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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It sounds like your general needs do lend itself well to the program, but there's more to it than your needs. Are you prepared to welcome someone into your family? Are you prepared to be patient and understanding, even offer guidance, toward a young person in a foreign country? Are you willing to recognize that watching your children will be her job and not her number one priority (she will want to travel, party, and have fun, and some HFs resent that they aren't her number one focus)? [/quote]

I'm 11:53 and I agree with this.  I think that's what I was getting at with accepting that an au pair takes a LOT more time and management than a nanny.  You can't just need child care and want to not have to think about your au pair when she's not working.  Our au pairs have needed almost as much care at times as an additional child.  I would never recommend the program to anyone who isn't also excited about gaining a new family member and learning about another culture and who doesn't truly understand the reasons au pairs come to the US as well.

It's a great program and we've really liked it for two out of our three years, but even with our two good au pairs, it was a lot of work.

So I agree - yes, your childcare requirements are perfect for the program.  But do you feel like you have the bandwidth to take on the care and feeding of another person?  [/quote]

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