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.
Photo Source:blueelctricaltape/Deviantart
