Do I have the right set up for an AP?

[Anonymous]

I'm think about getting an Au Pair but I don't know if my living conditions would be suitable. The basement is the only spare space I have. It's above ground, walk out to the yard with windows and lots of light and its a large area. That could be a big room & living area for her, like a studio. There's a half bath but no shower, so she would have to come up 2 flights of stairs to use the shower. The laundry room is also in the basement so I would have to come down there sometimes.

[Anonymous]

I think it would work only if it could be entirely her space. The fact that you would need to randomly come into her space to do your laundry would be unacceptable.

[Anonymous]

I think the lack of shower would be the bigger deal breaker. You could always work out a laundry schedule or just talk/call/text/etc before you want to do laundry, so you're not just walking in totally unannounced. But not having an easily accessible shower would get old fast.

[Anonymous]

But don't AP's live with much less space and privacy in condos in DC?

The basement would be completely her area and we would stay out of there.
Re: laundry, I wouldn't just barge in

[Anonymous]

You have to have a private room with a lock. You don't have to have a bathroom only for the au pair. In fact, we've had three au pairs in our house successfully with just one bathroom between the five of us - obviously fully disclosed when matching. Honestly I've seen LCCs approve some pretty atrocious rooms, so you would probably get approved. I know for a fact there is one host family in our cluster whose au pair is in a room with the washing machine. That au pair thought he would be ok with it, but as the year goes on, he's annoyed that he has to keep his room in a condition where his host mom could just pop in, he doesn't ever feel like he can say no to her requests to do laundry, there's noise and dampness issues, etc.

[Anonymous]

Would you want to treck up two flights to shower? I would put in a shower stall in basement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Would you want to treck up two flights to shower? I would put in a shower stall in basement.

No. But in my early 20's I wouldn't have cared

[Anonymous]

Doesn't seem fun at all. Nor would I want people to come into my room to do loud laundry.

[Anonymous]

You should be fine as long as it's disclosed to any potential AP and you are mindful of when you do laundry.

[Anonymous]

I think the laundry situation is completely unfair and as a live in I would not only loose complete interest but also assume you have 0 regaurd for my privacy - even if you called/texted before no employee is going to tell you no. Just an opinion.

[Anonymous]

*loose complete interest in the job

[Anonymous]

The shower would bother me but not the laundry, assuming the laundry is closed off from my space.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The shower would bother me but not the laundry, assuming the laundry is closed off from my space.

Is it the sharing the shower that would bother you or showering two flights up?

[Anonymous]

Pp here, I read incorrectly I guess the laundry isn't in the same room? If thats the case, it's doable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the laundry situation is completely unfair and as a live in I would not only loose complete interest but also assume you have 0 regaurd for my privacy - even if you called/texted before no employee is going to tell you no. Just an opinion.

I assume you're a nanny, not an AP?