Telephone and Computer
Principle: We want you to be able to stay in close contact with your friends and family, and we want you to have privacy during your phone calls. So, we offer you the primary use of our second phone line and a computer with internet access, both located in your room.
- Use the second line, xxx-xxx-xxxx as your primary number. Give this number out to au pairs and friends, and tell them to call this number unless there is an emergency. Your voicemail number is xxx-xxx-xxxx; the password is xxxx.
- We will pay for the local phone service on the second line; you will be responsible for the rest of the long distance bill.
- Please answer the house phone courteously (“This is the HostFamily home, AuPair speaking. May I help you?”) and take good messages. Post messages on the wall by the kitchen phone or in the spiral notepad. Remind us that there are phone messages.
- If we are not home or are otherwise unavailable or busy, please tell the caller we aren’t able to come to the phone and will return their call. Do not give out specifics unless you know the caller is a close friend or family member (e.g., do not tell someone Mom is away or at the grocery store, etc.).
- We will create an email account for you. Be careful what you download–never download anything from anyone you don’t know. Do not use the iMac computer located in the kitchen for email.
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
We have an au pair, who takes care of our 6 month old. Today I came home to find my daughter sleep upstairs, and the au pair on the computer instant messaging her friends, with the baby monitor off.
20 minutes later, I heard my daughter wake up and start crying. I waited to see if the au pair would react and when she did not, went and told her to never sit with the baby monitor off.
I’m thinking about banning her computer usage during work hours, but is that going too far? My daughter sleeps a fair amount during the day, leaving the au pair without any real duties per se…
But then again, she is on duty…
I’ve had that happen when I came home, my 3 year old daughter is drawing/coloring and my AP is next to her on her laptop, typing emails and browsing the net. I made it clear in writing (we have a diary) that computer usage is just for off hours. In my opinion, she should be interacting with my daughter while she draws, talking about colors, shapes, asking who she is drawing, etc…
Since your daughter is a baby, I believe there are other duties she could be performing while the baby naps. The AP could be folding laundry, putting away toys, sanitizing them, doing laundry, organizing her drawer, updating small clothes and making room for new clothes, mashing some fruits and putting them to freeze so that it is ready to be fed in the future, etc… Good luck!
I found a solution to this problem, A automatic timer (the kind that you use to turn lights on and off during vacation) on the outlet the wireless router is connected to and where the AP doesnt have access. Even though your daughter sleeps a great deal of time, when she is awake, like the previous commenter said, the AP should focus on the child, not doing the babies laundry or preparing the baby’s meals. The timer turns the internet off when we leave for work and it turns it on about the time we get home. Enough said.
In my opinion, whilst the AP is on duty, surfing the net or text messaging her friends is banned. We entrust them to care for our children. They should be attentive at all times…..any less should be considered negligent.
This will be our first Au Apair, but we are not new to nannies and I’ve set house rules regarding computer and telephone while on duty. I really see it as no different for an Au Pair. In addition to limited calls and restricted Internet to things liek looking up Google Maps, etc… we have a rule that stipulates they are not take and post pictures that show our home or children on social networking sites. No Exceptions.
Because I work from home, I also have a confidentiality clause that states that they are not to repeat anything they hear during the course of their work that relates to our work or our personal family business. We give and expect discretion and I’m clear about that with whoever is working in our home.
I read in some of the other posts that this was an issue. It was discussed in the context of “gossip”, but I really see it as a breach of confidentiality. I don’t talk about or gripe about my “boss” in or out of work. It’s unprofessional and immature. Maybe I’m expecting too much, but I think an Au Pair should display professionalism and maturity if she’s with my children. Afterall, they are sponges when it comes to learning behavior and everything else.
I , too, would not want anyone discussing anything personal about my family with my neighbors but I think that an aupair has a right to discuss anything she needs to with her LCC. There are nanny agencies that cater to celebrities and politicians and have their nannies sign non-disclosure clauses but those agencies cost significantly more than an aupair agency.
You and I may be very nice, decent people but suppose there is a problem that troubles the aupair – what can she do ? I do not think that an LCC has a vested interest in spreading gossip about a family. Families , after all , are paying the fees. These programs are supervised and that is a price we just all have to pay. More likely, in the situation of a serious problem , the agency would want to handle it very quietly and quickly and get rid of the problem.
