Au Pair Trip in Ireland 26th February 2017

Calling all our au pairs in Ireland:

OUR NEXT AU PAIR TRIP TO WILD WICKLOW

Our next au pair trip is on Sunday 26th February going to Wild Wicklow

Itinerary for the day: 
We leave at 8.45am from Stephen's Green Shopping Centre, Dublin
* Short Dublin City tour
* Coastal drive past DunLaoghaire Harbour, Dalkey and Killiney,
* Avoca Handweavers - Morning Coffee* and craft shopping
* Glendalough - We personally guide you through this enchanting 6th Century Monastic Settlement
* Pub Lunch - Home cooking in a traditional Irish Pub*
* Sally Gap Adventure - mountain lakes, wild heather and barren boglands (location for Excalibur, Braveheart and P.S. I Love You)
Arrive back at Trinity College at 5.30-6pm
Cost of the trip is €28 for Kangaroo au pairs and their friends. Please contact us at info@kangarooaupair.com to book your place before the 22nd February.
We are looking forward to seeing you then!

5 reasons to become an Au Pair in Italy

Dreaming of doing your au pair placement in the sun, surrounded by art and culture and eating some of the most amazing food in the world? Becoming an au pair in Italy and your dream can come true!

More and more Italian families are now looking for an au pair to come and live with them and mind their children. And luckily for you the demand is growing by the day! So let’s find out the top 5 reasons to become an au pair in Italy and the requirements needed to do so.

1. Cultural enrichment. The au pair experience is already an enriching life experience in itself, but in Italy it just reaches a whole new height! Being an au pair in a foreign country means you get to know a different culture, different traditions, a different language and lots of new people. For this very reason, the au pair placement is usually considered a life-changing experience. Italy is such a varied country that every time you travel to a different region, you’ll feel like you’re visiting a different country!


2. Italian families. Fancy, spending the afternoon on the beach while speaking English to your host children? Unlike the au pair placement in other countries where families are looking for an au pair mainly to get some help with the children and to expose them to a different culture, more and more Italian families look for au pairs who can teach a new language to their children. This means the au pair placement is usually very pleasant and easy and more focused on the language and cultural exchange than on any household chores. Also, Italians families are very friendly, welcoming and love to spend time together and talk. You’ll feel part of the family straightaway!


3. Arts & History. Anywhere you go in Italy, you’ll be surrounded by art and you’ll feel like you’re going back in time. From the Colosseum and St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, to the Dome in Milan, the beautiful museums and churches in Florence, the breath-taking Five Lands (Cinque Terre) in Liguria, the ancient Greek temples in Sicily, or the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The list is endless, so if you love art, you won’t be disappointed.


4. Outdoor activities. Thanks to its great longitudinal extension, Italy’s climate and landscape is very diverse. The North of Italy is the perfect choice for those who love skiing, trekking or cycling and for those who don’t like temperatures that are too hot. The Centre-South is perfect for the sea and heat lovers, giving you the chance to practice sports such as sailing, surfing, windsurfing, etc. In the summertime temperatures can go as high as 40 degrees, but if this is too hot for you, you can take a refreshing dipping in the sea.


5. Food. Needless to say the Italian cuisine is one of the best in the world. Even in this case dishes can vary a lot from North to South and there’s something to suit every taste. Italians love food and love to spend time at the table, so a nice way to interact with your host family and their children would be to cook for them some typical dishes of your country. This way they can learn a bit about your own culture and traditions.

Au pair working hours and pocket money in Italy.

Au pair placements in Italy are partially regulated by law. Au pairs’ have to be between 17 and 30 and they cannot work over 30 hours per week (ideally no more than 5 hours per day for 6 days a week). The amount of pocket money is around €300 per month, but can vary according to the amount of working hours and the number of children.

For more detailed information about the au pair programme in Italy, we advise you to check our Au Pair Programme in Italy and to check out the video of one of our Italian host families.

My Au Pair Summer in Spain

For all our budding au pairs, please read on. The following is Irish Siobhan Costello's recollection of her amazing summer in Spain as a kangaroo au pair! We hope that her account inspires you as much as it has us. Thank you Siobhan for writing such a wonderful piece about life as an au pair, Corinna and the Kangaroo Au Pair Team

 My summer of being Spanish!!! 

