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[quote=Anonymous]The first time is definitely the hardest, because you don't really know what to expect. You'll get better over time at figuring out what matters to your family and who will be a good fit.  Matching is very time consuming, and you'll need to do it once a year (or every two years if your au pair extends), so that's something to keep in mind.  On the other hand, there is an enormous pool of people just waiting to be hired, which is not true with nannies.  The training period will vary depending on your family's needs, the ages of your kids, and the experience of your au pair, but you will get better at that over time, too.

Keep in mind that most people come to message boards to post when they're having a problem.  People who are just coasting along won't come on here to comment or ask questions.  So take the negativity with a grain of salt.

We are in our 9th year of hosting.  We had one bad year where we rematched twice, but most of our au pairs have been wonderful.  It's been a great experience for our kids to meet and know young women from all over the world.  We've visited past au pairs overseas, and had them visit us here.  The kids are learning to be flexible and to adapt to many different styles.  Now that they're older, the au pair is more like a fun big sister to hang out and play with.

On a practical level, an au pair is an extremely flexible form of childcare.  We set our schedule every week, and as long as we stay within program constraints, we have enormous flexibility.  With school aged kids, we mostly need a little bit of before school care and a few hours after school.  It is almost impossible to find a reliable nanny or babysitter to work those hours, and they will drop you with no notice when something better comes along.  We've seen it happen to friends all the time.  There is before and after care at school, but we prefer to have the kids at home or doing activities we schedule.  Plus, there are So Many Days the kids are randomly off school, and I don't have the mental energy to find separate care for each day.

Really, there are some down sides, but overall, we love it.[/quote]

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