What to look for in an au pair?

Finding the right au pair for your family can be a tough but very important job. With thousands of au pairs looking for a placement, being able to make the right choice is hugely beneficial to your children and your family as a whole. In the following article, we will endeavour to outline some of the key points to look out for when choosing your au pair.

For instance, some families might focus on the au pair’s age thinking an older au pair will be more responsible than a younger one. What you want to be really looking for, though, is not only if your au pair is responsible, but also if she has a natural penchant with children. A younger au pair might have less experience, but might click with your kids better, may engage in playing games and have more understanding and patience with your children. An au pair’s personality is a key factor in the selection process, while age is not going to be a guarantee of success.

Here are our top 5 suggestions of things you should be looking for in your au pair during the selection process.

1. Is the au pair good with children?
Take a look at the au pair's profile. Has she much experience with children? Is she choosing a long-term career working with children or a caring career? Has she done any volunteer work with children? Has she worked in children's camps?
Another thing to look out ofr is how interested she/he is in your children when you skype/interview her/him? Does she ask about your children? Is she interested when you speak about their hobbies? Having your children in the room when doing the interview is also a goo way to find out if this au pair is interested in your children. Does she/he make an effort to talk to your children? Does she say hello to them or just speak about her/himself?  Also, asking them how they would organize their time with the children and what activities they would plan for them is a good way to find out if your future au pair will be comfortable dealing with your kids. Please also see our agency's blog post Interview tips for host families.
2. Does the au pair have experience with children?
An au pair may claim to have years of childcare or babysitting experience. We always recommend to check au pairs’ references and to ring them directly. Do not accept a paper reference as you will not know who wrote this. It is very important to speak to the referee directly. 
3. Is she a responsible and trustworthy person?
If you’re leaving your children alone with your au pair, you want to make sure that she will behave responsibly. A way to detect if you can trust your au pair is, for example, by paying attention at her behaviour while the two of you are getting to know each other. Is she providing you all the information you asked her? Were the references she gave you as good as she claimed? Get a medical check for your au pair. Au pairs are obliged to be in good health to take care of children. It is not unreasonable for an au pair to provide a medical report stating that she/he is in good health.
4. Does she fit your family's specific needs?
It's very important to make as good a match as possible to ensure that the au pair stay is going to be a success. Make sure to tell the au pair everything about your family from the very beginning. If you live in the country, make sure that the au pair is happy with this, if you have animals make sure that your au pair is not allergic or does not dislike animals, if you have very young children make sure that your au pair is comfortable with this, if there is special needs in your family it is important that your au pair is aware of this and is comfortable with this. If by telling your au pair about specific information about your family, the au pair chooses not to come to your family, this is not a bad thing. The worst thing that can happen is to secure an au pair and for her to leave soon after she arrives. It's better to wait and find the best match for your family. It will be better for your children and your family in the long term rather than having au pairs coming and going all the time.
5. Trust your gut
If all your final candidates seem to be a good fit for the role and you can’t make a decision, just follow your instinct. Sometimes you just KNOW when an au pair is the right one for your family. Usually in the end a family will base their choice on the au pair that they 'get on with' the best over Skype. If you clicked with some candidate in particular and you feel there’s a strong and positive connection between the two of you, just trust your gut and pick the au pair that you feel your family will love and get on with the best.

Good luck with your search!

5 activities au pairs and host families can do to have fun together

Au pairs’ and host families’ main focus is the children in the family. It’s important that the au pair and the host family work together to plan activities that the children will enjoy.

All children are different, so it’s important that the host family gives the au pair some ideas of things she/he can do with their children and the things that their children enjoy.

One of the beautiful aspects of being an au pair is that you can have lots of fun with your host children and that you can become friends. Being able to plan some creative activities to do with the children will help to give you and your family a great chance to build a special and lasting relationship. 

If you are looking for ideas of things you, your au pair and your children can do together see below: 

1. Activity centres 

Activity centres are great because they usually offer both outdoor and indoor activities, so they’re a great option on a rainy day or to spend some time in the fresh air. Leisure centres offer lots of indoor activities, for example, water based activities and water games would be an invaluable opportunity for your au pair to encourage your child’s water confidence and awareness. If you would like a really special day out, Adventure centres are a great idea! They have outdoor activities and they can be a nice way for the whole family and the au pair to spend some time together exploring nature. From climbing walls, to kayaking to zip wires. These adventure centres can be fun for the whole family.

2. Arts and crafts

Arts and crafts centres are becoming more and more popular and they’re a great way for children to find out their hidden skills. Among the activities included at these centres there are: painting, collage, drawing, clay textiles and much more. The au pair may take part to these activities with the children and they could try to experiment more at home. The children might find out they have excellent drawing skills and may discover a new hobby to do at home. Your au pair could inspire them with new ideas and your children will cherish these handcrafted creations made together. 

3. Pet farms & animal farms 

All children love pets! Bringing the children to a pet farm you can never go wrong. It’s a great chance to spend a family fun day out. For the children it will be a funny and educational experience that will bring them closer to pets. They will learn a lot about them and they will have the chance to get up close to them. This could be a good opportunity for your au pair to teach the children some facts about pets, help them feeding the pets and play with them. The children will never forget this experience and they will always link this memory to the au pair. 

