Reply to What went wrong with your au pair?

Forum Index » Au Pair Discussion

Reply to "What went wrong with your au pair?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous]One agency I talked to said they have a 10% rematch rate.  We've met an au pair that we really like and are excited to join us.  We haven't hit the match button yet but almost did last night.  Our childcare needs are less intense than many who post here, our children are school aged and it would be mostly after school and then over the summer.  Our older children are aging out of summer camps yet not at the point where they can spend summer days alone.   I've relied on daycare/ after school when the kids were younger, though we have had live out nannies at certain times as well with mixed experiences.  The cultural exchange part is very appealing to us.  We look forward to taking her on what trips we can and having the children hear a new language and gain some insight into the world past this white bread area where they live.   Also, the live-out nanny situation is very one-sided ... particularly when it comes to privacy. I did not care for the fact that this person was in our home daily, subject to all of our family personal information whether it came through the children, from seeing mail or mortgage bill on the desk, etc. and yet we knew only exactly what she wanted to reveal to us.  It seems like with a live-in situation with an au pair, that the au pair has quite a bit of motivation to make it work and it could balance out the desire to understand each other and think about it from a shared lack of privacy perspective. Not to mention because their ability to stay in the country is on the line, are they not more motivated in that way as well?  My husband and I are reasonable people, we don't like a lot of drama or conflict, "easy-going" is the most commonly used adjective I've heard people use to describe us.  We wouldn't be the type to care if she takes 3 showers a day, or eats a bag of chips before bed, or stays locked in her skyping.  We want her to participate in our lives as if she were a niece- obviously neither side wanting to spend all free time together, but joining us for trips to the beach and vacations (we'd probably have 2 week long vacations) We have selected someone who is sweet, kind, who has not asked us one question about what is in it for her.  I know people are going to write and say don't push the match button. Yet, we feel excited and want to do this.   What is going so wrong for everyone? What is the recipe for success?  Why does everyone here say 50% rematch rate?  Would some happy people please come in and weigh in? 
[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics