Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:$197.
However, AP works a split shift with daycare/school and my kids went to school full time starting at 3yo. Younger than 3yo, kids went half-day or a few days a week with homeschool enrichment classes in the afternoon (art, dance, gymnastics, etc.)
There's no way I would leave any AP with my kids for 45 hours/week with nothing to do. It's not even a matter of paying more, you're doing a disservice to your kids to stick them with a teenage babysitter who will likely not be able to handle 3 kids AND burn out quickly.
Couldn't agree more.
We have 3 under 5. One is in preschool. When he's not in school, I keep the youngest and she has the older two. For safety purposes, I won't let any au pair keep 3 under 5 until the youngest is at least 18 months and I would still limit those occasions. I don't want her stressed out waiting for her day to be over. Worse, I don't want her overwhelmed and something happen to one of my children. And for my kids' sake, I want my kids having fun, learning and bonding with each other and the au pair.
I understand some have to. If I had a situation where an au pair really needed to take care of 3+ kids under 5 consistently, I would only get an teacher who is used to managing a classroom or a nanny who is currently taking care of 3 young children.