things about the matching process where there isn't one right or wrong answer, but it's really more about a good fit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is a tension. We need 45 hours of infant care which we use up be Friday. Evenings/weekends are free. This is unpopular and split schedules are unpopular. So - what is popular?

Different schedules are unpopular to different applicants.
I personally would have hated a split schedule and activley picked a family who had a fixed 45-hours schedule with evenings and weekends off (though not infant care but a 1 year old). Like PP's AP, evenings and weekends off were more important to me than time off during the day and I would have been bored on a 25-hour split schedule. It would just not have fit my personality (plus I know I would have spent at least half those breaks in front of the tv snacking and would have gained a shit ton of weight).

So may it be just an excuse? Of course. But it may not. This specific applicant might just be expecting something else from their year than working 6 to 8 am and 4 to 7 pm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is a tension. We need 45 hours of infant care which we use up be Friday. Evenings/weekends are free. This is unpopular and split schedules are unpopular. So - what is popular?

I do not think split schedules are unpopular. Numerous other posts have indicated that this is the most desirable schedule and it is usually au pairs working 10 hour days that asked for a rematch over exhaustion and hours, not those on split schedules.

It’s true that maxing out hours is also unpopular but split schedule often means no family dinner which APs tend to hope for (at least that’s what they think before they get here).

Really, no family dinner on split schedule? I don't follow that logic, and that hasn't been my experience or that of the families I'm friends with...