 4. Cookery classes

One of the advantages of having an au pair at home is that she/he can bring new dishes and flavours on your table. Here is the chance for your au pair to experience what intercultural exchange means. If the au pair has good cooking skills, she could teach your children how to make a real Italian pizza, or an authentic Spanish paella. Nothing is more fun to a child than to make a real mess in the house! Your children will love to knead the dough with their hands and create new forms. It will be an educational experience too as they will learn how to make food and will start gaining some nutritional awareness. Also, it is a good way for the au pair to teach the children to clean up after they have dirtied the kitchen. The children will see the cleaning up as part of having fun instead of seeing it as a boring task to do. For the children it will be a huge satisfaction to see their final dish ready and eaten by the rest of the family and, again, they will tie this memory to their au pair. If you don’t want your kitchen to become a mess, don’t worry! In most towns you’ll find cookery schools where both your au pair and your children can take part to cookery classes where all ingredients are provided. 

5. Bowling 

Bowling is another activity that can bring the whole family and the au pair together. The children can have lots of fun with their au pair challenging her in a healthy competition game or, if you’re up to take part in the challenge, your au pair might team up with your children and try to challenge you! This could be a great opportunity for the children to bond with the au pair and see her as part of their team not only when bowling but also at home. The children will understand that the au pair is fun and that she/he is on their side, so they’ll surely involve her/him in other games at home making her/him feel as part of the family. For au pairs there’s no better thing than to feel accepted and welcomed in their host family. The happier they feel in your house, the more they will do to make the whole family happy in return.

WHAT SHOULD BE IN MY AU PAIR CONTRACT?

Au pairs and host families regularly contact us to ask about an au pair contract. Do I need an au pair contract? And what should be in an au pair contract?

We always recommend that au pairs and host families have a number of Skype calls before agreeing to an au pair stay. During these skype calls you should discuss, hours of work, light housework, working schedule, English classes and holidays. It's really important that you discuss and agree on everything from hours to agreed light housework, working schedule etc. This way you can both talk about your own expectations and iron out any potential issues. This is an invaluable opportunity for you to understand if you and your potential host family/au pair will be a good match for each other or not. 

Do I need an au pair contract?
We recommend that every family and au pair sign an au pair contract before agreeing to an au pair placement. An au pair should not book their flight before this contract has been signed and agreed to by both the au pair and the family.

In the au pair contract you should include all aspects concerning the au pair placement. These include:

1. working hours and time off
2. weekly pocket money including the day that this will be paid
3. working schedule
4. paid holidays (an au pair should receive 1 week of paid holidays for every 6 months)
5. required notice if the placement needs to be terminated* 
6. the date of commencement and end of the au pair placement

These are the most important conditions of your placement, so you should make sure that you and your family/ au pair agree upon them from the beginning. For example, if the au pair chooses to attend English classes, they mist be given enough time off to attend these. An au pair should never be asked to mind the children when they have to attend English classes.

Time off

Discussing the days you are available and your time off is very important too. Usually au pairs are entitled to a full weekend off per month, one full day off at the weekends and 5 free evenings per week. Anything different than this should be agreed upon in advance and it should be written down in the contract.

Pocket money

Once you have agreed on the number of hours you are available for your family, then you should discuss the pocket money with them. We recommend that you check beforehand what the average pocket money is in the country that you chose to move to, so that you have an idea whether your family is offering you a fair amount of money or not. Please see our recommended pocket money here.....

Duties & responsibilities

Au pairs main priority is to mind the family’s children. This could mean picking them up from school, helping them with their homework, playing with them in their spare time and generally anything that related to the children. Au pairs would usually help the family and stay with the children during the day, but families are allowed to ask for 1 or 2 nights babysitting per week depending on the au pairs hours. Again if you need babysitting, this should go into the au pair contract.

In addition to minding the children, au pairs are usually required to help their host families with a few household chores, such as: making snacks and ironing for the children, vacuuming the children’s room, washing dishes, etc. Even in this case, if there is any particular light housework that you have agreed to do with your host family, you should include it in the contract.

Start and end date of the placement

These dates have to be discussed in advance and have to be included in the agreement. Should the au pair or the family terminate the placement before the agreed terms, both parties are due to give at least a two weeks’ notice. Also, the contract should state the family’s right to end the agreement immediately in case of gross misconduct (such as theft, forgery, deceit, violence, etc.).

Terms & conditions

Other important details that should be made clear on the agreement are:

• Travel costs: au pairs have to provide for their own travel expenses
• Behaviour: host families should clarify how they expect their au pair to behave (be punctual, respectful, etc.) and what is not acceptable behaviour for them (such as what time the au pair needs to be home if they are minding the children the following day)
• Language spoken in the house: the au pair will participate in the family’s life and speak their language with the kids, unless otherwise required (for example, the family might request that the au pair teach her own language to the children, because they want them to learn a second language).

To see Kangaroo au pair's au pair contract, please click the following  link. Please feel free to download and print off.

*There are certain specific occasions when an au pair placement can be terminated without notice.