We loved the cultural exchange, and afterschool driving with the AP. When we had a third baby, it was clear that the level of childcare expertise required for an infant plus two preschool/k kids was beyond the IQ AP we had. She left for a family with one older child, and we switched to daycare. Now that the "baby" is fully verbal and potty trained, we're looking to reenter the AP program.
I like that the daycare has rules instead of sassy pushback. Because I was so tired with an infant, AP chatter in the evenings exhausted me and we felt like she needed more from a host family than we had to give at that stage in our life. Our current daycare plus aftercare costs are half the AP program.

Have you considered a live-in nanny instead?

Our youngest has health issues so while he is in preschool , he misses a lot so we need a back up care plan. The au pair is really great for this

We’ve done both and I much prefer an au pair. We have 4 children that would need daycare so ridiculously expensive. It’s so much easier leaving the house in the am and getting home from work having an au pair. I would miss having an au pair making kids lunches, kids laundry and being able to send au pair out for groceries during the day. We’ve really enjoyed our experience and are on our 3rd year with one.

Anonymous wrote:New to this forum, may I ask what an LCC is?

We are just starting to consider switching to an au pair.

Local childcare consultant

They work for the au pair agency, and are assigned to different geographical areas. They support the host families and au pairs in their area. They hold monthly meetings for the au pairs in their area and also do monthly (email or phone call) check ins with host families. They help you with questions, and or issues.

New to this forum, may I ask what an LCC is?

We are just starting to consider switching to an au pair.

22:52, daycare was cheaper than an AP for us. And higher quality because they have daily progamming. With the AP, we paid the AP in addition to paying for the activities throughout the day like gymnastics, etc that we needed to make sure he wasn't just sitting at home. Overall, daycare is a better setup past the age of 2.

Anonymous wrote:Anyone had to leave the AP program and enroll in daycare? What did you like more about daycare? What did you miss about having an AP?

After several failures related to inability to handle 3 kids or inability to drive, we might be leaving the program and enrolling the youngest in daycare. I can't handle onboarding yet again and then finding out what new safety incident or AP's shortcoming becomes a rematchable issue.

So for us daycare was more expensive than an AP, but much less hassle. We moved the opposite. Daycare to AP (needed more driving) and now back to aftercare and a summer sitter.

I honestly think APs are glorified babysitters with no oversight. I have a friend who is an LCC and the rematch rate is sky high. I can see why they don't publicize that, plus some insanely dangerous things go down.

As someone who has only had an AP for older elementary school age kids I can certainly understand the desire to have your kids in a daycare / preschool type environment rather than at home with an AP all day. The main downside to me is that daycare is pretty expensive, especially with 3 kids who need daycare or before/after care.

We will leave the program when youngest one starts school in 2 years. What I will miss the most is AP doing kids laundry and folding . That is a huge time dump in my house.

We did this. It was overall easier, cheaper, and less stressful to use daycare. The drawbacks are 1) no childcare when the child is sick, 2) getting the child ready in the morning and taking them to daycare is time consuming and sometimes stressful, and 3) no built in date nights (but this is minor and you'll find an alternative arrangement quickly.

Anyone had to leave the AP program and enroll in daycare? What did you like more about daycare? What did you miss about having an AP?

After several failures related to inability to handle 3 kids or inability to drive, we might be leaving the program and enrolling the youngest in daycare. I can't handle onboarding yet again and then finding out what new safety incident or AP's shortcoming becomes a rematchable issue.