Additional
Information

Typical schedule for Au Pairs:

Before going overseas, many Au Pairs wonder what their schedule will be like.
While every Au Pair will have a different schedule depending on the ages of the children they care for, the work schedules of the host parents, and various after-school activities, you can see a sample schedules below.

Usually, if you are in a family with school-aged children, you will have more free time during the day, and if your kids are not in school yet, you will be free more in the evenings.

Take a look at what one au pair’s typical day and week look like.

Karen is an Au Pair taking care of a 1-year-old boy, Benjamin, and an 8-year-old girl, Nolene. Both of Karen’s host parents, Linda and Theodore; work outside of the home from 8 a.m. – 17:00 p.m.

Below, you can see a typical day and a typical week for Karen.

Sample Daily Schedule:

8:00 a.m	Eat breakfast with Benjamin and Nolene
8:20 a.m	Get Nolene ready for school
8:45 a.m	Drive Nolene to school
10:00 a.m	Play date with Benjamin
12:00 p.m	Eat lunch with Benjamin
14:00 a.m	Put Benjamin down for a nap
15:30 a.m	Pick Nolene up from school
16:00 p.m	Make Nolene a snack, help her with her homework
17:15 p.m	Host parents both arrive home
18:00 p.m	Dinner with the family
20:30 p.m	Meet with friends at a coffee shop

Sample of an Au Pair’s weekly schedule:

	MORNING	AFTERNOON	EVENING
MONDAY	Make breakfast for kids, take Nolene to school, go on a play date with Benjamin	Make lunch, put Benjamin down for a nap, pick up Nolene from school, help Nolene with homework	Dinner with the family, go to Journalism class at the Community College
TUESDAY	Make breakfast for kids, take Nolene to school, take Benjamin to Tiny Tots	Make lunch, put Benjamin down for a nap, pick up Nolene and take her to soccer practice	Dinner with the family, do homework for Journalism class
WEDNESDAY	Make breakfast, take Nolene to school, take Benjamin to the baby gym	Make lunch, put Benjamin down for a nap, pick up Nolene and then take the kids to the park	Dinner, go to a cluster meeting at coffee shop
THURSDAY	Make breakfast, take Nolene to school, read and play with Benjamin	Make lunch, put Benjamin down for a nap, pick up Nolene, take the kids to the library for story time	Dinner with the family, go to the movies with some friends
FRIDAY	Make breakfast, take Nolene to school, arts & crafts with Benjamin	FREE TIME Go to the gym	FREE TIME Meet with au pair friends and go to a concert downtown
SATURDAY	FREE TIME Meet with some friends from school to go on a bike ride	FREE TIME Picnic with friends	FREE TIME Go to a neighbor’s house for a BBQ
SUNDAY	FREE TIME Sunday brunch with the family	FREE TIME Go to the mall, run some errands	FREE TIME Watch TV and relax at home

Rules of conduct

Be honest about your health situation.
Be honest about your childcare experience.
Treat your host family and their belongings with respect.
Be confidential with all information.
Being an Au Pair cannot be seen as a holiday opportunity or similar, it should be considered a job with responsibilities. Yes, you will have free time to explore and travel, but there’s a time for work and a time for play.
Assume responsibility & loyalty.
Before you decide, think twice: Explore advantages and disadvantages and request all information in advance. It is recommended that you exchange telephone calls and e-mails in order to get to know each other better. There are no stupid questions, please simply ask if you are not sure about something. You need to feel absolutely comfortable with the host family that you choose.
Stick to your decision: Your decision is a compromise and an obligation. If you decide to go to a host family for a certain time, it is your responsibility to do so. A host family depends on you and excluded other potential Au Pairs for your benefit. When you have matched with a host family, it is a legal commitment from both sides for the full term of the placement.
This is a commitment and you need to stay the full year.

Rules of conduct for host families:

Offer a decent living space, a room that the Au Pair can live in.
An Au Pair is mainly there to take care of the children, at other times they can help out with the household chores, but not the other way around.
Treat the Au Pair as a family member.
Treat the Au Pair with respect and be patient.
Fix a weekly or monthly payday.
Help the Au Pair to open a bank account.
Make a weekly chart so that the Au Pair can organise her time off.
If the Au Pair needs to work more hours, please compensate her with extra pocket money or time off. (Only in countries where extra time is allowed!)
Do not abuse the Au Pair, she is not cheap labour (this can be legally penalised)