Is au pair babysitting other families too much?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find minimum wage far more reprehensible than the AP program, where the AP's housing, food, car, and cell are paid for.
Take a person making $10/hour ($3 above min wage) or about $1300/month. They pay:
$500 for a cheap crappy studio or room.
$100/mo for utilities
$200/mo for car insurance and gas (or more likely public transit),
$100 for cell phone,
$100+ for groceries
$200/mo for mandatory health insurance

A $10/hr worker has $100/month left after bills.
An AP has her full stipend of $850/month to spend on discretionary items, including travel and entertainment.
This is not a "reprehensible" gig, even at 40-45 hrs/week.

So you could replace her with a native-born American?

No. You couldn't. However you do the math to help yourself sleep at night, the market tells us these girls are taken advantage of.

I'm a HM but I recognize the program is really very exploitive.

I'm curious about how you can continue to participate in an exploitive program and keep a clear conscious? Seems pretty hypocritical.

We only use 25 hours or less and pay well over the minimum. I was an exchange student and it's as much an exchange program in our family as it is a job.

[Anonymous]

I have struggled with this issue every year, and while I understand the Au pair's interest in babysitting at market rate, there is always lingering resentment on both sides. Our Au pairs have been paid $20 an hour for babysitting, and they come back exhausted but giddy with excitement of a cushy but illegal gig. They are not considering who is paying for their room and board, plus the car and gas they used to drive to their babysitting job; if anything, there is less appreciation for the Au pair program and for you as the host family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have struggled with this issue every year, and while I understand the Au pair's interest in babysitting at market rate, there is always lingering resentment on both sides. Our Au pairs have been paid $20 an hour for babysitting, and they come back exhausted but giddy with excitement of a cushy but illegal gig. They are not considering who is paying for their room and board, plus the car and gas they used to drive to their babysitting job; if anything, there is less appreciation for the Au pair program and for you as the host family.

Maybe there's be less resentment if they were paid anywhere near market rate? Even considering room and board, market rate is at least double, if not triple what they're paid. You all want a pat on the back for providing a room for the live in flexible caregiver that YOU wanted. Her living with you is as much a benefit to you as it is to her. Yeah it's not fun to share your space, but that is the cost of having someone available around the clock.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have struggled with this issue every year, and while I understand the Au pair's interest in babysitting at market rate, there is always lingering resentment on both sides. Our Au pairs have been paid $20 an hour for babysitting, and they come back exhausted but giddy with excitement of a cushy but illegal gig. They are not considering who is paying for their room and board, plus the car and gas they used to drive to their babysitting job; if anything, there is less appreciation for the Au pair program and for you as the host family.

When was the last time you lived-in with your boss and her kids for a year?

I'll leave it at that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have struggled with this issue every year, and while I understand the Au pair's interest in babysitting at market rate, there is always lingering resentment on both sides. Our Au pairs have been paid $20 an hour for babysitting, and they come back exhausted but giddy with excitement of a cushy but illegal gig. They are not considering who is paying for their room and board, plus the car and gas they used to drive to their babysitting job; if anything, there is less appreciation for the Au pair program and for you as the host family.

I feel exactly the same way. The situation has potential to put all parties in an uncomfortable situation.
I personally never ask for extra hours on the side, and I feel it's fine to tell AP that extra babysitting is not allowed as part of the program.
Don't let the trolls tell you otherwise. They don't know what it means to be host parents and are looking for any way possible to insult people like you, whose only fault was to make a thoughtful observation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have struggled with this issue every year, and while I understand the Au pair's interest in babysitting at market rate, there is always lingering resentment on both sides. Our Au pairs have been paid $20 an hour for babysitting, and they come back exhausted but giddy with excitement of a cushy but illegal gig. They are not considering who is paying for their room and board, plus the car and gas they used to drive to their babysitting job; if anything, there is less appreciation for the Au pair program and for you as the host family.

I feel exactly the same way. The situation has potential to put all parties in an uncomfortable situation.
I personally never ask for extra hours on the side, and I feel it's fine to tell AP that extra babysitting is not allowed as part of the program.
Don't let the trolls tell you otherwise. They don't know what it means to be host parents and are looking for any way possible to insult people like you, whose only fault was to make a thoughtful observation.

There's no insulting, but there is practical real life.

[Anonymous]

To the trolls- Au pairs have made a choice to participate in the Au pair program, and have agreed to the State Department rules which prohibit babysitting for illegal $. I know one former Au pair who decided she could do it on her own (stayed illegally after her program ended and found families for at the $20 an hour rate) and she struggled so much every month to pay her living expenses that she decided to quit.

[Anonymous]

Found families to babysit for

[Anonymous]

No one is policing
AP agencies,
the employer parents,
or the APs.

No one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

No one is policing
AP agencies,
the employer parents,
or the APs.

No one.

Don't you get tired of posting the same thing over and over and over on every single thread, no matter the topic? I can promise you that we are all tired of reading it...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

No one is policing
AP agencies,
the employer parents,
or the APs.

No one.

Don't you get tired of posting the same thing over and over and over on every single thread, no matter the topic? I can promise you that we are all tired of reading it...

Perhaps you like things the way they are, so you can continue to take advantage of these young foreigners. Shame on you.

Happy Easter!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

No one is policing
AP agencies,
the employer parents,
or the APs.

No one.

Don't you get tired of posting the same thing over and over and over on every single thread, no matter the topic? I can promise you that we are all tired of reading it...

Perhaps you like things the way they are, so you can continue to take advantage of these young foreigners. Shame on you.

Yup - my 12 APs have felt really abused with their hugely welcoming and loving US families, their 25 hr/week jobs, their great perks, and their lifelong memories of the "best year of their lives." Exactly.

Happy Easter to you too.

Happy Easter!