Questions to ask your host family before starting your Au Pair job

(photo by dreamstime)

A future au pair recently posted a question regarding what questions she should ask her host family. Although I couldn’t respond (because you need a Yahoo account to do so, and I used to have one but can no longer access it – long story). This is an important question to ask though, as au pairs need to know what they are getting themselves into and what the family they might be working for will like.

To be honest, I don’t think I asked my host family much of anything beyond the very basics. I was primarily concerned about where they lived, what they did for fun, what their jobs where, and that was about it. I pretty much just wanted to be sure that I was going to have a good time working for them (which I did!). But seriously, they told me a lot about themselves, so there wasn’t much more to be asked than what they told me.

Actually, there were a few questions I didn’t know to ask. As mentioned, the basics were covered. I knew how many children they had (one – which was exactly right and about all I cared to deal with at the time!), what they did for a living (they were self-employed), what their hobbies were (they were both helicopter pilots and virtually lived to fly), and where they lived.

They even gave me a projected work schedule, which I appreciated and which is something you need to know. They also said some light housework and ironing, which in hindsight, was a little too generic. I should have asked specifically what sort of housework and how much ironing. The ironing ended up being a lot most weeks, and to this day, I still don’t iron (seriously, I ironed so many shirts – t-shirts included – that now my husband gets to iron anything too wrinkled in our home!).

So the life lesson here is to be sure to ask specifics. Know ahead of time what will be expected of you: when you will be expected to work, what your duties will involve, how long you will work, etc,.

And remember – no question is a bad question – be honest with them and expect honesty from them, and don’t be afraid to ask questions that are important to you. Living with a strange family that you will also be working for is a serious change, so cover all the bases.