Information for First Time Host Families

We are currently getting a lot of questions from families considering an au pair for the first time. The economic situation has made many families re-think their children’s’ education and childcare options for after school or families with younger children are calculating the cost of the nursery or the nanny versus cheaper options such as an au pair.

To make sure we cater for ‘first timers’ the best possible way, here are some of the questions we are asked most frequently.

What are the main differences between a nanny, a child minder and an au pair?

A nanny is a childcare professional. You can expect them to know everything about handling different age groups and they are fully ‘equipped’ to care for babies also. They are unlikely to take on any household task except those directly relating to your children. They live out and come to your house to care for your children as per an agreed schedule. You pay them a salary, expect upward from £350 net per week. She is caring for your child/children only and you pay the same for 1 child or several children. School age children may be too independent for a nanny. If you want any housework done in addition to childcare, expect to pay for a regular cleaner also. Any babysitting or extra hours are extra.

New Au Pair Course

Smartaupairs is contributing to a brand new ‘au pair’ course which has already received accreditation through the OCN, the Open College Network. The course is designed by Milton Keynes Language Center and will be online. It will be a 30 hour course set out over 4 sections. The Au pair course is just one unit of a larger course titled ‘British Culture’. The other units in the course being: British business etiquette, British heritage, People in history and Famous Britons. We aim to make this course affordable for au pairs and the content looks really exciting, fun and relevant – we feel this will be a fantastic benefit for all au pairs keen to embrace the cultural experience!

Flexible Child Care – Au Pairs for Shift Workers

An au pair can work really well in families where one or both parents work shifts, such as emergency services such as doctors, nurses, police officers and the fire brigade but also those working in the hospitality industry such as restaurants and the entertainment industry are often out in the evenings or overnight. Even those who work in the medical profession on a nine-to-five basis, sometimes have additional ‘on call’ duties.

The advantages of live-in child care are even greater for families who work shifts, as the au pair is already at their home and familiar with the children, some are even happy to provide overnight child care for night workers.

For some employees shift work means an extremely early start. In this case, the au pair can get up with the children at a normal time and get the children ready for school and take them there. Any other child care solutions, if at all they are available at such early times, usually means getting the children up much earlier then usual and dropping them of somewhere prior to school hours, which is stressful to the parent and tiring for the children.

And working late in the evening part of your working patterns, a nursery or childminder either is not available after 6pm or charges significantly extra. An au pair who is already at your home can provide the extra flexibility required.

Many au pairs are very comfortable with parents who work shifts. As long as they can attend language classes and know more or less in advance when to expect to be in charge of the children, they can be an ideal solution for working parents, especially those in shift work.

The benefit of live-in child care is that both au pair and children can go to bed at a usual time and in their own comfortable home, meaning a fresh start the next day. It really helps that the au pair is familiar with the children and with the home.

Sole charge and overnight

It is important to stress to host families that an au pair is not a professional child carer. Before you leave them in charge of children, especially those younger than school age, it is vital that you give them clear and full instruction and a settling in period before you leave them in charge of your children for long periods of time or overnight. Our handbook guide gives detailed information about how to ‘train’ your au pair.

Considering an au pair for the first time?

We provide additional support for host families who are considering an au pair for the first time. We also arrange short term placements, particularly suited as a trial but also ideal for those who are employed on short term contract and may change location after a few months.

Register with Smartaupairs

More Choice of Specialist Candidates

Our specialist candidates are very popular with families looking for that ‘little bit extra’ from the au pair placement.

These Specialists are candidates who are either Native English speakers, Mother’s help candidates (more responsibility and/or longer hours) or ‘tutor-au-pair’ candidates (able to assist with homework support).

The candidates below may be placed at any time and their profiles are just examples of the caliber of specialists we regularly place through smartaupairs.

For more practical information about
Mother’s help positions click here.

