Au pair and phone time

[Anonymous]

Our AP was on her phone a lot when she arrived and we didn’t stress it because we figured she missed her family. Her mother calls all day everyday and she’s on Instagram and texting her local AP friends constantly.

Our kids are annoyed. We are annoyed.

She doesn’t start work until 1PM and is off at 6:30PM and we feel like she has enough free time to talk and doesn’t need to be on her phone so much. Whoever we bring it up she seems upset and it’s always some grand reason she’s on the phone my aunt is pregnant, my new baby cousin is awake, my Mom misses me — which is understandable — but all the time?

How to manage?

[Anonymous]

No phone while she's working.

[Anonymous]

Your aunt will still be pregnant at 6:30. Your mom will miss you for the entire year. Your cousin will surely be awake at least once during your off hours.

You need to set a very strict, black-and-white rule: NO phone use while she is on-duty with kids. If you were using her for the maximum hours I might understand this but for less than 6 hours?! No way.

[Anonymous]

This needs to be stopped. No phone time during working hours. Did you give her a manual with these rules? If so, point it out to her again. If it doesn't work, time to involve the LCC.

[Anonymous]

She needs to stop using the phone from 1 to 6.30pm, period.

Former Au Pair.

[Anonymous]

Tell her she needs to inform her family that her work hours are between 1pm-6:30pm and she cannot answer.

Involve LCC now as this might be a rematchable issue, but phrase it as a safety issue: Larla is too busy texting to care for the kids and has not noticed when this happened.