Why use an Au Pair?
The cost for an American family to have an Au Pair for a year is about $18,000 including all expenses, so you might ask, “Why do they want to pay so much money for a foreigner to come and care for their children?”
There is not one single answer to this question, but rather several possible reasons. In Russia most children go to the kindergarten when they are young and continue to go there until they start school. While there is usually a cost to this, the cost is actually quite small. In America, kindergarten is actually the first year of school for young children and is only for half a day and only for 5 year-old children. For children younger than this, they must go to a daycare center. The cost for these centers can vary, but are typically fairly expensive. For example, if a family has three children that need day care the cost for the first child might be $150 a week, for the second $125 a week and the third $100 a week. This is $375 a week, or more than $18,000 a year. Remember, a family must bring their children every day and pick them up in the late afternoon.
Many parents would prefer that their children are cared for in their home where they feel most comfortable. Also, in a daycare center, the child is just one of many children there and not the center of the teacher’s attention. While in the home with an Au Pair, the children of the parents are the center of attention of the Au Pair.
Another reason to use an Au Pair is that many families want their children to grow up knowing about other country’s traditions and cultures. Learning a second language is something that they want their children to do. Part of being an Au Pair is the willingness to share your culture with the other family members, while at the same time learning about American culture. There can be no way better to share and learn about cultures than this.
As in most countries; Americans love their children and want the best today and tomorrow for them. They don’t want their children to be just another number in the daycare system, but rather, a unique little person being cared for each day by someone who also wants the best for them. Remember; in America individualism is a highly valued characteristic and group daycare does not conform to many people’s ideas of how to make a child an individual.
As we mentioned; there isn’t one answer as to why a family wants to have an Au Pair, but hopefully what we have described helps you to understand a little better.