For more practical information about
Tutor au pairs click here

SPECIALIST (5147)

Lisanne from The Netherlands

Lisanne is a 21 years old Dutch girl and a Specialist candidate. She completed 2 1/2 years of a teacher training course and also did practical training but decided it was not her ideal future career and wanted to take a year out before making definitive decisions about her future studies (Sep 2010) and wants to spend the ‘year out’ as au pair.

• Tutor or Mother’s Help candidate
• Extensive childcare experiences due to her education and a lot of babysitting
• Internships at Nursery for babies and toddlers, at Primary schools for children with learning difficulties (ages 6-11) and at a Montessori school (ages 6-9)
• Very good English skills
• Start date: July 2009 for 9 – 12 months

SPECIALIST (5165)

Erin from Canada

Erin is a 21 years old Canadian girl and therefore a native English speaker. She has got lots of childcare experiences as she has worked as a Supply Early Childhood Educator to take part in essential routines and assisting children during those routines such as toileting, sleep time and supervising outside. She also worked as a “Before and After School Program Teacher”.
Erin loves horse back riding, is a condident rider and gave children horse back riding lessons in summer camps. She has done a lot of babysitting as well.

• Native English Speaker
• Early childhood Education first aid CPR
• Extensive childcare experiences with babies, toddlers and school aged children
• Start date: September 2009 for 11 – 12 months

SPECIALIST (5174)

Edith from Sweden

Edith is an 18 years old Swedish girl and has got lots of experiences in supervising children. She has provided live-in care in a family in Sweden while being a part time student in high school and she has also been a summer au pair in England already. Edith gained many experiences in babysitting as well. As she loves dancing she arranged a dance camp for children that she has written the stories for and she has been the chorographer for the shows the children performed.

• Mother’s help candidate
• Extensive childcare experiences with babies, toddlers and school aged children. Her mum is also a nanny so full support.
• Very good English skills.
• She has already lived away from home since she was 15 while providing Live-in care
• Start date: July 2009 for 6 – 12 months

Feedback from Host Families

We were delighted for all the support and feedback we received as part of our recent survey.

Please see below for some of the testimonials:

“I am extremely impressed both with the service offered and with my au pair. Not only is she fantastic with my children, she is also lots of fun to have around. It feels as if she has always been part of our family. I will miss her when she has to return home.” Clare, Surrey

“
I want to say a big thank you to both of you for finding me good aupairs and supporting me throughout. My experience with both of my aupairs has been great. My current au-pair Gesa is leaving in early April and we are really going to miss her. “ Seema, Longfield

“The smart au pair service has been great throughout. I know four families who have used smart au pairs and none of us have been disappointed!” Name Withheld

“Smartaupairs is a very professional and reliable agency that made me feel secure and confident about taking on an au pair for the first time. I would highly recommend their services to anyone.” Victoria, London

“The service I have received from Smartaupairs has been excellent. The well thought out information and attention to detail has made smartaupairs stand head and shoulders above any other au pair agency I have ever dealt with.” Jenny, Surrey

“We’ve had au pairs for a number of years but this was the first year I’d used Smart Au Pairs, having been let down by my previous agency. We’re delighted with our au pair and I found Smart Au Pairs very efficient and helpful with a broad range of potential au pairs to choose from – I will be using you again. “ Wendy, East Finchley

“I’ve had a lot of au pairs before but this is the first time I’ve used smart aupairs and Alex, our au pair is one of the best au pairs we have had. ” Kate, Salisbury

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All of our customers rated our website and written information excellent or good. Our verbal communications were rated excellent or good by 97% of our customers.

