Au pairs from outside the EU

Nicki

InsideInsurance wrote: »

So which is it? Do you dont think you should have to pay an au pair or you think you should pay them properly?

I don't think my two statement are mutually contradictory

I don't want to parent a stranger's teenager or young adult and endure the loss of privacy at home. If I was prepared to do that, I would want someone to pay me, not vice versa

I also don't hold with paying people a pittance for what is a professional job. So if I want childcare, I will employ someone qualified and pay them a decent wage for the job.

Any

Nicki wrote: »

I don't think my two statement are mutually contradictory

I don't want to parent a stranger's teenager or young adult and endure the loss of privacy at home. If I was prepared to do that, I would want someone to pay me, not vice versa

I also don't hold with paying people a pittance for what is a professional job. So if I want childcare, I will employ someone qualified and pay them a decent wage for the job.

It is fair enough you don't want an au pair, not everyone is cut out to share life with stranger and some people are very private as you say.

But do not make it look like using au pairs is some dirty missusing of people (if done properly). I am glad not all people think like that, programmes like these give young people great opportunities in life.

Au pair should not do anything you need qualified people for. They should make breakfast, pack lunch, walk your child to school, pick them up and write a homework with them before you come home from work, or babysit for you.
Do not mistake them with full time nannys.
They should only really do what you would expect your eldest child to do.

Nicki

Any wrote: »

But do not make it look like using au pairs is some dirty missusing of people (if done properly). I am glad not all people think like that, programmes like these give young people great opportunities in life.

.

Why so hostile? The OP asked why more people didn't want to use au pairs for childcare. I answered why I wouldn't. I didn't pass any comment on what others should do or do do.

Any

Sorry, I didn't mean to be hostile.
I was trying to explain the common misunderstanding of what au pair is. It is not a full time childcare or cheap replacement of proper childcare for which you need a childminder/nanny/school.
If you took it as that, it must be my english. Which is not my first language.

RAS

VfM4meplse wrote: »

Have had a look at this website for some basic financial details on au pairing and taxation.

Economically, why don't more people do it? And how hard is it

One thing this does not really make clear is the very small number of countries included in the youth mobility scheme and the small numbers allowed from some of thos countries

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/visas-immigration/working/tier5/youthmobilityscheme/

Most would be English speaking anyway.

VfM4meplse

fluffnutter wrote: »

Because it's middle-class endorsed slave labour. Getting some unqualified girl from overseas who can barely speak the language, separating her from her family and friends and paying her a pittance to look after your spawn so that you can carry on running a fleet of gas-guzzling cars and buggering off to the Maldives twice a year and Val D'Isere for the skiing season, dahhhhling.

Sigh....you've really outdone yourself on this occasion, fn. Judge not.

I was actually looking for a single older person / "auntie figure" with a bit of life experience and lots of common sense, who would like to live in relative comfort in my home in London for a while. Rents here are ridiculous so the benefits are in kind. I wouldn't describe myself as having an extravagant lifestyle but as a singleton, quitting work is an unaffordable privilege, and living on benefits is not an option I care to entertain, realistically I would be happier to leave a child with one trusted person than in a nursery with divided attention. It means that I would be able to segment my time with the minimal rushing around, ultimately give more time to a child, and seems more cost-effective. I need to think about setting an infrastructure in place if I am to be taken seriously in my intent.

I imagine I'd appreciate help with the housework too!

Nicki

Maximum age limit for an au pair in the UK is 30 for visa purposes. Is that "older figure" enough?

VfM4meplse

Nicki wrote: »

Maximum age limit for an au pair in the UK is 30 for visa purposes. Is that "older figure" enough?

No, I was actually hoping for someone in their 40s / 50s - not interested in the whims of the young and certainly wouldn't want strange men staying overnight in my home. Need to give this a bit more thought. I know what I'd like but have to work out a way of getting it.

Probably the most helpful post of the lot.

GwylimT

I do find it quite odd that some people will recruit someone just from the internet, I would want to meet them several times and have them look after the children a few times as after all you need to find someone who would suit you and your children.

I personally would never hire an au pair, we always had one as children, this meant we became attached to the person who cared for us who would then leave after 12 months, its like losing your parents every year.

Toto

Nicki wrote: »

I am not altruistic enough to want to parent an older child from another country, and to pay them for the privilege. I like my privacy and my family's privacy too much to want to share my space with a stranger.

I am also fussy about who I will allow to look after my children. I would not consider letting someone I had not met in person and interviewed come and live in the family home and look after them, nor would I consider accepting references from a foreign country possibly from referees with no common language with me and no way of checking whether they were genuine, or provided by a friend.

Added to which I agree with fluffnutter that if you are asking someone to do a job of work you should be prepared to pay what that job is worth, and I happen to think that childcare is an important job and should be rewarded properly.

So for all these reasons, I would never consider an au pair.

Exactly my thoughts I just couldn't do it. I don't even want a live in nanny, I just like my space too much even though a live in nanny would have solved a great deal of my childcare issues.