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[quote=Anonymous]It baffles me that people think that 'cultural exchange' means giving au pairs lots of free time to hang out with their friends.  Their hours are limited to 45 hours per week and many of us use far fewer.  Most of those work hours are working directly with American kids and enforcing policies rules set by American parents.  I can't think of a better way to learn about American culture than that ("culture" is defined as a way of life, typically passed on from parents to their children as well as through interactions with the broader society.)  And, yes, contributing to a functioning "American" household is part of that.

OP-- we are in the same situation; the AP works mornings to make the kids' breakfast and lunchbox and gets them from school.  She watches them after school til parents come home.  She is supposed to work one hour each day to organize the kids' stuff, do laundry, wash their bedding, clean up breakfast dishes, etc. (usually this means unloading a full dishwasher if she doesn't want to wash breakfast dishes by hand).  If there are kid-related errands, she does that (this is typically just picking up books we have put "on hold" at the library, but could also be picking up something needed from the store. When seasons change, I ask her to pull out last season's clothes and sort them for what the kids may have outgrown/grown into for the next season.  Frankly, it's really hard to come up with an hour's worth of stuff per day that falls within the rules of the program...[/quote]

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