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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Agree with PP. the families acting like this is a non issue are fooling themselves. Your APs are bemoaning this fact behind your backs. Not everything is metro accessible or easily metro accessible. A 45 minute bus or train ride when it would have taken 15-20 minutes to drive is not "fun" or an "experience" beyond the first time. It's also not cool constantly being that girl bumming rides because your family isn't providing one of the most basic things an AP expects. If you don't have a car I get it, but if you do have a car but are just too self involved to let her use it do not fool yourself into thinking she doesn't notice or care. [/quote]

I'm the OP. We don't own a car. We take the bus, bike, Metro or a cab or ZipCar everywhere and we do just fine. Yes, things take a little longer to get to, but you build that into your trip, bring your phone to occupy yourself, and it's fine. We are very upfront about this when we match and have found many candidates that don't like to drive or that have similar desire to not drive and willingness to deal with some irritation due to cost and environmental concerns. It's why we were considering offering an extra $50 a month for personal transportation - so they can use the typical bus and Metro but also so they can ocassionally cab it just like we do.

I disagree that you need a car for a good life. The inability to consider spending an additional 20 minutes getting to Target to buy $100 worth of useless plastic is a major problem in this country.  [/quote]

Why did you pose the question if you were only interested in hearing from people who agree with you? I said that I think its more of an issue than the PPs make it out to be and yes is does make you a less attractive host family, but no its not the worst thing in the world. I'd much rather have to take public transport everywhere than share a floor/bathroom with the children. If you have both of these crappy things to factor in, then yeah....[/quote]

The question I posed was "does anyone else not have a car and have an au pair?" and "how is it working?" and "did you have trouble finding a match?".  I also asked for "thoughts on the arrangement" or offering an additional amount toward transportation costs.  I did not ask "do you think this makes us less attractive?" or "what do you think of host families who don't offer a car?"  So actually, yes, I was to a degree asking a question of people that agree with me.

By nature of my "did you have trouble finding a match?" question, I acknowledge that it makes us less attractive.  Incidentally, we also all share a bathroom and the rooms are all on the same floor, and we've never had trouble finding a match.  In fact, we tend to have the opposite problem of too many to choose from and having to turn candidates down.  I absolutely acknowledge that these things make us a less attractive host family to au pairs that value a car and total private space over everything else.  Those au pairs that are willing to put up with some inconveniences for a family-oriented, fair, welcoming, fun host family are happy to choose us.

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