As someone who is floored by how much our tiny AP can consume, I hear you, OP! I must admit--I had good training/preparation because my inlaws are food obsessed to the point of ridiculousless. If she's good with your kids and overall a nice and decent human being, suck it up. That's what I'm doing.

As someone who lived in Spain, what I observed was this. For reference, I was working at an elementary school, so this did

1.) When you woke have a small cold breakfast (bread and nutella, granola and yogurt, coffee.
2.) At 11:00 or so, it was common to eat a sandwich, and maybe a small piece of fruit.
3.) At 2:30ish, there was a lunch, it was pretty substantial.
4.) At 5:30 or 6:00, whenever you got home from work it was common to have a pastry and some more coffee.
5.) Finally at 8:30 or 9 this was dinner.


It was definitely something that I had to get used to, especially adjusting portions into smaller meals like that, but I definitely found it helpful to last until 9:00, or even later on weekends, before a final meal.

Anonymous wrote:So all the Host Families who are welcoming French and German and Polish au pairs only to find out they are missing one meal a day?

I lived in France fr 2 years and we did not eat 4 meals a day, nor did anyone I worked with. We ate a small breakfast, large lunch, and large dinner. It was a loooong time to get used to between between 12noon lunch and 8pm dinner, therefore the large lunch.

Also lived in France; in my experience, school-aged children have a significant after-school snack - one that looks like a small meal - with dinner at 8ish. I never counted it as 4 meals, but I've had to be really clear with our French APs how small an afternoon snack is so that he kids are hungry for our much earlier dinner (we eat at 6 b/c kids' bedtime is currently 7:30). (And yes, we are upfront in matching about family dinner time)

2 years in aforementioned country and did not meet a single 4-meal a day person. So yes, all.

Anonymous wrote:So all the Host Families who are welcoming French and German and Polish au pairs only to find out they are missing one meal a day?

I lived in France fr 2 years and we did not eat 4 meals a day, nor did anyone I worked with. We ate a small breakfast, large lunch, and large dinner. It was a loooong time to get used to between between 12noon lunch and 8pm dinner, therefore the large lunch.

Did you miss the word “some” before you wrote the word “all”? It’s a bit old fashioned is my understanding but does certainly exist.

So all the Host Families who are welcoming French and German and Polish au pairs only to find out they are missing one meal a day?

I lived in France fr 2 years and we did not eat 4 meals a day, nor did anyone I worked with. We ate a small breakfast, large lunch, and large dinner. It was a loooong time to get used to between between 12noon lunch and 8pm dinner, therefore the large lunch.

Anonymous wrote:Which cultures eat 4 meals per day? Is this information widely acknowledged when getting into the AP programs?

Some families from many European countries eat an early afternoon teatime type meal. I have had experience with that in France, Germany, and Poland. If you get into a cultural exchange program expecting every cultural difference to be disclosed to you at the outset maybe this program isn’t for you...