Anonymous wrote:I am the PP with the son and kindle.
My son IS old enough to empty his lunch box and grab his own kindle and it is part of his chores. Dynamically they visit their dad in another house 2-3 days a week without both and return late at night. Since that is the case, and the AP returns home without said kid but with the items in question, I have asked her to bring them in from her car to have the kid retrieve them (the kindle to upstairs and the lunchbox cold packs to the freezer). She still doesn’t. She leaves them in her locked car. So then, we have to find keys to unlock and grab the stuff, or wait until she arrives home later that night from being out vs if she had just taken them out in the first place.
The nights / days they don’t visit dad, they do empty the lunchbox but the kindle is almost always forgotten.
I resent it the comment that I treat my AP as a slave or the like. This is her job and I have asked her to help and she has said yes, so I don’t think I am asking for a big reach here. Just a little help.
Most au pairs do not get $4/hour. My AP works less than 20 hours a week, so it's more like $10/hour...plus room and board...plus gas...plus car insurance...plus all the extras. I have an AP because I have an only child and I love her having a "big sister" around, and believe it or not, I also like the cultural exchange.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:as hf, if you feel that it would be easier to pay hourly and have your childcare provider pay for their own housing, food, transport, cell phone, etc, that way then why do you have an AP at all? why don't you just have a nanny? because that's actually a thing already-clearly the economic benefit of you paying her effectively $4 an hour is worth the extra hassle.
so many people with APs get defensive acting like they would love to pay their AP hourly but are so limited by the program's constraints. there is no reason to opt into the program if you fundamentally disagree with it! hire a nanny, move in with family, put them in daycare, or stay home with your own kids. or, don't have kids at all. no one forced you to do this so don't act like such a martyr for the cause.
+1 bravo
Anonymous wrote:as hf, if you feel that it would be easier to pay hourly and have your childcare provider pay for their own housing, food, transport, cell phone, etc, that way then why do you have an AP at all? why don't you just have a nanny? because that's actually a thing already-clearly the economic benefit of you paying her effectively $4 an hour is worth the extra hassle.
so many people with APs get defensive acting like they would love to pay their AP hourly but are so limited by the program's constraints. there is no reason to opt into the program if you fundamentally disagree with it! hire a nanny, move in with family, put them in daycare, or stay home with your own kids. or, don't have kids at all. no one forced you to do this so don't act like such a martyr for the cause.
Anonymous wrote:as hf, if you feel that it would be easier to pay hourly and have your childcare provider pay for their own housing, food, transport, cell phone, etc, that way then why do you have an AP at all? why don't you just have a nanny? because that's actually a thing already-clearly the economic benefit of you paying her effectively $4 an hour is worth the extra hassle.
so many people with APs get defensive acting like they would love to pay their AP hourly but are so limited by the program's constraints. there is no reason to opt into the program if you fundamentally disagree with it! hire a nanny, move in with family, put them in daycare, or stay home with your own kids. or, don't have kids at all. no one forced you to do this so don't act like such a martyr for the cause.
Anonymous wrote:it's funny how when a hf is annoyed at their ap or wants more from them this is their "job", yet when they want to be paid hourly suddenly it isn't a job at all, just a fun exchange program with "some babysitting".
Anonymous wrote:I am the PP with the son and kindle.
My son IS old enough to empty his lunch box and grab his own kindle and it is part of his chores. Dynamically they visit their dad in another house 2-3 days a week without both and return late at night. Since that is the case, and the AP returns home without said kid but with the items in question, I have asked her to bring them in from her car to have the kid retrieve them (the kindle to upstairs and the lunchbox cold packs to the freezer). She still doesn’t. She leaves them in her locked car. So then, we have to find keys to unlock and grab the stuff, or wait until she arrives home later that night from being out vs if she had just taken them out in the first place.
The nights / days they don’t visit dad, they do empty the lunchbox but the kindle is almost always forgotten.
I resent it the comment that I treat my AP as a slave or the like. This is her job and I have asked her to help and she has said yes, so I don’t think I am asking for a big reach here. Just a little help.