As much as I loved Au pairing, I think it is important to know that it is not always easy.
You’re living in a new family that you have to integrate in and be able to be around for a lot of your time.
So firstly, it is important that you have a host family that you like and enjoy being around, to be able to have a good time as an au pair.
Some of these problems I will talk about can also be minimised, so be sure to talk about your concerns and problems with your host parents to make sure everyone feels comfortable.

1. Time management

When you start your au pair, ask your host parents about your working hours, and let them give you a plan with the times you have to work.
That makes it easier for you to plan your days and makes it clear how many hours you will be working.
It is quite annoying waiting for them at home the whole day, because you don’t know when they need you that day and not being able to leave and meet friends.
If the family doesn’t know their times because they might change every week, ask them to tell you about your work times at the beginning of the week or at least a day before.
When they needed me for something spontaneously outside my hours, I always got asked if I already got plans or if I can take care of the kids.
I also got some time off on the weekends or during the week in return for my extra hours outside normal working hours.

2. Working hours

The best thing to do to keep track of your working hours is to have a timetable again, to know when you have to work.
I was always fine with working more sometime, when they needed me, because I knew that if they don’t need me on another day, they will give me that time off as well without being too picky if it is more time off than I actually worked.
I was also not too picky if I worked an hour more because in the end I like spending time with the kids and helping the parents out.
It is easy to work far too many hours because you’re not able to tell the difference between working and just playing with the kids for fun.
My host parents liked to tell the kids that I have my rest time now, and they let me have my free hours for myself, but I was also welcome to spend my free time with the kids and the family.
So if you have the feeling you are working more than you should, have a talk to your host parents about that, so you can sort out a good agreement.

3. Household chores

As an Au pair, your main job is to take care of the kids.
They might want you to do some light household chores like doing the kid’s laundry or unloading the dishwasher.
It is not your job to do the whole household like cleaning the house regularly, cooking every day and taking care of their animals.
If you agree that you will be helping with some of that, that’s fine, but be aware that this is not your primary work.
The time that you do any household chores they ask you to do, also counts into your working hours.

4. Payment

I think this is different from family to family.
I got paid every 2 weeks, and my working roaster was also special.
I worked for 2 weeks, and then I got 2 weeks off, when my host dad was home from work.
In those 2 weeks I usually travelled to see more of Australia.
That means I only got paid for 2 weeks in which I did 25 h per week and I got
240 AUD per week.
Some people get more, some less.
I have to say that that was enough for my time there and for some of my travels there, but not for the time afterwards, so I used a lot of my money I already saved.
I can’t say that Au pairing is a job to save money, except you have to work a lot and don’t plan on spending much money during your au pair.

5. Introducing rules

As you are not a parent, but only someone who is staying with the family temporarily, it is hard and nearly impossible to introduce new rules for the kids.
You will have to implement the same rules the parents use, even though you might not like them and don’t agree with the style of education of the parents.
If you do want to implement new rules, you should talk to the parents and propose that that is something the parents also implement, as it would be hard for the kids to understand the different rules for every guardian.
Sometimes it is hard to raise the kids with the rules you don’t like, and you couldn’t explain to them yourself, why they are important.

6. Bad days

Kids are also just humans and can have a bad day or hour.
There are times they will absolutely not listen to you and do whatever they want.
They will have days when they are your best friend in one moment and the next one they chuck a tantrum over anything you ask them to do.
You will have to learn to deal with that, as every parent and childcare worker has to.
There will be better moments again, though, so don’t go too harsh on them or yourself.

I think all those things are either things you can solve by talking to your host parents about it or things you just have to accept that they are part of an au pair.
To be honest I am happy to accept some of those things though, as an au pair means learning about a new culture, having fun with the kids, but most importantly making friends for life and discovering a new country and I loved it.
All that was only possible because I decided to do an au pair and would always do it again, even if I might not get paid much, or I will have to deal with the bad days of the kids.