Traveling as an au pair, all the information


Who is an au pair? What does it do and how do you become it? Tips to become an aupair, find the right family and fully enjoy this experience, learning a language and traveling.

Being an au pair means living a life experience, getting to know a completely new place and culture, but doing it from a privileged point of view.



What does it mean to be an au pair?

Being an au pair (female only because girls are the majority ... even if the boys are starting to make themselves heard!) Means living with a family abroad and looking after the children, in exchange for food, accommodation and pocket money. You are welcomed by a new family as if you were a new member, an older sister who takes care of the little ones by picking them up from school, playing with them, doing homework together, preparing lunch, doing small household tasks.


The reasons that push to leave for an adventure like this are the most varied: there are those who simply want improve a foreign language without enrolling in an expensive course, those who want to take a break from everyday life, someone wants to meet new people, a new culture or simply live a new experience.


Traveling as an au pair, all the information

How do you become an au pair?

After choosing the language you want to speak and therefore the possible destinations to point to, the most important thing is look for family suitable host.
There are three possibilities for research: rely on an agency, use free online search websites, search ads in groups dedicated to au pairs.

THEagency it is a valid option if you want to be assisted throughout the course of choice and during the period abroad. It can be a good idea for those who do not feel confident in online research, are less familiar with the web or simply prefer others to take care of the more bureaucratic issues. The "cons" are certainly the price, which can be high enough to bear (usually a few hundred euros), and the fact that agencies often require more specific requirements, such as age or a certain level of knowledge. linguistics. On the web there are really many more or less famous ones, at various prices and dedicated to various destinations. The advice I give you is to inform yourself online about who has already used them and the experiences they have had, to be sure of their seriousness. Just to give one of the most famous examples, we can cite EF's Cultural Care for the USA.


Traveling as an au pair, all the information

Most au pairs usually find a family thanks to Web sites as Au Pair World: a real social network in which everyone creates a presentation page and enters parameters such as the places where you are interested in living, how many months, when you are available to leave, if you are a smoker, if you agree to be in a single parent family, etc. Thanks to this information you can automatically find families that match the chosen characteristics, consequently you can save the profiles of interest and you can send messages in private.
Like this there are also other websites with the same purpose and functioning, two of those that I had also used are aupair.com and kangarooaupair.com.


A habit that is spreading more and more is that of joining Facebook groups dedicated to au pairs and families: they are usually found based on the destination (city, region, country) chosen or the nationality of the au pairs, for example there are "Au pair & Irish host family connection" and "Italian Au pairs in the world ". Here you will often find ads posted by both families and aspiring au pairs to whom you can then send messages privately. In this case, however, the risk of going against problems with families or scams is still higher than in other cases, this does not mean that as a research method it should be excluded, you simply need to try to be even more cautious.

A good site to deepen the au pair topic is the one created by a former au pair in England: it's called Bushey Tales and here the most varied aspects of the experience are dealt with in depth and on which you can also read stories of others girls.


Traveling as an au pair, all the information

The next steps

After entering the au pair world, you need to do a number of things:

Scegliere the family. Skype calls are made in which we introduce ourselves and chat, it is usually the most feared time especially for problems with language knowledge, the important thing is to be spontaneous and the family is found for you. Both during this conversation and in the previous or subsequent messages ask for everything that goes through your head, even the things that may seem insignificant, make sure of the requests that are made of you, the schedules and all the details about the work you will have to do.
A very important thing is to talk to your previous au pair, which is usually the best way to get a clearer idea of ​​what the family is like.


Be sure to have what it takes. In Europe there are no major constraints to move and work as an au pair abroad, you just need an identity card. If you choose to do this experience in a different continent it will instead be essential to have a passport and obtain the necessary documents to become an au pair such as visa or visas (a series of documents on the Au Pair World site there is a page on purpose where they are explained all these practical details state by state).

In some states it is required by law that it be stipulated a contract between the family and the au pair, in other cases, where there are no official regulations, it is not essential. My advice, however, is to request it anyway, even if it is only a formality between you and the family, so as to have everything written and signed by both. Also on Au Pair World there are standard versions that you can customize and use.

Traveling as an au pair, all the information

A few more tips

Be sure, before you leave, that you REALLY enjoy spending time with children, because then once there you have to do it seriously! Many hours a day, even with children trying to climb the chandelier.

Don't let the family take advantage of you: being an au pair doesn't mean being the cleaning lady. It is normal and right to help around the house, sort out the things used during the days with the children and maybe even their rooms, order your room or empty the dishwasher if it is full ... but you are not required to clean the windows or vacuum throughout the house once a day.

Enjoy the experience at best: try to contact some other au pair in the area from before departure, even here the Facebook groups are very useful, even if often the families themselves will give you some advice.

Ask the family if you can spend a day or two at home with the au pair who is about to leave, she will help you learn small daily details, she will reveal secrets to better manage the children and maybe she will introduce you to some friends.

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