Other than that, though, I think that publishing pictures of the children or family or mindlessly or maliciously publishing on Facebook or other social networks should be taboo. And I think that the agencies should take a very hard line in this regard. I don’t know how they can do that but I think they should try.
customer
To clarify, addressing issues with an LCC and having your business, personal or otherwise, spewed across the Blog-o-sphere, social networking sites and more are two completely different things. I don’t think having little common sense and setting expectations regarding safe internet practices requires a special agency or non-disclosure agreement.
Agencies should include a “Safe Internet Practices” section in their orientation, if they don’t already. It should address safety for the APs themselves, and the families they are with. Again, I just see this as common sense, but something that is commonly overlooked. We had a nanny snapping pics on her cell phone left, right and center of my newborn and it made me VERY uncomfortable. I had no idea what she was doing with the pictures, as she wasn’t sharing them with me. She was also not the most mature person. I don’t think she was doing anything malicious… but, she was certainly capable of mindless. I put a stop to it and felt well within my rights to do so. That’s why we put it right in the Work Agreement for anyone working with our child going forward.
Anyway, food for thought for those who don’t want their kid’s pictures in the public domain.
I hope to be an AP very soon, and i agree with the idea of include in the “Safe Internet Practices” section in their orientation, networks are an important part of my life and a good way to know me better is through my facebook profile or my cs profile.
What’s a cs profile? Are there other social networking sites au pairs use other than Facebook?
Hi everyone
iam Noa Shuuya,22 from Namibia iam looking for a lovely,good caring host family..to take me in as there next aupair,iam fun,loving i enjoy long walks,backing and reading. Here is my email : noajustinash60@gmail.com
Hello, I am an au pair in my second year but I changed families, I have been here with this new host family for 5 months already and I haven’t had my vacations. They told me they will tell me when I could take them but they never mentioned it again, so I started the conversations shyly, I asked them when it was ok for me to have my vacactions, and the answer I got was “Oh, dear we were hoping you dont want to take them so we can have work more and of course pay you”, to what I respond that I am really interested in travelling., so they say that I will have a travel month at the end of the year.
But I insisit that it is one of my rights to have 2 weeks paid of vacation, and they suggested me then to take them at the end and work the travel month. and I say absolutely NO!!
then they also suggest me to take my vacations along with the travel month (but it doesn’t work for me because it will imply 6 hotel weeks and food ect…), I said no let’s figure it out another way so we all can be happy. so they finally told me they want me to have my vacactions on weekends, but I honestly think this is so stupid as I have weekends off, and also vacaction are for taking a rest of my work routinem right?
I just think they are so selfish when it comes to my off time because even I f I work the required 45 hours, I usually (realy usually) work extra hours so they can enjoy time without kids.
How can I re-ask them to let me have my vacations on week days where I can really feel I am resting.
It’s obvious to me your host family doesn’t comprehend or want to comprehend the rules on vacation. You’ve tried several times to communicate with them and all they do is reject and stall and give you wrong information. They will keep doing this until the year is up. Who are they kidding with this? It’s time to bring in your LCC or company headquarters. Decide what week you want to go on vacation. Give them at least several weeks advance notice of your plans. When they say no or suggest again you do it when your year is over with them, call the LCC.
I agree with My 2 cents – your family sounds as though they have successfully convinced APs to take their vacations at their convenience. It sounds like you are caring for young children, since you work 45 hours per week, so your vacation inconveniences them. BTDT. As a working parent of pre-school children, I have found that there are several solutions 1) ask a family member to come and pitch in, 2) enjoy a week with your kids or 3) hire a babysitter (ouch!).
As their AP, you are not in charge of helping them find a solution. Here is what I suggest, compromise. You choose a week and they choose a week (or a series of long weekends). Meet each other halfway – that way you’re each half happy, right?
If that doesn’t work, then call for a meeting with your LCC. It might help for them to hear what the regulations are.
A long weekend equals a Friday and/or a Monday off, not just a 2-day trip. You are eligible for 10 weekdays off.
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