94% of our customers are highly likely to use our service again & recommend us to their friends.*

Feedback from Families:

“I am writing to let you know how much we all love our au pair.
She is super sweet and really fantastic with the boys.
She seems to be settling in very well and has already met some other local aupairs she is becoming
friends with and enrolled at an english school.
I am grateful to find her at short notice, so thank you.” Host family,  Middlesex

“Thanks for all your help in getting our lives organised… Good au-pairs are mother’s saviour!
Denise”  Host Mum in London

“I was anxious, as a lone parent, as to how I would adapt to live-in help. But within weeks of our au-pair joining us friends and family have commented on how much happier we seem as a family. Help with the children and in the house has made such a positive difference to my life and as a result my children’s.” Name Withheld,Host Family

“I wanted to say how delighted we have been with the service provided by SmartAupairs, from the search to the handbook to the welcome pack and other little touches.
“We are also thrilled with the wonderful girl who has joined our family. She is everything we hoped she would be. Thanks so much.” Host Mum Suzie

“Jennie is leaving us tomorrow and I just wanted to say that she has been a HUGE success, thank you very much.
The last 4 weeks would not have been possible without her help as I had very big jobs on and we have been packing to move house. She came into our home when things were upside-down, I was preoccupied with work and was able to give her little guidance, and she took it all in her stride and just got on with everything, mastered public transport and just cracked on with life.
The children loved her immediately and are really sad that she is leaving, and my husband has voted her ‘best au pair ever’ (well, that includes our lovely Polish Aga who has helped us for years!) So thank you, it has been great having her and we are sad that it is not her staying in Sep, but we have high hopes for Elisa and look forward to seeing her” Thanks Beth xxx

“Thank you for the folders which I received yesterday for both myself and Kate. I have to say the professionalism with which this has been dealt is fantastic and I want to thank you all for your hard work and commitment to ensuring that this au pair placement goes well.” Kind Regards Samantha

Au Pair of the Year awarded at City Hall in Vienna

Published by Ozgur Tore  – credit to ftnnews.com

IAPA – the International Au Pair Association has announced the winner of the Au Pair of the Year, 24-year old, Ricardo Silva de Araujo of Brazil. He was placed with a family in the United States.

Now in its sixth year, the annual award presented by IAPA goes to an Au Pair that embodies the spirit of cultural exchange. Families from around the world that have received an Au Pair from one of IAPA’s 140 plus member agencies can nominate candidates for the award. A panel of IAPA representatives then selects three finalists from the hundreds of entries, with a winner chosen from these.

“As is the case every year, we had a very difficult time selecting just one winner from the many, many deserving entries we received. Ricardo was so special for his openness, sharing and commitment to his host family and their son Taylor,” said Jack Hompes, IAPA chairman.

Cultural Care Au Pair, an organisation based in the USA placed Ricardo with the Boyer family. The family’s now 17-year son, Taylor is multi-handicapped, having suffered an allergic reaction to an immunization as a six month old. He is unable to speak, has difficulty walking and experiences seizures. In Ricardo’s words however, “he may not able to talk, but he is able to feel. His feelings are pure as an angel and his smile when happy, is the best way to say thank you.”

Upon Ricardo’s arrival with the Boyer family that was in the midst of preparing for their daughter’s upcoming wedding, Ricardo was amazed by the incredible patience and support the family showed him during this stressful time. There was much Ricardo had to learn in order to help properly care for Taylor and the family’s support made the enormous transition to a new culture, new language and learning new skills much easier.

Talking about his time with the family, Ricardo says, “I learned the real meaning of love, patience and respect. Real love does not come in phrases like: “I love you,” this is easy to say but difficult to feel.

Taylor’s disability is not an obstacle for his happiness, this has made me feel good. I love Taylor and know he loves me back. I can feel it.”

Ricardo concludes, ”I came to America as an au pair, I will leave a better human being.”

For his achievement, Ricardo Silva de Araujo received a commemorative plaque and prize from IAPA, in addition to an all expense paid trip to Vienna to receive the award.

The award is presented as part of the IAPA Annual Conference and in conjunction with the Work Experience Travel Market.

About the International Au Pair Association (IAPA)

The International Au Pair Association (IAPA) was established in 1994 by cultural exchange organisations seeking to improve and protect the rights of au pairs and host families around the world. The association has been responsible for the creation of internationally recognised guidelines for au pairs and exchange programmes with its 140 plus member organisations agreeing to abide by the IAPA Code of Conduct: signifying competence, fair dealing and high integrity.

