S/O: Is 8 out of 10 good?

[Anonymous]

How would you "rate" your AP? Just trying to see if 8 out of 10 is really below average.

[Anonymous]

I think it's really good.

I have had 9 au pairs. I would rate them:

1 - 6.0
2 - 8.5
3 - 2.0 - should have rematched
4 - 9
5 - 9
6 - 2 - rematched
7 - 2 - rematched
8 - 5
9 - 6.5 (she is good with kids, not so much great personality wise or good with tasks)

[Anonymous]

[Anonymous]

It is very average. According to your rating the median result of points was around 5,5.

[Anonymous]

It's hard to give one rating. I'd separate it into 1) childcare, 2) roommate, 3) personality.

In this case, it would be something like 8, 3, and 7. An average wouldn't capture the fact that she's pretty good with the kids and strikes an ok balance of home/going out, but is terrible about cleaning up after herself.

[Anonymous]

Au pairs should be giving ratings to the hosts because they are staying in a program for years. For most Au pairs it is one time experience.

[Anonymous]

I'd say 8 is (very) good. Our last was very conscientious and good with the kids, but wasn't one to get on the floor and play with them, and required a lot of reminders (like daily). We thought we were very lucky to have that. You can't have everything, so we try to balance when the au pair changes. We now really want someone who is more active with the kids, but will possibly by sacrificing organization .. We're okay with that, because we kind of look at school and child care as sharing responsibilities. If I know my kid was outside 3 hours that day, I'll sit down to read or play a game. If it was all crafts, we'll go for a walk after dinner. Even thought I think that's par for the course, I wouldn't up the 8 to a 10.
(I think if you're okay with your young kids watching tv or eating cheerios out of snack cups, and don't mind APs who think Disney is the gold standard you're more likely to be happy with the program)

[Anonymous]

8 is outstanding.

[Anonymous]

8 out of 10 seems really high IMO. But then again, this is not a binary grade. AP4 was outstanding (our best, really) in her AP duties, but could sometimes be around 2/10 for off duty behavior. Does this average to a 6? Not really.

I'll try to rate...

AP1: 10
AP2: 10
AP3: 6 (our least favorite, but she performed all her duties to a T)
AP4: 8 (the one I mentioned above, but her qualities outweighed her flaws)
AP5: 7 (good all around, but not very strong bond or memorable)
AP6: 2, rematch
AP7: 10
AP8: 7 (fantastic AP but her personal quirks bring her score down...)

This is actually an interesting exercise to do, in retrospect...

[Anonymous]

I agree with a lot of PP that this is difficult because there is 1) childcare 2) personality fit/roommate

AP #2 got the job done (8), but was so incredibly strange, didn't communicate well, and I honestly couldn't stand being around her (1). Seeing that we had to pretty much invite her to most things, it made for a long and challenging year for me.