No no no no no you can’t change her job at your whim. Even if the au pair program wasn’t regulated by the government how would you feel as an American employee and your boss changed your job one day without first asking you if you would be willing to do so?

Anonymous wrote:Former poster, former au pair
I don’t understand why you all call it a play date? Cousin is staying for 2 weeks, day and night, not just for 2 hours on one day! It’s obviously NOT a play date! All it is is cousins mom wanting to save big money for not hiring an after camp nanny for 2 weeks, and OP helping her. It’s not fair to the am pair to invite other kids and expect her to take care of them!
I’d check with LCC and if an pair will do it, pay her extra bonus or have cousins mom pay her for extra weeks of work.

AP is not taking care of the cousin for 24/day for 2 weeks.

OP stated that AP is scheduled for 15 hours/week. That's about 3 hours a day (assuming 5 days Mon-Fri). So, yes, it is like having a daily weekday playdate for two weeks for an extra 8 year old that AP has ALREADY interacted with, so it's not a strange kid being dumped off.

AP was fine with it, before talking with the friend. AP also only has a few months left. So, OP could offer more money (knowing it may or may not be strictly legal) or ask LCC (honestly, they probably won't care).

Anonymous wrote:Former poster, former au pair
I don’t understand why you all call it a play date? Cousin is staying for 2 weeks, day and night, not just for 2 hours on one day! It’s obviously NOT a play date! All it is is cousins mom wanting to save big money for not hiring an after camp nanny for 2 weeks, and OP helping her. It’s not fair to the am pair to invite other kids and expect her to take care of them!
I’d check with LCC and if an pair will do it, pay her extra bonus or have cousins mom pay her for extra weeks of work.

Exactly, if my kid is being watched by someone else's sitter, I at least offer to pay.

^^^ Exactly. You cannot "substitute" kids on an au pair.

Former poster, former au pair
I don’t understand why you all call it a play date? Cousin is staying for 2 weeks, day and night, not just for 2 hours on one day! It’s obviously NOT a play date! All it is is cousins mom wanting to save big money for not hiring an after camp nanny for 2 weeks, and OP helping her. It’s not fair to the am pair to invite other kids and expect her to take care of them!
I’d check with LCC and if an pair will do it, pay her extra bonus or have cousins mom pay her for extra weeks of work.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So kids can't have play dates at home with the AP?

OP talk to your coordinator and find out if this ok... for yourself.

Technically...no. See question 2 in this FAQ

https://help.culturalcare.com/family/knowledge-base/department-of-state-regulations/

For those who can't log on:

From the Cultural Care Website FAQ, Question 2:

Q. Can my au pair care for kids other than my own (i.e., children who are over for a play date)?
A. No, au pairs are only permitted to care for the children of their host family.

Thank you!! As a former au pair I had a disagreement with my host family who tried to force me to have play dates. Soon all the other parents just dropped kids at our house and expected me to watch them. Never offered to take my host kids for play date at their house while my hours would still be counting as working. I rematched over that and my second host family never made me host play dates without other au pair/nanny being there with other kid.

Every AP we've had or interviewed WANTS to have play dates so they can hang out with other APs during work time.

We're usually the cautious ones stopping our AP by asking them NOT to arrange play dates with random strangers that claim to be an AP from their home country in some Facebook group online that they've never met before but want to invite to our home or take our kids to theirs.

Nope. You can stick with APs from our cluster (from our LCC's list) or meet for play dates in public locations.

Play dates with other kids with the other kids' au pair is fine because your au pair is not responsible for the other kid. big difference

If the kid is old enough to be away from home for two weeks then you would think that they are old enough to watch themselves. Tell the AP to stop freaking out and not watch the kid, or just tell the kid to stay at home.

I make $69,000 a year. Not quite 78,000, but would assume that some nannies make that much.

NP here. My San Fran nanny cousin makes $30/hr for 3 kids, 10 hours per day, M-Th. So yes she makes $300 per day. Wanna hear her great benefits too?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just put the AP on full evening duty -- 4 til 9 -- if you feel you are not getting your money's worth.

Really, you should have thought about this before spending $$$ on camp when you already have a full-time sitter.

Yeah, do not enrich your child’s life when you are already paying $200/week for a full time sitter! Oy, terrible advice, PP.

You know its easily over $300 a week right? What you pay the au pair are not the only costs

Yes, part of the exchange program is feeding the AP, but not supplying toiletries. It’s still EXTREMELY low cost. You know most nannies make close to $300/day, right?

So most nannies are making $78,000 yearly?!?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just put the AP on full evening duty -- 4 til 9 -- if you feel you are not getting your money's worth.

Really, you should have thought about this before spending $$$ on camp when you already have a full-time sitter.

Yeah, do not enrich your child’s life when you are already paying $200/week for a full time sitter! Oy, terrible advice, PP.

You know its easily over $300 a week right? What you pay the au pair are not the only costs

Yes, part of the exchange program is feeding the AP, but not supplying toiletries. It’s still EXTREMELY low cost. You know most nannies make close to $300/day, right?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So kids can't have play dates at home with the AP?

OP talk to your coordinator and find out if this ok... for yourself.

Technically...no. See question 2 in this FAQ

https://help.culturalcare.com/family/knowledge-base/department-of-state-regulations/

For those who can't log on:

From the Cultural Care Website FAQ, Question 2:

Q. Can my au pair care for kids other than my own (i.e., children who are over for a play date)?
A. No, au pairs are only permitted to care for the children of their host family.

Thank you!! As a former au pair I had a disagreement with my host family who tried to force me to have play dates. Soon all the other parents just dropped kids at our house and expected me to watch them. Never offered to take my host kids for play date at their house while my hours would still be counting as working. I rematched over that and my second host family never made me host play dates without other au pair/nanny being there with other kid.

Every AP we've had or interviewed WANTS to have play dates so they can hang out with other APs during work time.

We're usually the cautious ones stopping our AP by asking them NOT to arrange play dates with random strangers that claim to be an AP from their home country in some Facebook group online that they've never met before but want to invite to our home or take our kids to theirs.

Nope. You can stick with APs from our cluster (from our LCC's list) or meet for play dates in public locations.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just put the AP on full evening duty -- 4 til 9 -- if you feel you are not getting your money's worth.

Really, you should have thought about this before spending $$$ on camp when you already have a full-time sitter.

Yeah, do not enrich your child’s life when you are already paying $200/week for a full time sitter! Oy, terrible advice, PP.

You know its easily over $300 a week right? What you pay the au pair are not the only costs

When we have playdates, the other kids' AP or other caregiver usually comes. It's not AP's fault that you didn't check the rules.

Anonymous wrote:Rearrange the hours (add weekends and evenings) so she knows flexibility also goes both ways!

You’re a bad person