Your Au Pair Can Save You Money

How to Save on Child Care

With the recent headline in The Times a couple of days ago being ‘Families’ cash fears worst for 26 years’ and more recently how families will need to review their budget to see if they can continue to pay for school fees, as fees are accelerating at nearly twice the official rate of inflation. (Source Money Week online), I really wanted to dedicate this article to the most affordable childcare solution.

Quick Stats

£7,000-£8,000 The average annual amount parents pay for a child’s day-nursery care, according to the Daycare Trust. The average for a childminder is £7,500
£33,000 a year Total amount that families with nannies fork out for a “live-out” nanny in
London, according to specialist payroll service NannyTax
Source: The Guardian, Wednesday June 18, 2008

In Britain we are very lucky, because we speak English. There will always be young people coming to Britain to improve their English and many still look to do so by combining formal language classes whilst staying with a host family and looking after the children. This is the au pair program.

Although I never want to promote the au pair program as ‘cheap childcare’ it is easy to see that it is indeed the most affordable paid childcare solution available in Britain. So, if you are reviewing your childcare budget, please read on, hosting an au pair is not for everybody and you certainly should think twice if you are choosing an au pair ONLY on the basis that it is cheaper than your current child care solution.

Key areas where an au pair can save you money are:

• Help with homework instead of after school clubs and extra lessons
• Help with music practise, thus reducing the hours in professional music tuition
• Sports and activities in the park, rather than in structured after school club
• Cooking and other light housework

To be a host family you need to be able to free up a comfortable room in your home, preferably with space to study and a TV/DVD player and maybe internet access. A host family need to be educated to speak good English and open to influences from other cultures. After all, the au pair is here on a cultural exchange.

But when it comes to saving money, you may find that hosting an au pair can not only be affordable on a weekly basis, as pocket money starts from £70 for after school care (regardless of the number of children) for up to 25 hours per week, there may also be a few extra savings and you may get ‘more than you bargained for’ in a pleasant way.

Many European families live on a smaller weekly budget than British families and are more careful with resources. More food is home made from scratch, which is not only cheaper than microwave meals, it is much healthier too. In Europe, most families recycle more than the average family in Britain. (source Friends of the Earth www.foe.co.uk). In the Netherlands, many people cycle when making short journeys, again saving money and increasing family fitness at the same time.

Also, as your au pair will not just care for younger children but also can be a great asset when it comes to helping with homework for school age children. Rather than expensive after school facilities, many educated au pairs are well placed to help with school work and enjoy doing so, as it is a good way to improve their language skills through interaction with children. We find that many of our au pairs go on to a career in teaching.

The vast majority of au pairs that we place at smartaupairs are of graduate calibre and their year as an au pair is often chosen at some time during their studies or sometimes even after they graduate. Our Geman au pairs for example always have at least achieved their ‘arbitur’ (the equivalent to A-levels) and already speak good English. Many are very serious about learning and are happy to share this with your children.

Many au pairs can also save money when it comes to hobbies, such as for example playing a musical instrument. Although they may not be able to replace lessons, choosing a musical au pair means that expensive music practice lessons can be reduced to once weekly and further practice can be done at home with the au pair.

Au pairs can also save when helping you with light housework; rather than using the tumble dryer in a hurry to get out the door, your au pair can put your washing out on the line before walking the kids to school. She can help making home made sandwiches for lunch for you rather than then pre-packed and involving the children to do so as an ‘afternoon project’ means the children can make a positive contribution also.

Cooking ‘British fare’ from scratch is not usually difficult and using local produce means cheaper meals (and healthy AND low on food miles!!) Children and au pair can find recipes online that are easy to follow and fun to cook together. Again, the au pair can improve language skills through reading the recipe and finding out about British food and culture in the process. Baked beans are a great product to use, cheap and healthy and most kids like it, SOOO British!