In typical Irish fashion being a young adult mainly consists of spending the summers working 

hard abroad on a visa or something, but did my summer consist of hard work? Let me 

think… most definitely not!! I spent my entire summer working (having fun) as an au pair for 

an amazing Spanish family. 

Let me give you some background, for those that don’t  know me,  it’s always been a dream 

of mine to be an au pair for a summer, to experience a new culture, look after children and 

enjoy my summer hols all at the same time. So going through the application process last 

January my expectations were moderate to say the least. Within a couple of weeks I had 

come in contact with my ideal host family. A Spanish family with two young kids who live in 

a small village just outside Barcelona. What could sound more perfect? A summer with 

plenty of sunshine, in Antoni Gaudi famous city of Barcelona and for a bonus learning bits of 

Catalan (main language in Catalunya) and Spanish, I was most certainly convinced! 

In what only felt like a short space of time I was saying goodbye to the wind and rain and 

jetting off to the tropical Mediterranean.  Within the first week there was definitely some 

aspects of home sickness, I had brought some of my Lyons teabags with me, however the 

host family didn’t have a kettle so had to resort to the old fashioned way of boiling water in 

a saucepan.  Thankfully the homesickness didn’t last long as I began to become fonder of 

the Spanish food, culture and the beautiful city life. 

The host family welcome me with open arms, basically becoming the fifth member of their 

family. Each day consisted of new adventures with the children. Some days we spent the 

afternoons in the pool, going to a chocolate museum, the zoo and going on picnics. Once 

again I kept my Irish element with me and decided I would teach them some Gaelic. It 

started off as a challenge for them to pronounce it but once they started there was no 

stopping them. I’m proud to say I’ve created international Mayo supporters!! 

Having evenings and weekends off gave me plenty of opportunities to meet new people and 

be a proper tourist doing some sightseeing. My host family took me one weekend to a small 

village just outside the city of Lleida, it’s a village that is quite similar to typical Irish ones 

apart from a few small things like the weather and how their Sunday roast consists of Paella 

compared to our spuds, meat and vegetables. 

One ambition of mine whilst being in Spain was to truly experience how the Spanish people 

lived. So one day I took the opportunity to travel to Monserrat. Monserrat is seen as the 

most important religious retreat for the Catalan people. It is about 40 minute outside the 

city and you get cable cars up to the mountain. On the mountain there is a small village with 

breath-taking scenery, a monastery and so much more. It’s not just a pilgrimage it felt like 

Throughout my stay in Barcelona I consider myself so privileged and lucky to have met some 

extradinary people, I became friends with so many au pair from around the world from 

Scotland all the way over to America.  It made every weekend a new adventure travelling 

around being typical tourists with our cameras. I have so many highlights it so hard to 

mention them all.  Me being my normal sporty self it was my mission to go to camp nou to 

watch a match despite the fact I don’t even support Barca.  Trying to be a neutral at a 

Barcelona home game was quite a challenge especially when you know well who is going to 

win before the game even began. The atmosphere was absolutely incredible, if you think 

screaming the fields of Athenry at an Ireland game is thrilling then you have seen nothing. 

Barcelona have their own special chant before each game where the whole stadium gets 

involved, even some fans bring along their own instruments to play. 

As many of you know Barcelona has some amazing sights, so here’s a bit of tourist 

promotion for you. The Magic Fountain of Montjuic is most definitely the one place I miss so 

much about Barcelona now. There’s a few fountains with one main one in the centre, every 

weekend it displays magical and breath taking colours with music playing in the background. 

I could have stayed there for hours upon hours, if you ever go to the city the magic fountain 

is a must see attraction. 

Summer 2015 is a summer I will never forget I now have a second family and home in 

Barcelona and have made best friends for life from all around the world.

 by Siobhan Costello, Ireland

For other related stories about being an au pair see:

Au pair programme Spain

Being an au pair in Italy

Spanish au pair Elena's video about being an au pair in Ireland

For more information about being an au pair in Spain see also Rachel Ward's article 'The realities of au pair life abroad' from Transitions abroad

For more information about being an au pair, see our au pair programmes. To become a summer au pair, please register a profile on kangaroo au pair.

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!