What Qualifications & Experience Should We Look for in an Au Pair?

Choosing the right child care provider is an important task. After all, you are picking the person who will, in some cases, spend more time with your child than you do. Choosing an Au Pair can be especially difficult, as you often don’t have a whole lot of exposure to the Au Pair before they travel to your home and begin living with you. The qualifications and experience that you look for are, therefore, extremely significant.

In terms of personality, you want to find an au pair that comes across as loving and patient with your children. You should try to find someone that is cheerful, and has a generally positive attitude and outlook. You want an au pair that is oriented toward children and families. Finally, you want to make sure that she seems to have good old fashioned common sense.

There are certain skills you should make sure that your au pair possesses. If you have infants in the home, you should be certain that she has had some experience in caring for infants. Checking an au pair’s references is one of the best ways to determine what kinds of skills she may possess. If possible, you should choose an au pair who has had some paid work experience, whether in child care or in another area. This will help you determine the potential au pair’s work ethic, and whether she enjoys working or not. In addition, your au pair should have at least basic first aid knowledge, and you should help her to receive child and infant CPR training if she does not have it.

You may wish to look for other requirements in an au pair. These can include things such as no smoking, no alcohol or drug use, and good health and grooming habits. You might look for a high school graduate, and/or some college or nanny type coursework. Also, it is often best to choose an au pair who has lived away from home for a while, so as not to worry about losing her to homesickness.

Depending on how high you set your standards, it could be difficult to find an au pair that meets all of your requirements. However, with enough diligence, your screening process can be successful and you can acquire the right kind of au pair for your situation.

Posted in Child Care Issues