Diary of an Au pair

Are you planning to come to Dublin to study English? Are you looking for a job? Do you need  accommodation? Great: became an Au pair can give you all this things… and more!

I arrived in Ireland one month ago and I  started to work as an Au pair immediately. Probably not everyone knows what it is means. Basically, an “Au Pair” is a babysitter from a foreign country who lives in the same house as the host family. Generally, the Au pair takes care of the children, helps them with the homework and organizes some activities to do during the afternoon. The host family in return guarantees the accommodation and gives him/her pocket money and all the meals from breakfast to dinner are included in the Au pair contract. Does it sound great? Good! Let’s see together how to become an Au pair in Dublin!

The first step is to sign up on a web site like www.aupairworld.com You have to create a personal profile; through this the family can know you. First of all, be honest when you fill the information in your profile. If you say you love children and it’s not true it will be a problem in the future! In addition, I suggest you to be clear about what do you expect from this experience; if you are a student, for example, you need to have free time in the morning to go to school.

Secondly, you should check with the profile of the families who you are interested very carrefully: 1. How many children they have (some families are not clear about it, and it could be really unpleasant if you arrive in the hosts family and you find that 12 children are waiting for you!). 2. What are the ages of the children who you should take care of: it is very different take care of a new born from an adolescent. 3. What is the exact address of the family. Dublin is not the biggest city in Europe of course, but to live in Temple Bar is different from living in Dublin 18.

This kind of job solves the big problem of accommodation (If you’ve already been living in Dublin, you know what I’m talking about!) and permit you to enter directly in contact with Irish culture and to improve your English faster.