Duties Au Pair

The Au Pair Program

The Au Pair program is a cultural exchange program, where a Host Family invites an Au Pair to be a new family member. The Au Pair usually stays a few months or even a year.

The family offers the Au Pair an accommodation and full board. In exchange for that the Au Pair takes care of certain tasks that are connected to childcare for 20 to 40 hours a week. The exact amount of hours the Au Pair is allowed to work depends on the host country.

What are the responsibilities of an Au Pair?

The main responsibility of the Au Pair is caring for the Host Family’s children and to help with light household chores.

During the stay the Au Pair is like a bigger sister or brother for the kids and therefore it is important to be respectful and caring.

The exact description of the Au Pair’s tasks vary from family to family. In general these are duties of an Au Pair:

  • You play with kids, take them on trips, to the playground and do crafts with them.
  • You help them to put their clothes on and to get them ready for kindergarten or school.
  • You help with their homework  in the afternoon.
  • If it’s a baby you will have to change diapers, bath the baby and feet it. You might also have to read some books or sing to the baby.
  • You go playdates with the kids.
  • Light household chores just like cleaning up the kids’ room, buying some groceries and preparing meals for the kids are also part of your tasks.
  • The Host Family might also ask you to wash and dry the kids’ clothes, vacuum rooms that everybody uses and loading and unloading of the washing machine.

Which responsibilities are not for the Au Pair?

There are some tasks that are never the Au Pair’s responsibility to take care of. The Au Pair is free to still help with those tasks but it  should never be obligatory!

  • An Au Pair is never responsible to clean up the whole house or to do some renovation.
  • you do not have to do the laundry of the whole family or cook for the whole family.
  • If the Host Family has pets, you are not responsible to feed them and take care of them.
  • You are only responsible for the children of your Host Family. You may not have to care for the children of other people.