Your work week will be based primarily upon the needs and plans of your host family. Each week you will have a schedule that your family and you will go over. In some host families the schedule is the same each week while in others it is different from one week to the next. The best advice is simply to be flexible. This means that some au pairs will have daytime off while the children are in school, and others will have the evenings off when the parents are home from work. You will most likely also be asked to work during some weekends. We recommend that you get a calendar so that you and your host family can write when you are required to care for the children. Begin using this calendar right away to keep track of your schedule, your host family’s plans, your days and weekends off, your vacation plans, etc. Your family will also receive a Daily Communication Log which is a good tool to communicate information to the host family.
Hours
Under the U.S. Department of State guidelines, you are legally allowed to provide a maximum of 45 hours of childcare per week, with a limit of 10 hours per day. Please keep in mind that your host family can ask you to work at any time as long as it stays within the hour regulations. Under no circumstances may you work more than the regulated number of hours. In case your host family asks for additional hours of childcare, please inform your LCC or Cultural Care at 1-800-333-6056 immediately.
You are entitled to one and a half consecutive days off per week. You are also required to receive one full weekend off per month, which is Friday evening to Monday morning. In addition you will have two weeks of paid vacation. Keep in mind that the vacation must fit in with the host family’s plans as well. Discussing vacation early is a good idea.