The other day I was talking with a family that assumed I had an au pair because of my job as an Area Director for AuPairCare. While talking with the family I kept referring to “my au pairs”. I wasn’t trying to be misleading; I do honestly feel as if each and every au pair I’m in charge of is “my au pair”. I love them all and am close to them. The conversation went on as to why I took a 15 year break from working while my kids were growing up. I’d like to talk a little about that because that is one of the reasons I took this job and am so passionate about it.
15 years ago, I had a great career working in advertising. My client was Toyota Motor Sales USA. One of the largest advertising accounts in the US. I was in charge of a several million dollar program for Toyota and ran the show. I loved my work, loved heading the meetings, loved the travel, loved the client dinners, and loved the adrenaline and high pressure of such a business and account. I was also married to a United States Coast Guard man. Hence, I moved around and continued to do my job from where ever we were located traveling to the clients and headquarters monthly while utilizing the virtual office. While pregnant with my first child, I started thinking about childcare. My known options, at that point, were daycare or nanny hunting.
For me daycare was not an option. While I understand the benefits of such care, I, personally, couldn’t get past the institutionalism of the idea.
The other option was a nanny. I didn’t relish the idea of having a nanny that wasn’t completely screened and I felt as if my family would simply be hoping the “crazies” wouldn’t answer our search for help. It was just too hard to trust my child with that situation. Also, what exactly would a nanny teach my children? Could I guarantee an education? Could I guarantee they weren’t w/ us just for the money? If they had family and friends locally would they take my children around them? What kind of people would they be? What kind of influence would a nanny be? There were just too many unknowns and variables beyond my control. Therefore, I stopped my work and raised my two children.
While talking with this family I told them that had I known about the au pair system, I am absolutely certain I would have enlisted an au pair and been able to continue on a successful career path. Working mothers today are so fortunate to have a pool of au pairs that are screened, educated, appropriate ages, genuinely here to help raise your children and you, and want to participate in cultural exchange. They are here for you.
Another big advantage of au pairs is their flexibility. And I’m not talking about flexibility in when they work (which is a whole different benefit). I’m talking about flexibility if you move; if your life changes. For example, when families have military orders to move or they need to move for their career, their au pair will move to the new location with them. What a relief for those children & parents to have a consistent caregiver through a stressful time. Neither has to go through the stress of finding childcare in a new area. The whole family has consistency in taking care of the children. When my husband was receiving orders to move to another base or location, I couldn’t fathom looking for childcare each time. That would have been too much trauma for the children and me.
So if I refer to “my au pairs” as my au pairs, it’s just because I think of them that way and I wish I had known about au pairs way back when.
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