au pair from argentina

[Anonymous]

For host parents, how have your experiences been with au pairs from Argentina? We have had two previous au pairs from Germany and are now considering an au pair from Argentina. Au pair says they are from a small town and they seem religious (7th Day Adventist) but meets many of other requirements. TIA!

[Anonymous]

I haven’t but after a German and an Austrian au pair we thought it would be easier on us and the kids to just stick with that region, which we came to understand culturally, and have only branched out to include Poland, but never South America or Mexico.

[Anonymous]

Are you prepared to have a very religious person in your home and family? 7th day Adventist is similar to fundamentalist Christian, just make sure you research the impact it may have in your family.

Also, if you’re not in a small town or suburb there may be more culture shock than you expect. Small town Argentina is less likely to be exposed to more cosmopolitan areas than someone from Germany or other parts of northern or Western Europe.

[Anonymous]

We had one from Argentina and she was ok. Not the best personality and seemed more American neutral that our European and Colombian APs.

Keep in mind Argentina is rather unique in their ambivalent take on North American culture; especially American culture. She was pretty much of the attitude that Argentina was a superior culture.
She was the only au pair we had that never ate with us and had probably the lower or lowest engagement with our family.

[Anonymous]

We had a wonderful AP from Argentina.

[Anonymous]

Our au pair from Argentina just recently left after 2 years with us. To the PP, she listed herself as catholic but was not really religious. She is an amazing person and we will certainly keep in touch. I will say she was pretty confident in her driving skills but we found (and she agreed) she was unprepared for the mess that is DC area driving. We did classes and practice with her. That said, through her we also met another au pair from Argentina who had no problem with DC driving. I love Argentina. They have great food and are great people.

[Anonymous]

Follow on. Our au pair always ate dinner with us during the week. I never saw any signs of cultural superiority complex PP mentioned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our au pair from Argentina just recently left after 2 years with us. To the PP, she listed herself as catholic but was not really religious. She is an amazing person and we will certainly keep in touch. I will say she was pretty confident in her driving skills but we found (and she agreed) she was unprepared for the mess that is DC area driving. We did classes and practice with her. That said, through her we also met another au pair from Argentina who had no problem with DC driving. I love Argentina. They have great food and are great people.

Most people from Latin America are “catholic” but many are not religious. If someone lists themselves as another religion, particularly one that is on the fundamentalist side, you can bet they are pretty religious.

[Anonymous]

Seventh Day Adventist are typically healthy and exercise, but they're also typically vegetarian, so you may want to look into that.

[Anonymous]

Our small town Argentinian AP was also emotionally distanced. She did well with the kids, cleaned up well enough (not great but tried), and would join us for activities that sounded fun. But yeah I did notice we never really bonded super strong and she didn't share a lot such as about her home and all, and seemed particularly disinterested in if not resentful of our elementary age boy. No idea which part was cultural and which part individual. Hard enough worker though.

I'd love to find an Adventist AP. Such a great religion, although I'm not religious. They are great with kids, clean, healthy. Just great humans.

[Anonymous]

I can speak only from limited experience….

Our Argentinian au pair was truly excellent with our children but HIGHLY emotional. Acted superior and repeatedly told us that Argentinians are
of European descent. She was not afraid to make demands (no ground beef, she needed steak). She couldn’t be in the sun because it made her brain too hot.. She wanted every weekend off, unlimited Uber, no curfew and would throw a tearful fit if we explained we couldn’t quite meet her demands. She ended up leaving us for rematch (she also came to us through rematch) because we weren’t providing the cultural exchange she expected. She eventually told us at the end that she did not come here to work - she didn’t need the money - and only came to see America. It made a lot of sense.

Our previous an pair was German and while not as affectionate with our children, I would take an orderly, timely, stable and loyal German any day over an Argentinian like the one we hosted.

[Anonymous]

Disappointed with my au pair from Argentina. I've met lots of people from Argentina over the years and the superiority complex is often present. It is a real thing and their We are european thing is 100% real. Our au pair is both oddly smug/snobby and yet needy for family time and immature at the same time.