And finally, having asked some of my au pairs for suggestions on affordable fun with children, I have been able to come up with quite a list;

Indoors – No expensive material needed!

•    Junk modelling, using recycled material to make fun art,anything from simple use of cereal boxes, paper mache, pasta on a string, filling a plastic bottle with rice to make a musical instruments, etc.
•    Singing! Super simple and great fun. Why not prepare for a Friday night show for the parents!
•    Dancing, drama etc. as per singing above.
•    Dressing up, recycle old clothes and hats for an afternoon of fashion police; cat walk optional…….
•    Colouring, painting, cutting, sticking, use magazines and newspapers rather than expensive new paper
•    Reading
+ visit to local library
•    Writing, why not let your kids write a short story about the best place they have ever visited or where they would like to go on holiday and use a travel brochure for the best pictures, better still, let them write their own travel brochure.
•    Cooking, think simple rice crispy cakes, pancakes, milkshakes, pizza, fruitsalad.

Outdoors

• Hide and seek with small toys, on person to hide a number of objects in the garden or the park and the others to find. Scoring and stop watch optional.
• Any kind of ballgames, from football to cricket, why not fill a couple of plastic bottles with water and play ‘ten-pin-bowling’
• Design a treasure hunt around the local area
• Picnic in the park, even the most boring sandwiches can be exciting this way.
• Feeding the ducks
• Walk the neighbours’ dog
• Playgrounds
• Gardening
• Pick-your-own, find out about nearby fruit growers and pick for your own family and maybe have a fruit stall for the day in your front garden (or maybe make jam)

I wish I had seen this impressive list before:
www.destroydebt.com

If your family have any other great examples of savings made or suggested by their au pair, we are really interested to hear from you and share your ideas with other families looking to enjoy cultural childcare even more.

Smartaupairs Now Member of IAPA

Smartaupairs has joined IAPA, the International Au Pair Agency Association. After being on the executive committee of BAPAA since 2007 and representing The British Au Pair Agencies Association on ECAPS, the European Committee of Au Pair Standards, I felt it was time to take Smartaupairs to the next level.

In the last few years IAPA has become more important in the au pair industry and have really gained ground. Many au pair agencies all over the world realise that being part of a trade association is a great way to share best practise to find professional business partners.

It is likely that the au pair program will continue to gain popularity as in the current economic situation young people may not have many job options after full time education and this is a great program to help them to gain more practical skills before they start looking for a job or possibly before they decide on further education.

Go to http://www.smartaupairs.com/

Protect Yourself from Internet Recruitment Scams

Why you should always use a reputable and established au pair agency. Newspaper, internet advertisements or one of the many web-based matching services may appear to be acceptable and inexpensive alternatives for securing an au pair placement. There are, however, potential risks in arranging a placement in this manner.

10 potential risks you face when not using a reputable and established au pair agency

* high probability of unsuitable au pair or host family candidate
* absence of a written contract
* little or no experience in the au pair industry
* lack of professionalism or financial stability
* nonexistent standards or guidelines
* insufficient references and /or medical certification
* danger of document falsification
* no rematch policy (secondary placement) if the initial placement is unsuccessful
* no local support during the placement
* limited understanding of national au pair regulations

This message was provided by the International Au Pair Association – please take note and tell your friends!

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We received this message from Maite, from Spain – who has now found a lovely family through Smartaupairs and is preparing for her arrival in June.

” Please help me out, I just had a terrible experience with a family I contacted through internet, we weren´t doing the whole thing through an au pair organization but through a travel agency. Things where going great, to good to be true actually, but then when I was needed to pay for the ticket, they gave me a Nigerian address, it sounded pretty wired, though I paid. We still decided to have them check through a friend who lives in London, and she told us that besides everything was beyond wired, that the phone number the family game us was fake and the whole family as well. I’m completely dissapointed, but still I’m not giving up, I want to have this experience in working as an au pair. Is there anyway you can help me?? “

Why Choose a Local Au Pair Agency?

