Luck of the draw

This AuPair thing i'm doing really is a luck of the draw kind of thing, on both sides. From the AuPairs stand point you never really know what your getting yourself into, what your host parents might be like, how the kids might behave, what their real expectations of you are, how at home you'll feel, if you will get treated properly, and the list really does go on. From the host families point of view they never know who they have coming into their home. Does they person really have as much childcare experience as they say, can they drive, can they cook, are they reliable, will they actually take good care of the kids. etc...

For me I think that I am defiantly on the luckier end of the luck scale. My host family treat me as part of their family, they invite me to do everything with them. The kids are pretty good most of the time, although challenging because in the end they are all boys. I have my own bedroom/bathroom, places that are just mine in both their houses. I have 24/7 access to a car. They have never mistreated me, and I really do feel welcomed into their home as a part of their family.
Those are the positives, on the other end of the scale there are some things that   I just wasn't expecting when I came here. Like the extra errands that I would have to run that have nothing to do with the kids. Maintenance of the pool and spa. The overtime hours. The feeling that I often can't leave on weekends because they want me to be with the family all the time. The feeling of often being the only parent in the house and just having their real parents be there on weekends acting like the cool aunt and uncle who just stop by to have fun. Things like that.

I think these things were a shock to me because none of it is explained by Cultural Care (the company that I went through). I guess they have rules and guidelines that both the family and AuPair have to stick to. However once you are with your family, living in their house, they are your primary "boss" and Cultural Care do very little to ensure that all the rules are being followed. You have a person called a Local Childcare Coordinator (LCC), who is employed by Cultural Care to be your point of contact with them. You have monthly meetings with this person, where you and the other AuPairs in your group gather and discuss any issues and problems. But also to chat and get to know new people. The only problem with this is that my LCC is a little bit clueless.You can tell that she only really does it for the money and doesn't care about us really. The other problem with raising issues with her is that she goes directly to the heads at Cultural Care and then they try and get the family in trouble. It would be nice if instead she could just be a support in discussing things with your family, like a back-up. Because really you are on your own, living in someone else's house. I feel that CC are defiantly just trying to get AuPairs in the door, because you get a tremendous amount of support to get here, but once your in the door... silence. It's just frustrating cause it feels like they have taken your money and run.

Anyway besides the dodgy support I think that on both sides, the family and the AuPair, you can run into issues. So the most important thing that I can stress is when interviewing with families, be thorough. Ask as many questions as possible and don't settle for a family because of the state where they live, or how big their house is. If they don't seem like decent people who will actually treat you right and with respect, then don't even go there. Because you ultimately have to live and get along with these people for a year.