WHAT IS AN AU PAIR?
An au pair is a girl or boy, usually aged 17-30, who helps a host family with childcare and sometimes housework, while living as a guest in their home. While living with a family an au pair participates in childcare and also other related activities, from light housework to babysitting, or even helping older children develop particular skills (such as learning a new language or sport). Being an au pair for a family, and a guest in their home, the au pair tends to participate in many of the family activities and is treated as part of the family. So participating in an au pair programme can be a very exciting and interesting experience for the au pair and the family.
Au pairs are young overseas students who come out to live with an Australian family as part of a cultural exchange experience. They often do this as their “gap year” when finishing high school or taking a year “out” from their University studies. They are usually aged 18-25 years and do not have any formal childcare qualifications. All of our Au Pairs have baby-sitting experience with families and personal references from home countries. They are an “extra pair for hands” during busy periods of the day, such as early morning and afternoons/ dinner time. As Au Pairs are not qualified childcare workers or nannies therefore cannot be responsible for looking after babies under 12 months of age unsupervised for long periods of time, 2/3 hours maximum, definitely not for the entire day.
A. Au pairs are young adults between the ages of 18 and 26 who come to the United States and live as an extended member of their host family. Au pairs provide up to 45 hours per week of childcare in exchange for room, board, a small weekly stipend and up to $500 toward 6 credits at an accredited educational institution.
An au pair is (normally) a young person, who lives with a host family for between 1 and 24 months. The role of the au pair is basically to look after the children, prepare meals and do some light housework. This is just a basic overview of what an au pair may be asked to do. The au pair may also be asked to: drive the children to and from school, help the children with homework, extra murals etc., When au pair programs were originally set up the purpose was to ensure an exchange of cultures coupled with looking after children. Therefore an au pair from France would want to work in the United States to learn English, the American culture and way of life. The family in return would also learn about the French language and culture and would get assistance with their children. The au pair does not sign a contract and is usually treated as part of the family. However the conditions of work should be laid down on paper to protect the family and the au pair.
