AP wants to babysit in free time

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Sure, but as a HM it is not my job to police what she does on her free time. If the state Department and the agencies were so concerned they could send in ICE or something. But guess what? Nobody gives a fuck. My AP has a work flow when shes on the clock. She had a certain set of guidelines she must follow in the house. She cannot drive our vehicle when intoxicated. This is all i care about. Her time, her contract with the visa, not my business or place to be the regulator for the federal government. I have more important things to do with my time than to figure out who is babysitting Larla while you go to see Jimmy Buffett.

What a classy HM. Sounds like a miserable place for an AP. No wonder your AP likes to babysit outside of your home.

What exactly sounds miserable? That the only restrictions on thr AP car is that she not srive it drunk? Yea, awful.

[Anonymous]

We asked our AP not to take outside babysitting jobs. The main reason for this was that we had been really clear during interviews that we have variable work and social schedules and wanted an AP who would be available on short notice when needed for evenings and weekends. We balanced this inconvenience by never using all of our hours, never keeping her from her allowed time off, and having pretty liberal grocery/food spending and car policies (until she crashed the car in a hit & run, but that's another story for another day).

I also didn't want to get into a situation where someone else offered her a regular babysitting job and she resented being asked to stay home, or had to cancel last minute because we had something come up.

Not to mention that another family is basically profiting off the money the host family paid to facilitate the AP's time in the US. We didn't pay thousands of dollars so other families could pay her $5-$10 less per hour than they would pay an American.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:wanted an AP who would be available on short notice when needed for evenings and weekends. [snip] We didn't pay thousands of dollars so other families could pay her $5-$10 less per hour than they would pay an American.

In the whole discussion I think there is one more aspect that needs to be considered.
The family the AP babysits for, even if they save $5-10 an hour, will most likely still pay her more than she earns from her HF (plus she won't have to pay taxes on that illegally earned income). An AP that babysits for the extra money might start prioritizing her babysitting gig over the work she is supposed to do for her HF. That includes her (and you) running the risk for her to burn out by working too many extra hours on nights and weekends.

I have recently talked to an exAP who had two additional babysitting jobs. One in the mornings when her hostchildren were at school (20 hrs/week) and one for two nights a week plus a few hours on the weekends (15 hrs/week) in addition to working 30 hrs/week for her HF. I have to admit that I'd have a problem with our AP working more for somebody else than she works for us. I also don't know if I think an AP working 65 hrs a week is a great idea.

[Anonymous]

It's ok,don't worried lady's.

[Anonymous]

She's human she can't do what she wants on her free time? She doesn't make enough as an au sour to save or do anything with the income

[Anonymous]

We asked our AP not to take outside babysitting jobs. The main reason for this was that we had been really clear during interviews that we have variable work and social schedules and wanted an AP who would be available on short notice when needed for evenings and weekends. We balanced this inconvenience by never using all of our hours, never keeping her from her allowed time off, and having pretty liberal grocery/food spending and car policies (until she crashed the car in a hit & run, but that's another story for another day).

I also didn't want to get into a situation where someone else offered her a regular babysitting job and she resented being asked to stay home, or had to cancel last minute because we had something come up.

Not to mention that another family is basically profiting off the money the host family paid to facilitate the AP's time in the US. We didn't pay thousands of dollars so other families could pay her $5-$10 less per hour than they would pay an American.

+1

This has come up where neighbors/acquaintances have asked if they could hire our AP to help in mornings or otherwise (when she's free - or even splitting cost with us and have her take care of both sets of kids). We politely declined. A huge aspect of the AP program is having the person available at our convenience. For this, we pay a large agency fee, room & board, train someone who is not a professional nanny, at times serve as ersatz parents . . . I do not want the waters muddied as to who is in charge (we are, not the other family). I think there is tremendous potential for conflict - working some extra hours for us within the 45 hour limit results in no additional cash for her, but if she's working for another family, it does. Very incentivized to limit her time working for us and maximize her time working for others. Just a bad idea all around. I will not tolerate this with my AP.

Also, I think 45 hours per week is plenty of time for a nonprofessional nanny to work. She should use her free time to do other things -up to her. This means we get a refreshed/recharged AP for our 45 hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

We asked our AP not to take outside babysitting jobs. The main reason for this was that we had been really clear during interviews that we have variable work and social schedules and wanted an AP who would be available on short notice when needed for evenings and weekends. We balanced this inconvenience by never using all of our hours, never keeping her from her allowed time off, and having pretty liberal grocery/food spending and car policies (until she crashed the car in a hit & run, but that's another story for another day).

I also didn't want to get into a situation where someone else offered her a regular babysitting job and she resented being asked to stay home, or had to cancel last minute because we had something come up.

Not to mention that another family is basically profiting off the money the host family paid to facilitate the AP's time in the US. We didn't pay thousands of dollars so other families could pay her $5-$10 less per hour than they would pay an American.

+1

This has come up where neighbors/acquaintances have asked if they could hire our AP to help in mornings or otherwise (when she's free - or even splitting cost with us and have her take care of both sets of kids). We politely declined. A huge aspect of the AP program is having the person available at our convenience. For this, we pay a large agency fee, room & board, train someone who is not a professional nanny, at times serve as ersatz parents . . . I do not want the waters muddied as to who is in charge (we are, not the other family). I think there is tremendous potential for conflict - working some extra hours for us within the 45 hour limit results in no additional cash for her, but if she's working for another family, it does. Very incentivized to limit her time working for us and maximize her time working for others. Just a bad idea all around. I will not tolerate this with my AP.

Also, I think 45 hours per week is plenty of time for a nonprofessional nanny to work. She should use her free time to do other things -up to her. This means we get a refreshed/recharged AP for our 45 hours.

Agree with above. It is a bad idea, and it can quickly sour relations between HF and AP, as well as the neighbors who are eager for easy childcare back-up. My neighbors said there was no way in hell they would ever host an AP, crazy to live with a young stranger, etc, but they were very quick to ask my AP for her availability as emergency back-up.

[Anonymous]

So we had an AP babysit a bunch and it caused problems. I didn't mind a weekend night here or there for another family. Yes it's against the rules, but it's there free time, once in a while, etc... Not a big deal.
BUT... another family asked her to babysit for an entire weekend and that is when I got upset. It was a lot of money and she clearly wanted the cash for her travel month. That meant that she worked 5 days for me, two days for this other family and then 5 more days for me before she had a day off. It was too much. She was tired and needed a break -- one she didn't get because she was freelancing.
After that, I would say, we look the other way for occasional babysitting of another family here and there, but no overnights/full weekends. You need a break and as for work, our kids need to be the priority. We mention it in our initial orientation meeting their first weekend.
And be very clear that other people's children are not allowed in your car when/if she babysits.