What are your main duties as an au pair?Find out what you have to do as an au pair and what not.
INFORMATION AT ONE GLANCE:
Your main duty as an au pair is taking care of the children!
Anything related to child care could be part of your work as well!
Your duties as an au pair could be different in every host family.
AUPAIR DUTIES
What are your duties as an au pair? The most important task you have as an au pair is to take care of the children, responsibly and lovingly.
As an au pair and as a new member of the family you should take part actively in the family life. This will also help you to learn the language faster.
All of your duties in the daily life with the host family should be related to child care.
YOUR POSSIBLE DUTIES AS AU PAIR
Wake up the children
prepare breakfast
prepare little meals for the children
clean up after the meals
change diapers
help the children dress and undress
bathe the children
play with the children
read with or to the children
help them with their homework
wash the children’s clothes and iron them
clean the children’s room
load and unload the dishwasher
baby sit at night
bring the children to their day care facilities, to their schools or to their after-school activities and pick them up
keep your own room clean
THESE ARE NOT YOUR AU PAIR DUTIES:
Manage the entire household
prepare meals for the entire family
wash the host parents’ clothes and iron them
clean the host parents’ bedrooms or bathrooms
gardening
shop for the entire family
take care of the pets
DUTIES FOR AUPAIR?
You help your host family with everything that has to do with the children. Therefore, your duties as an au pair do not include cleaning the entire house and you also don’t have to prepare a three course meal for the family. Your chores around the house shouldn’t take up more than 50% of your work hours as an au pair.
And: as an au pair, you don’t have to be available 24-7. There are clear rules about your working hours as an au pair that your host family has to respect.
If your host family doesn’t respect these rules, we have a couple of tips for you on how to handle problems with your host family.
AN EXAMPLE OF A TYPICAL AU PAIR DAY:
In a host family where the children are in kindergarten or go to school, you usually have the mornings off:
6 AM – 1 PM: free;
1 PM: pick up the children or wait for them;
1.30 PM: prepare a small meal for all of you;
2.30 PM: help them with their homework;
3 PM: take care of the children and bring them to their after-school activities;
5 PM: free time.
If there are small children in your host family that still aren’t in kindergarten or don’t go to school, then your day as an au pair could look like this:
8 AM: breakfast;
8.30 AM: wake up the children and help them get dressed;
9 AM: play with the children;
11 AM: prepare a meal for you;
12 PM: prepare the nap;
free time during the nap;
2 PM: help the children get dressed after their nap;
2.30 PM: play with the children;
3.30 PM: free time.
These examples are just meant as a rough guide. Of course, your au pair working schedule could also look totally different; talk about it beforehand with your host family.: