What is the difference between an au pair and a nanny? A nanny is a professional babysitter who a family hires to take care of their children. An au pair is a young adult with a lot of childcare experience who travels abroad for a year to live with a family and take care of their children. The au pair improves their language skills and becomes a member of the household while advancing his or her education to boot. The family gets a new temporary household member, a young vibrant childcare provider and some insight in to other cultures. Ever wonder how and why the concept of cultural exchange through au pairs developed?
To find out more about how the au pair program works please contact me; Kim.campbell(AT SYMBOL)lcc.culturalcare.com
What: Chicago Scavenger Hunt for all Cultural Care Au Pairs and friends from other agencies!
When: Saturday, September 17, 11a-3pm
Where: Meet at the “Bean” Millenium Park, Chicago
Cost: Free for au pairs
Wear your blue shirts & get ready to have fun with all of the au pairs in your favorite location, downtown Chicago.
If you enjoy my wordy posts here you might enjoy my brief updates even more on Twitter! Start following Chicago Au Pair today for program updates, tips and childcare related topics.
“Nature abhors a vacuum. And so do I.” ~Anne Gibbons
We tell host families that au pairs can help with “light housekeeping”. Yet the definition of light varies from person to person. Here is what the U.S. Department of State (which oversees the au pair program) has to say about it most definitively:
“While the primary responsibility of the au pair is to care for the children, au pairs can perform some household duties that are child related (meal preparation, light housekeeping, etc.)”
For years Cultural Care has been helping families and au pairs define this issue and the conclusion is that au pairs can be expected to do any cleaning associated with the children such as: cleaning the children’s bedrooms & bathroom, picking up toys, preparing the children’s meals. On thing that really helps is if the host family puts their expectations for cleaning and its frequency in the household handbook.
An au pair should not do anything associated with the parent’s cleaning such as adult laundry (except for the au pair’s personal laundry of course), parent’s bathroom or bedroom, general house cleaning.
Of course, an au pair should clean up after themselves! That includes their laundry, private bathroom (if they are lucky enough to have one) and bedroom. Lastly, although an au pair is often considered part of the family during her year long stay, she should politely tidy up her own messes so that the host family doesn’t feel as if she is creating work for them.
