Troll much?

I had the opposite experience. My unmotivated AP was inspired by my husband's and my professional life and enrolled in a professional program that we paid for during her down hours.

Our last AP was the opposite. She was done with her nursing degree and wanted to spend the year as an AP before starting her job in the hospital. While here, she got motivated to get more education. She went home, went back to school to get her A-level equivalent, and will be starting university in the fall.

So you don't interview APs taking gap year?

That's why I don't believe in gap years.

But then they aren't allowed to work/babysit, do any clean up/errands around HP house... can only go to the gym for so long each day. Class was over in April and was barely 2 hours twice per week.

Yes, too much down time during the day with split shift. Most days she is free from 8:40-4pm.

she got sucked in by the American way of life.
maybe the first time in her life she ever had unstructured time.

Anonymous wrote:No, she told you those things to get you to pick her. She never had any intentions of doing this. All of my APs have told more or less the same story, and most of it was a stretch, or just not true.

In contrast, several of our au pairs came with similar stories and did follow through. The au pair from Australia who wanted experience with small kids before going to school for early childhood development with goals of working with preschool aged kids (she did); the polish au pair who came over planning to improve her english so that she could study psychology in England (she did both); the South African au pair who wanted to enjoy a year in the US with young kids before buckling down to 6 years of school to become a veterinarian (which she is); among others.

But we have also had a couple who were facing forks in the road in their lives and struggled a bit.

One question to consider -- do you think that she may have become depressed? Being an au pair so far away from home can create a lot of stress, possibly too much for some.

No, she told you those things to get you to pick her. She never had any intentions of doing this. All of my APs have told more or less the same story, and most of it was a stretch, or just not true.

Our AP arrived at 22 for a gap year between university and pursuing dream to go to an International school for graduate school. She had the program picked out, plans to take TOEFL here to apply, do internship during month off her, etc. Very focused and goal oriented young woman. Fast forward 8 months and she has abandoned plans, never studied for TOEFL, never scheduled exam, "didn't apply before deadline" to graduate school, etc. She has become the lay around, Netflix watching, Starbucks junkie. I know it isn't any of my business and she gets to live her life so I don't need any haters to tell me this. I am just expressing that I feel badly that this experience somehow turned off her passion.