Survey: how many hours do you use and what is the schedule like? (s/o from other thread)

[Anonymous]

I'm curious what au pair schedules look like in other families and what the family composition/circumstances look like. I suspect it will be a wide variety of schedules - which is why the au pair program appeals to many of us.

Our family: kids are school aged and involved in sports/activities, both parents work.

Summer: 45 hours/week, usually Mon-Thurs or Mon-Friday noon. Usually 8-6 or so.

School year: 30-36 hours/week, Mon-Fri, sometimes a weekend evening. Split schedule Mon-Thurs of 6:30-8:00, then 2:30-somewhere between 6-7:30 depending on kid activities. Fri is usually no morning hours, maybe afternoon hours from 3-6. Occasional weekend evening of 6 or 7 to 11 or 12.

How about everyone else?

[Anonymous]

3 kids ages 4, 6 & 9, youngest in school til 2 except on Fridays when it’s noon. Ap does pickup until 8-10pm depending on the day. Occasional weekend but that’s rare. We have another sitter who sometimes does Fridays instead.

[Anonymous]

1 school-aged child, we use 18 hours a week in child care, another three or four in kid stuff (cleaning, etc). Probably 2 nights a month but otherwise AP has evenings/weekends free.

[Anonymous]

Infant; 45 hours, 7-4 M-F.

[Anonymous]

Single mom, teacher, 1 child, M-F 630am--3:30pm or 7am-4pm depending on meetings

[Anonymous]

2 kids 9&12

Two mornings a week 6:30-8
5 afternoons from 2:30-515
1 weekday evening from 7-10
21hrs during the school year

We still do a lot of camps in the summer so probably on average if you take the full weeks and combine with the half weeks, I'd give it an average of 30hrs a week in summer, but our AP has 3 straight weeks off each July while we are away.

Very rarely weekends. Maybe 1 weekend evening a month. I'm actually pretty comfortable leaving them alone when we run out for an hour or 2.

[Anonymous]

2 kids, 10 and 13, school aged.

During school year 30-35 hrs
7-9am
3-7pm
very occasional weekend for a couple hrs

During summer and holiday weeks (non-camp weeks) - 40-45 hrs
8:30-4:30pm M,T,Th,F (Every Other F)
9-5pm W, F (Every Other F)

Camp weeks are like school days.

[Anonymous]

3 kids: 6, 4, 2

School year:
Monday 7-9 and 12-4.30
Tuesday 7-4
Wednesday 7-9, 2-4
Thursday 7-4.30
Friday 7-9, 12-4

That leaves about 10 hours or so, so we usually schedule one or two date nights, or have some time devoted to organizing, or a bit of extra week night evening help that gets us to 40-45 hours

Summers 7-4 M-F

[Anonymous]

3 kids from 6mo to 5. Older 2 in full time school 9am-3:30pm.

AP schedule usually right around 43-45 hours, full day Mon-Thurs for dropoff/pickup and baby, split shift for dropoff/pickup on Friday only.

Both parents work, but I've been on maternity leave then part-time schedule which is why the Fridays. After the New Year, it will likely be a straight 9hrs/day Mon-Fri.

[Anonymous]

2 kids, one school-aged, one preschool.

45 hours a week, almost always Monday - Friday. Split shift on Tuesdays / Thursdays when younger child is in preschool (9-noon). Exact hours vary from week to week depending on our work schedules. We use a google calendar to post the au pair's schedule a week or two ahead of time, since it does change.

Most evenings and weekends are free, but there are exceptions. When we want her to work an evening or weekend, we discuss it well in advance.

[Anonymous]

basically same as you OP.
school age kids, so split schedule on weekdays, with a weekday date night

[Anonymous]

7-8:30 am and then 5:30-??? pm. Never weekends.

[Anonymous]

My kids are 8 and 9 years old (18 months apart)

When they were not in elementary school our APs worked all 45 hours. Usually 730-530 M-Th, 730-1230 on F, almost always had weekends off unless there was some special circumstance

Once they were both in school we do 630-745 and 230-530/6 M-F with occasional "date nights" on weeknight evenings and an even less frequent "date night" or "date afternoon" on the weekends. Like maybe 1x every other month. They do work all holidays except Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years and when school is out for summer or break they do the 45 hours per week again.

[Anonymous]

M-F split shift plus 3 hours per week for laundry plus one date night plus Saturday mornings. Total 41 hours on the schedule. One 5 year old boy.