Living as one does in a foreign country, in a family with different customs and learning their language sounds very enriching and it is an experience that many young people choose to spend a few months after finishing their studies. In return, take care of the children, take them to and pick them up from school, cook them food, play with them and put them to bed.
This is what being an ‘au pair’ is all about. The family takes care of the maintenance and lodging in their own house, in addition to paying a minimum wage in exchange for help with the children.
“It was one of the best experiences of my life,” says Beatriz Martíneza Valencian who, as soon as she finished her teaching degree, decided to perfect her English by moving to live for a year with an American family in San Francisco.
The young teacher decided to embark on this journey hand in hand with an agency. “They knew what my preferences were and what I was like, so they were in charge of finding families that fit me.“, he recalls. In addition, the company was in charge of processing the visas and all the paperwork.
Already in the United States and before arriving at the house of what would be his family, Beatriz took a previous course in which she received training in first aid and other useful matters for the year ahead. “They explained to us what we should charge, the days off we should have and everything necessary for us to leave with everything clear,” he explains. $800 a month, room, board, and transportation included, in exchange for taking care of the kids, taking them to and from school, and playing with them. “I had all the weekends free, I met people from other countries and I was able to travel a lot“, he recalls.
Beatriz had to change families in the middle of her experience. “Each family is a world”, Explain. “Coexistence was not always easy, the American culture is quite different from ours, but it was very enriching.” She says that she was kicked out overnight “in a bad way” and she had to use friends she met in the country to find a place to stay. “I found a new family, but it didn’t go too well with them either, the 2-year-old beat me.”
Paula García, for her part, has worked as an au pair in two different countries. “When I finished my degree I didn’t know what to do, so I thought of all I wanted to do, which was to work with children, go abroad, learn languages and meet new people, and that translated into being an au pair.” Her first destination was Italy, where she spent the summer. “It was a dream,” he says.. “It was a family of young parents with a baby and they included me in the family from the first moment, the treatment with them was great”, she affirms. For a salary of 300 euros per month, “I just had to help the mother take care of the baby” since, as he says, it was a wealthy family, so they had cooks and cleaning staff. “I went for a month and in the end I stayed two more weeks,” she recalls happily.
Lights and shadows
After the good experience in Italy, the young woman decided to embark on another adventure as an au pair, this time for a year in the United States. “It was the covid period, the borders were closed and it was very difficult to get a visa,” she recalls. And she jokes: “Life was putting obstacles in my way so I wouldn’t go, I should have paid attention to it.”
The experience with his Cincinnati family defines it as labor exploitation. “I went because the au pair they had before was there for two years, and that gave me confidence,” she says. “She worked 10 hours a day and was paid $200 a week, which is the established minimum.” “The parents only got the girls up and put them to bed, the rest was up to me,” she adds. In addition, she says that the family only took care of the food, “I had to pay for things as necessary as a shampoo”.
Paula had to deal with dirt and poor conditions for six long months, until she decided to go back to Valencia. “There were bugs and rats, I found rat droppings in my bed and morsels in my food”, remember. “I could have changed my family, but it had gone so badly that I didn’t want to stay anymore,” she adds.
The young woman confesses that her American dream had turned into a nightmare. “My mental health decreased a lot from working all day. There he spent entire days without leaving the house, without disconnecting, and he did not socialize with anyone else”.
There are more and more boys
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The Aupair Care agency is one of those that works by matching au pairs and families looking for someone to help them with their children. “We make sure they meet all the requirements, such as speaking English, having experience with children and driving,” they say from the organization. The ages of the au pairs range between 18 and 26. Although it is true that the majority are girls, “there are more and more boys who are encouraged, and that is good,” they say.
“Most experiences are positive, but not everything can always be perfect,” they declare.