Au Pairs

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Being an au pair means caring for your host children on a full-time basis. During your au pair experience you will play with them, be responsible for their safety, and help with some other childcare related duties such as preparing meals and driving them to activities.

Salary: US$13,200 to US$20,400

Education:

• Education Requirement. All au pairs are required to take 6 credits (or the equivalent of approximately 80 hours in the classroom) over the course of their year. Host families will pay up to $250 toward education for a six month stay and $500 for a 9 or 12 month extension on the standard and Extraordinaire programs.

Demand:

• Half a globe away from the EU, another country experiencing a shift in au pair popularity is Australia, where demand has doubled since 2011 due to a child care shortage. The Cultural Au Pair Association of Australia (CAPAA) plans to ask the country’s Productivity Commission to consider shifting to a US-style system, which provides au pairs with dedicated visas.

Reflection:

           My serious opinion about this job is that I love it. My dream has always changed since the first day I wanted to become a nurse, to this day where I want to now become a babysitter. Dreams can change but the thing is that at least our hope doesn’t. Our goals and finish lines are still waiting for us out there, but we must not give up on them. I think this job would help me become a better person of myself since it’s working with children of other families around the world.