Let’s face it and be realistic: All children misbehave at some point and as an au pair you have to be prepared for those challenging situations. Children are not perfect. They make mistakes growing up, while learning right and wrong. They will have bad days, just like you sometimes do. Your host children will need your help learning how to express themselves and control their behavior. This requires a great deal of patience at times as well as curiosity about what the child is trying to express.
Your host children will test you and they might try to take advantage of you as their new au pair. Remember, children might behave differently in different situations: it’s absolutely normal that they behave one way with you, another way with their parents or at daycare. It’s part of exploring their boundaries.
Some of the behavior challenges we want to look at now are sucking thumbs, throwing temper tantrums, aggressive behavior and sibling rivalry. At the au pair training school we will discuss more potential challenges that might cause frustration for an au pair.