Change No. 1: More peace of mind with your au pair
In the evenings, it was often a rush to get home: shopping, the kids, bathing, eating, going to bed, laundry and so on…
Today, I worry less. If a meeting finishes later than planned, I’ll just text to say I’ll be exceptionally late. And maybe ask him to start reheating the soup for dinner!
These are little touches of help here and there! Sometimes 3 times nothing, but when you put them all together, they take a huge weight off my shoulders! It can be as simple as emptying the dishwasher while I prepare dinner. It could be picking up the groceries at the drive-thru on my way home from university.
Of course, these notes are the result of perfect integration and immersion: the au pair behaves like any other member of the family.
Change #2: More quality time
It used to be that two of us had to manage the daily routine. The result was a lot of hurried activities and games in which we weren’t involved, with one eye on the clock.
Now there are three of us. As the au pair is a fully-fledged member of the family, she naturally acts as such.
The time saved allows us to spend real time with the children: playing a board game together in the evening before bedtime, taking the eldest to the cinema on Wednesday afternoons, taking time to play with them before dinner.
And even for the couple, it changes everything. No more running around trying to find a babysitter for our romantic evening. We plan the evening in agreement with our au pair, and the children are delighted with an evening without parents.
Change #3: More open-mindedness
Hosting an au pair also means exchanging ideas, chatting and comparing countries.
👉The 5 gifts your Au Pair will give you
Elections are an opportunity to discuss voting methods. Putting away the groceries is a time to compare the brands on offer. A film showing the Frenchman with the beret and the baguette de pain is an opportunity to discuss respective preconceptions.
And it’s not uncommon to hear our children counting in the au pair’s language, or asking them how to say a particular word in their language.
All these things open our children’s minds – and our own – to differences, and stimulate their curiosity about the world.
