So your oldest is 14, but how old is your youngest? Would your youngest listen to the oldest (in babysitter capacity), and does your oldest have the maturity to separate babysitter from older sibling? Your oldest can’t drive yet, what’s the plan for after school activities? Do you travel, and if so, what’s the plan? Have you considered looking at 24-25 year old APs, to extend the program for just a while?

Most families seem to age out either as soon as all the kids are in full day school (with before and after care available) or when the kids are all 12+. There’s no set reason for why it’s the right time, and as long as you have your ducks in a row, you’ll be fine. Good luck!

Except for driving, why do you need an Au Pair for teens?

This makes sense. Good luck with the next chapter. I am sorry that you did not click with your last au pair, but I hope you made some wonderful connections in the past.

Anonymous wrote:We've had au pairs for 7 years . . . lots of ups and downs but so happy that we're coming to the end of the road. It's helps that we (parents) have not clicked with our current au pair on a personal level. She's a remote roommate in our house. Kids are fine with her but she's not beloved like some former au pairs.

Our oldest is age 14. One of the keys to flipping over to not having an au pair is that we find the AP to be too close in age to the 14 yr old . . . reverting to acting like one of the kids rather than one of the adults.

Great! Good for you!

Want a cookie?

We've had au pairs for 7 years . . . lots of ups and downs but so happy that we're coming to the end of the road. It's helps that we (parents) have not clicked with our current au pair on a personal level. She's a remote roommate in our house. Kids are fine with her but she's not beloved like some former au pairs.

Our oldest is age 14. One of the keys to flipping over to not having an au pair is that we find the AP to be too close in age to the 14 yr old . . . reverting to acting like one of the kids rather than one of the adults.