Many host families who first embark on the journey of hosting au pairs look for an au pair agency local to them as they feel safe and comfortable in the knowledge that there is assistance nearby.

Originally, many more au pair agencies were run by ‘host mums’ as a hobby. In today’s tougher climates however, it pays to consider a professional expert agency with a solid network of partners in Europe to supply vetted candidates and the ability to put your au pair in touch with others who are nearby, providing her with a social network from the day she starts.

Register now

Local au pair agency versus professionalism

Our au pair agency is members of the British Au pair Agencies Association and in fact, Nicole Kofkin, the MD is on the board of BAPAA and actively involved in the constantly changing International au pair industry. She is also on the committee of ECAPS, the European Committee of Au Pair Standards, funded by IAPA the International Au Pair Agencies Association.

Where is the au pair agency based?

Smartaupairs is an au pair agency based in England, so we have knowledge of the destination and understand the local culture. Our office is in Kent, in the village of Charing near Ashford and Canterbury. We have lots of host families in/near Ashford, Canterbury, Folkestone, Maidstone, Bromley, Bexley, Beckenham, Sevenoaks, all very popular as they have such easy access to Central London by train.

How about au pair placements in other locations?

We place au pairs all over England and we are considered a specialist for the South East of England – about half of our host families are based in or near London. Very popular au pair areas are Wimbledon, Battersea, Clapham, Wandsworth, Fulham, Twickenham, Putney, Richmond and we have a couple of host families in Chelsea and Kensington. We often find that once we have one host family in an area, they are often so impressed by our service, they tell their friends and then we usually have a few host families in the same area or from the same school for example. This is ideal because the au pairs immediately have a network of friends and a happy au pair is an au pair who will stay.

As the au pair is live-in childcare, we often find that certain areas of London are more usual for au pair placement due to the size of the homes. The large family homes where an au pair can have her own bedroom are usually in the areas close to but not right in the heart of the city.

We also have a number of other very popular locations for au pairs, where over the years we have gained many host families through recommendations. The most popular cities are Cambridge, Oxford, Bournemouth, Brighton, Portsmouth, Southampton due to the fact that there are lots of young people there from all over the world due to University and language courses.

Many host families come to us from commuter areas, up to an hour or so from their work location in London, this means Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex, Essex,

We have a number of host families in High Wycombe, Reading, Windsor, Guildford.

What makes a popular au pair location?

Many au pairs put on their application form that they prefer to be based in London. It is often the only city that they know by name and they may have been there before on a school trip or weekend break with their parents or even just seen it on TV. When the au pair agency in their own country explains to them that many families live close to London, allowing them to visit at weekends and go sightseeing they are usually fine with this suggestion.

For an au pair to be happy, she needs to generally have social interaction. If you live in a town/city, walking distance from language schools, parks, cafes etc. your au pair will find it very easy to meet up with other young people, make friends and practise her English skills. If you live in a village and you know other host families, it can equally be easy, especially if there are good transport links into nearby towns or your au pair has access to a car.

How can your au pair meet others nearby?

In addition to introductions through language classes and local connections from your host family, Smartaupairs are part of an online ‘find a friend’ website www.aupair2aupair.com, which is safely shared between 25 BAPAA members and the ideal way to find other au pairs in your local area.

Where would we not place an au pair?

We do not place au pairs in remote locations where there is no access to language courses. Our experience has been that the au pair, even with the best intentions from the host family and the au pair candidate, finds it hard to make the most of their cultural experience, simply as there are no ways of meeting enough other people. We have however been able to place au pair couples successfully with families who live remotely but it is not really part of our core program as this is not truly a cultural exchange.

We are also hesitant to place in locations in Wales and in the Channel Islands due to past experiences of au pairs finding it hard to get in touch with other young people. For placements in Scotland we now work together with specialist BAPAA agency to ensure that the au pair has a network of friends and regular activities to take part in.

Go to Smartaupairs http://www.smartaupairs.com/family/