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Au pair gossip
Mar. 12th, 2013 05:57 pmApparently, I have been nominated into the hall of fame of best au pair host moms in Tri State area.
From quick conversations with our au pair Cristina over the weekend I learned that
Her au pair friend from France has invited her to come over on Friday night to hang out and then spend the night since they were planning to be out very late and she lives kind of far from us. This was previously agreed with other host family. Once Cristina got there, the host mom decided that she was uncomfortable with another girl in the house, that Cristina and her friend were making too much noise, and that it wouldn't be a good idea for Cristina to spend the night. So girls went out to the local bar to spend some time and then Cristina took train home at 2am. French au pair's room is apparently very small and is right next to host parents and host kids' rooms. No privacy for family or au pair. Bleh.
On Sunday she asked if she can invite another one of her friend's over to spend the night at our house. I said that of course she can. Turned out she invited two friends and asked if that's ok. Sure. No problem. I gave them extra blankets, pillows, and air mattress. Girls came over, politely thanked me for letting them stay and that's the last that I saw of heard of them.
One of the girls who spend the night at our house is working in family with two 11-year-old twin girls. Those two twin girls are not allowed to do anything around the house or for themselves. The au pair has to do all of their laundry. The au pairs has to clean up everything after and for them. The au pair has to set the table and clean the table for them. They au pair has to... well, you get the point. Host mom there is a school teacher and every day she comes home and sits down to do all school work with those two 11-year-old babies.
In addition that mom is not happy when her au pair goes out in the evening or on the weekend, or... horrors... stays out all night (like at my house). She tells her that her house and not a hotel. Sorry, I'm just not getting this.
According to Cristina, her two friends are amazed that Cristina is
1. allowed to spend her free time as she wishes
2. allowed to bring friends over to visit or over night as she wishes
3. is NOT allowed to do Hannah's laundry with out Hannah's direct help
4. is NOT allowed to set and clean the table for/after my kids
5. is asked to help Hannah clean her room, but is not lynched if instead Hannah makes a huge mess in there and theyn they spend two hours drawing pictures of Eeyors and bunnies.
6. is not yelled at if not all homework is complete and she is still finishing something up with Hannah at 8pm
7. is not disciplined if she forgets something on our schedule and girls miss an activity
8. has been offered wine and beer by us at the dinner table and holidays (she's 24, she's not a kid)
9. was not sent home back to Colombia after she had a minor fender bender in our car (no kids were in the car, thank god!)
10. is not required to keep calling me though out the evening to make sure I don't want her to come home right away at 10pm on Friday night.
Any way, I am the coolest Host Mom around and apparently I am an envy a lot of local au pairs.
BTW, having had past au pair from Brazil came in handy last night. I was still at work at 9:30pm and had a document from a client who invests in Brazilian corporation. The contract they sent me was in Portuguese. After playing with google translator for half hour I gave up and called Sabrina. Sabrina, bless her heart, spend 40 min on the phone with me translating for the document. When people in the office asked me who I got to translate for me, they couldn't believe it was my ex au pair. Love! :)
From quick conversations with our au pair Cristina over the weekend I learned that
Her au pair friend from France has invited her to come over on Friday night to hang out and then spend the night since they were planning to be out very late and she lives kind of far from us. This was previously agreed with other host family. Once Cristina got there, the host mom decided that she was uncomfortable with another girl in the house, that Cristina and her friend were making too much noise, and that it wouldn't be a good idea for Cristina to spend the night. So girls went out to the local bar to spend some time and then Cristina took train home at 2am. French au pair's room is apparently very small and is right next to host parents and host kids' rooms. No privacy for family or au pair. Bleh.
On Sunday she asked if she can invite another one of her friend's over to spend the night at our house. I said that of course she can. Turned out she invited two friends and asked if that's ok. Sure. No problem. I gave them extra blankets, pillows, and air mattress. Girls came over, politely thanked me for letting them stay and that's the last that I saw of heard of them.
One of the girls who spend the night at our house is working in family with two 11-year-old twin girls. Those two twin girls are not allowed to do anything around the house or for themselves. The au pair has to do all of their laundry. The au pairs has to clean up everything after and for them. The au pair has to set the table and clean the table for them. They au pair has to... well, you get the point. Host mom there is a school teacher and every day she comes home and sits down to do all school work with those two 11-year-old babies.
In addition that mom is not happy when her au pair goes out in the evening or on the weekend, or... horrors... stays out all night (like at my house). She tells her that her house and not a hotel. Sorry, I'm just not getting this.
According to Cristina, her two friends are amazed that Cristina is
1. allowed to spend her free time as she wishes
2. allowed to bring friends over to visit or over night as she wishes
3. is NOT allowed to do Hannah's laundry with out Hannah's direct help
4. is NOT allowed to set and clean the table for/after my kids
5. is asked to help Hannah clean her room, but is not lynched if instead Hannah makes a huge mess in there and theyn they spend two hours drawing pictures of Eeyors and bunnies.
6. is not yelled at if not all homework is complete and she is still finishing something up with Hannah at 8pm
7. is not disciplined if she forgets something on our schedule and girls miss an activity
8. has been offered wine and beer by us at the dinner table and holidays (she's 24, she's not a kid)
9. was not sent home back to Colombia after she had a minor fender bender in our car (no kids were in the car, thank god!)
10. is not required to keep calling me though out the evening to make sure I don't want her to come home right away at 10pm on Friday night.
Any way, I am the coolest Host Mom around and apparently I am an envy a lot of local au pairs.
BTW, having had past au pair from Brazil came in handy last night. I was still at work at 9:30pm and had a document from a client who invests in Brazilian corporation. The contract they sent me was in Portuguese. After playing with google translator for half hour I gave up and called Sabrina. Sabrina, bless her heart, spend 40 min on the phone with me translating for the document. When people in the office asked me who I got to translate for me, they couldn't believe it was my ex au pair. Love! :)
