Au pair experiences

Page 35

things, but it was absolutely worth it.

lawn, finally they decided that I wouldn’t do it,

When I found my host-family I thought they

luckily.

were the best family I could find. They were go-

The parents wanted me to cook for them, not

ing to give me good pocket-money and their

only for their kids, so I found myself taking care

house was in a good place to live. But when I met

of the kids but also of their parents. Then they

them my initial perspective changed a little bit.

left all the dishes in the sink, waiting for me to

The kids I was minding were 10 and 12 years old.

clean them once they finished the meals I had

These are good ages if you don’t like young kids,

prepared them. I had to feed two cats every day

and you are a beginner aupair, as they are very

in the morning and water the plants two days per

independent. But my kids were too independent,

week. Oh, and you know my favorite day of the

in my opinion.

week? Tuesday, when I had to iron all the father’s

They were always playing with their computers.

shirts! The may thought it was a fun thing for me

The eldest didn’t use to talk to me at all. Well, at

to do.

least he used to thank me for preparing his din-

One thing I used to do during the afternoon

ner; the youngest was kinder with me, but not

and I enjoyed as well was baking. I did muffins

much. And I think they used to see me as their

and cakes. The youngest used to like it, so it was

servant.

something we used to do together.

During the week I had to wake them up, it was

At least they bought me a present for Christmas,

easy with the youngest, but I had problems with

and that made me nice that they were good peo-

the eldest, it was very hard with him. I used to

ple after all.

prepare breakfast for them, and for the father!

I went back home for Christmas, for two weeks.

And then feed the cats. Every day I had to do

By that time everything was good with the En-

some housekeeping, but the reality was that I had

glish family and we were comfortable living

to do everything in the house, all the house work.

together, but unfortunately my grandmother

As I did not have to do so many things with

passed away during my holidays in Barcelona.

the kids, like going to the park, or take them to

Going again to London was too hard for me, but

school, I had to do the housekeeping. At first ev-

I had to go back with my host-family. Once there

erything was right, but after two months I was

again I didn’t feel supported by them at all and I

more a maid than an aupair. I even had to take

realized that some families don’t care about you.

the bins out, and they wanted me to mow the

You are just there to clean the house and to pre-

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