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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

LOL, good luck. I left the AP program 2 years ago. Even college kids are charging $20/hr for PT babysitting. A minimum wage job around here is already at $15. Not a chance there are bargains out there.

I pay our sitter $21/hr for 3 hrs a day, so $315 a week. Doesnt include any weekend/extra work.

Oh and BTW, finding someone reliable is hard. That why you need to pay good money.

[/quote]

I would gladly pay $315, and have my own home, kitchen, car, vacations, all of which added up to well over $400 a week for 15-20 hours of “reliable” (as in a warm body) babysitting.  Either the AP program needs to solely be an employer/employee transaction, or a cultural exchange with stipend, but the gray area of employee with luxury entitlements is truly off-putting.[/quote]

$315/ week is still well south of what you would pay for an au pair, just between stipend and agency fee and not counting other expenses. I think APs don't have the negotiating power to demand an equivalent rate because they are very dependent on the family. There's no way I would pay an AP even $10 an hour, because I don't need the flexibility. I need consistency. And for that, the best options are camps, before and after care, etc. Camps don't get sick, they don't go on vacation. Most host families won't choose between a nanny and an AP, they will choose between center (camp, etc) based care. If APs try to negotiate as if the alternatives are nannies, they misunderstand the target market of the AP program and there will be fewer matches. [/quote]

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