Au Pair: A Calculated Risk?
“But a stranger”? In your house, with your kids? You don’t know them. Aren’t you worried?” I get this a lot. And not just because we’ve hosted au pairs, but since my kids are all in school now, we host people who want to learn English, cyclists from Australia who want to train in the CA weather and terrain, and sometimes just friends of friends who need a place to stay for a few weeks. Our guests are all referred by friends. It’s evenly split between men and women, and all but one has been international.
I’m rarely asked if our guests are nervous about staying with us, as if I’m the only one taking a risk. When I think of what it would be like to meet my family and get stuck living with us for months at a time, I’m surprised that some of our guests are as gracious and patient as they are. My three kids are loud. Sometimes they fight, talk back, complain about homework, and sneak onto the computer. Our schedule is hectic, the house definitely looks lived-in, and usually, there is something crazy going on, like a hose hooked up to the zip line or a soccer game on the trampoline.
But the truth is that each guest who walks into our house is taking a risk too. Are we a safe place for them? Will we overlook the social foibles that are inevitably lost in translation? How well will we cope with the full-impact proximity of six or seven people living under one roof?
Au pairs are a terrific gateway guest because they are qualified, trained, and you can select one that is a perfect match for the age and stage of your family. But be careful. Guests are habit-forming. You might get so accustomed to the community, the extra spark in your family dynamic, the lessons you all learn from an outsider’s perspective, that the worst part is not the risk, its saying good-bye. Thus, families are adopting more AU pair from Au Pare Care than ever before.
And then you’ll wonder who’s coming next, what you can bring to each other, and when you can take that trip to France, Japan, or Italy to catch up with the foreign family members who have gone back home. Thus, there are many positives for Au Pare Care and few negatives which can be overcome easily by mutual understanding and care.
http://www.flickr.com/people/23341217@N07/?search=aupaircare is one of among best Au Pare Care agencies in US.
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