Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I posted about paying by the hour ($250-400) and we follow all of the rules exactly. No disallowed chores. I’d put a stop to making my bed, that’s weird to me.

Me too, please do not make my bed! We pay $400 every week 35-40 hours of work and do not break, bend or circumvent the rules. We expect the au pair to also follow the program rules and to do a good job to the best of her ability. The families that expect a full time housekeeper and home manager give the entire program a bad name.

Isn't $400 a week more than the program allows? How is that not bending the rules?

The stipend is considered a minimum payment. This has been emphasized to us several times by our LCC. Copied from the CCAP website: "The minimum weekly stipend is paid by you directly to your au pair for 51 weeks, including two weeks of paid vacation. WEEKLY MINIMUM OF $195.75"

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I posted about paying by the hour ($250-400) and we follow all of the rules exactly. No disallowed chores. I’d put a stop to making my bed, that’s weird to me.

Me too, please do not make my bed! We pay $400 every week 35-40 hours of work and do not break, bend or circumvent the rules. We expect the au pair to also follow the program rules and to do a good job to the best of her ability. The families that expect a full time housekeeper and home manager give the entire program a bad name.

Isn't $400 a week more than the program allows? How is that not bending the rules?

Anonymous wrote:I posted about paying by the hour ($250-400) and we follow all of the rules exactly. No disallowed chores. I’d put a stop to making my bed, that’s weird to me.

Me too, please do not make my bed! We pay $400 every week 35-40 hours of work and do not break, bend or circumvent the rules. We expect the au pair to also follow the program rules and to do a good job to the best of her ability. The families that expect a full time housekeeper and home manager give the entire program a bad name.

I posted about paying by the hour ($250-400) and we follow all of the rules exactly. No disallowed chores. I’d put a stop to making my bed, that’s weird to me.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I tell them it’s against the rules and no. I had one AP who did do dog walking but I certainly didn’t help her get it and she understood that since it was against the rules I wasn’t going to be chill with it being an excuse to not keep my schedule.

My current AP, who by the way makes $250-400/week, also wants “more work.” I’ve just held my ground. We are rule followers, period. We don’t ever go outside the rules and we expect the same from her.

May I ask why the extra stipend? I am curious - I don't know anyone locally who pays more than the $196. Thank you!

I give $100 extra a week. Always have for the 10 years I've had au pairs. In return, the au pair doesn't just grocery shop for the kids, but for the house. Will run errands like dropping/picking dry cleaning or UPS store runs. Walks the dog (only if she wants, mine happens to love dogs). Makes my bed everyday (I never asked for that, she just does). And she does my laundry in addition to the kids' laundry. Work for us, she's happy, we are happy. My kids are in school all day, fyi.

I'm sure you realize all of that is against the program rules. And when she's unhappy she can turn it around and use it against you (they had me doing their laundry and making their beds, etc). It's also pretty unfair to those of us who follow the rules and have to hear from our APs about other APs making money for doing things they're not supposed to be doing in the first place.

We do not, as a rule, condone our APs working for others. Both of mine have been approached by other families about an occasional dog-walking or babysitting shift and I've told them that while it's against the rules, I won't stop them. But I would not allow it to become a regular thing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I tell them it’s against the rules and no. I had one AP who did do dog walking but I certainly didn’t help her get it and she understood that since it was against the rules I wasn’t going to be chill with it being an excuse to not keep my schedule.

My current AP, who by the way makes $250-400/week, also wants “more work.” I’ve just held my ground. We are rule followers, period. We don’t ever go outside the rules and we expect the same from her.

May I ask why the extra stipend? I am curious - I don't know anyone locally who pays more than the $196. Thank you!

We pay by the hour with a minimum of 25 hours a week.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I tell them it’s against the rules and no. I had one AP who did do dog walking but I certainly didn’t help her get it and she understood that since it was against the rules I wasn’t going to be chill with it being an excuse to not keep my schedule.

My current AP, who by the way makes $250-400/week, also wants “more work.” I’ve just held my ground. We are rule followers, period. We don’t ever go outside the rules and we expect the same from her.

May I ask why the extra stipend? I am curious - I don't know anyone locally who pays more than the $196. Thank you!

I give $100 extra a week. Always have for the 10 years I've had au pairs. In return, the au pair doesn't just grocery shop for the kids, but for the house. Will run errands like dropping/picking dry cleaning or UPS store runs. Walks the dog (only if she wants, mine happens to love dogs). Makes my bed everyday (I never asked for that, she just does). And she does my laundry in addition to the kids' laundry. Work for us, she's happy, we are happy. My kids are in school all day, fyi.

Sure she makes $400 a week

Anonymous wrote:I tell them it’s against the rules and no. I had one AP who did do dog walking but I certainly didn’t help her get it and she understood that since it was against the rules I wasn’t going to be chill with it being an excuse to not keep my schedule.

My current AP, who by the way makes $250-400/week, also wants “more work.” I’ve just held my ground. We are rule followers, period. We don’t ever go outside the rules and we expect the same from her.

May I ask why the extra stipend? I am curious - I don't know anyone locally who pays more than the $196. Thank you!

I am a former AP.
Back when the stipend was $140 a week.
So while it was enough to buy my toiletries and do a couple of outings on the weekends it wasn't much to plan for anything else (travel month etc), so I wanted to do some extra babysitting.
The host family refused to lend me the car for that purpose unless it was babysitting for good friends of theirs.
Fine, I took the gigs and said no to the other babysitting opportunities.
The mom was clearly a rule follower, which is fine of course, I totally get it now that I am a grown up.
Then came the summer. The kids were enrolled in a nearby camp and she asked me if I wanted to work there as a counselor !
I said no, I didn't want to be responsible for so many kids and I remembered she was against it in the first place.
I guess she wanted me to keep an eye on the children there as well there, I will never know.

I tell them it’s against the rules and no. I had one AP who did do dog walking but I certainly didn’t help her get it and she understood that since it was against the rules I wasn’t going to be chill with it being an excuse to not keep my schedule.

My current AP, who by the way makes $250-400/week, also wants “more work.” I’ve just held my ground. We are rule followers, period. We don’t ever go outside the rules and we expect the same from her.

OP, thank you. She is telling me she knows other au pairs that have done this and she'd like to now focus on dog walking....

I am actually feeling a bit like hosting was a bad choice for me. At the moment, I feel I have put way more in than I have gotten out. I can't help but wonder if this is an indirect way to ask for more money?? AP doesn't work the full hours (maybe 35, nothing to scoff at) and is very focused on shopping. I will sit down with her to talk about this second job idea.

Anonymous wrote:DONT DO IT! My friend did this and her AP left her when she got engaged to work with the family she was working with on the side. And sometimes the AP got annoyed when there was a change of schedule that conflicted with her side job.

We had a similar problem when a neighbor tried to engage our Au pair for work during her mid-day break. Politely explain to her that it is against the rules and you will not support her going against the program rules. Working 24/7 and working illegally is not what the program is about and she will burn out and not be able to take good care of your children either.

DONT DO IT! My friend did this and her AP left her when she got engaged to work with the family she was working with on the side. And sometimes the AP got annoyed when there was a change of schedule that conflicted with her side job.

AP just asked me to help her find extra work, specifically babysitting for other families and walking dogs...

Context: she has been with us almost 4 months, comes from an affluent family, has previously worked part time in a private school (before becoming an au pair).

I haven't responded yet, and am a bit cought off guard. Thoughts?