WHAT IS AN AU PAIR?
Flexible live-in childcare
The title comes from the French term au pair, meaning "at par" or "equal to", indicating that the relationship is intended to be one of equals: the au pair is intended to become a member of the family, albeit a temporary one, rather than a traditional domestic worker.
An Au Pair is a young adult from overseas who lives with your family for 6-12 months and provides childcare in exchange for weekly pocket money, room and board, and an opportunity to become part of an Australian family. It is a Cultural Exchange with responsibility.
All our Au Pairs are screened and prepared for the program by our trusted overseas partner agencies. Au Pairs are very family orientated and very different from backpackers.
During their time in Australia, they would love to be part of your family and enjoy life as a member of your family. Show them an awesome barbie, take them to nippers and teach them backyard cricket!
They will talk to you about life in their country, cook a typical meal from home and may teach your children a few words or a nursery song from their country.
WHAT AU PAIRS DO?
Au Pairs can help with childcare & more! Au Pairs can care for all age groups. Lots of au pairs also have experience with older children, tutoring, coaching sports teams and managing holiday camps.
Breakfast, lunchboxes & simple dinner
Keeping your home tidy
Kids laundry & school uniforms
Changing kids beds
Driving kids to/from school and activities
Clearing up after meals
Occasional ad-hoc food shopping
Depending on the ages of your children, here are some more suggestions how your Au Pair can help.
AU PAIR ROLE BY AGE OF KIDS
AU PAIR CARING FOR BABY
An Au Pair can be a great ‘extra pair of hands’ with a newborn baby or baby up to 12 months, helping alongside a parent. If you have a baby as well as a toddler, your Au Pair can entertain an adventurous toddler, giving you time to focus on the baby. Sole care for children under 12 months is not part of the Au Pair program.
AU PAIR CARING FOR TODDLER
For this age group, parents often choose to have the little one in daycare 2-3 days a week and combine daycare with one-on-one Au Pair care for the other days.
Dressing or helping to dress children before daycare, playgroup or pre-school
Nappy changing or potty training
Care for and play with child/children at home
Take child/children to the park or playground, play dates, play groups, swimming pool and other fun activities to interact with other little ones
AU PAIR CARING FOR PRIMARY SCHOOL CHILD
Au Pairs absolutely love this age group!
Getting kids ready in the morning
School uniform care
School run and driving to/from activities
Homework help & readers.
Interesting & active after school care, ranging from sports to arts, craft and baking
AU PAIR CARING FOR TEENAGERS
Teenage years are difficult…. A big sister (or brother) can make all the difference!!
School uniform care
School run and driving to/from activities
Homework help & tutoring, researching projects.
Being a young adult friend and role model
NOTE
Au Pairs are not cleaners!
Keep your regular cleaner for the ‘big stuff’ and get your Au Pair to help with daily tidy/cleaning after meals and keeping on top of kids laundry.
Meet Casey from the USA
Casey from the USA was an Au Pair on the Northern Beaches of Sydney and explains how she became part of the family. Her host family with 2 young children describe her as 'the best edition to their family in 2023'. Her goal was to crate a lifelong bond with her host kids and making their daily life easier.
Meet Hannah from Germany
Her host family say: "Having an Au Pair join your family is a great experience. It comes from a need and a desire. A desire to add someone to your family, whom can not only contribute, but is interested in learning a bit about you and your location too. Nicole and the rest of the group at Hello Au Paris have been incredibly supportive, responsive, and consistently professional. They helped set us up from the beginning and we had such a good experience, we're continuing on with what will (hopefully) be a number of amazing Au Pair experiences."
Meet Claire from The Netherlands
Claire looked after 2 children of pre-school age in Melbourne. She choose to be an Au Pair as she wanted to combine the experience of new cultures and working with kids. She has made lots of friends and has gained independence. He host family also invited her along on many adventures.
Meet Juliette from France
Juliette completed her nursing studies in France and wanted to improve her English, whilst doing what she loves, which is looking after children. She looked after 2 little girls age 2 and 5 in Sydney. She enjoyed cooking for the family!
WHERE DO AU PAIRS COME FROM?
Au Pairs travel on a Working Holiday Visa
Most of our au pairs come from Europe. We have au pairs from Germany, Netherlands, Scandinavia, France, Italy and some from the USA or UK. Most of them can drive and have a keen interest in International Travel and languages.
Our au pairs generally speak confident English and are fluent by the time they go home. As we have many au pairs from Germany and Sweden, you are likely to be impressed by their strong language skills.
Au Pairs generally come from hardworking families who support their overseas adventure. Their mum may have been an Au Pair when she was young. Au Pairing is a great way to travel overseas without the stress of backpacking.
WHO CHOOSES TO BE AN AU PAIR?
Many young people choose the Au Pair program because they truly love children and enjoy being part of a family.
We have created different categories of Au Pairs in our program to reflect the additional childcare experience and skills that many of our applicants have. All Au Pairs have Childcare references.
In addition to babysitting we often see other valuable experience such as:
Sports coaching
Summer camp leader
After school tutoring
Work experience in daycare
Most Au Pairs go on to study after their gap year. Some may choose to become a teacher or work with children but many choose a different career. Au Pairs are young adults with an independent and curious mind. Eager to learn, improve their language skills and explore a new country.