This Is Our House! – Au Pair Is Inviting Guests All The Time

This post is also available in: Deutsch (German)

If the host family invites an au pair to stay with them, the house becomes the au pair’s place to live too. Yet there are some rules for au pairs. One of them is to respect, that they are still only a guest and that they can not invite other people all the time.

The au pair moved in. Especially in the first weeks of being new in the country the family has to concentrate a bit more on their new family member, include them in all family activities and show them around. Once the au pair starts taking a language class or gets around the city, the family will have a little bit of time for themselves again and the parents might even be able to enjoy some alone time, when the kids are asleep.
With getting an au pair they gave up a huge part of their privacy, so every host family is glad about some time for themselves, when the au pair is not at home.

Come on in!

But come the friends for the au pair, come the guests in the family’s house. And this is where the host family needs to have rules for their new family member. Because although he/she is a new member of the family, it doesn’t mean that he/she can do whatever he/she likes. To invite someone to watch a movie from time to time is not a problem, but special cases like more than one or two friends at the host family’s place all the time or even someone for a sleepover have to be discussed.

The au pair can not pretend that he/she can take over the family’s house. There are little children sleeping there and parents that can’t share their time with others 24/7 only because they have a live-in childcare now.

Set borders and rules! If the au pair wants to invite someone, you have to agree before. To make sure that the au pair will stick to that rule, you can also write it down in the contract.