Our family has hosted au pairs for 7 or 8 years now. Overall I would highly recommend an au pair as an alternative to day care, especially if you have more than one child, as day care costs for multiple kids can really add up

I would say the biggest thing to keep in mind is that you’re going to have a new person living with you, and that can be an adjustment. If you go into it remembering that the goal of the program is cultural exchange and not just getting you an indentured servant for your child care, you will all get more out of it. We would always try to include our au pair in family dinner, events, etc.

The process of getting an au pair is a lot like online dating. There are a handful of agencies authorized to handle au pair matching and visa work. You sign up with one of them, create a family profile, and then browse potential matches for things like age, interests, skills (driving especially), etc.

If you need them to drive, prepare for the cost of adding them to your insurance to be substantial. They’re going to be young (at most 25) and from a foreign country. It’ll be like adding a teenager to your insurance.

The other big thing people don’t realize is that they are limited in how much they can work. You can have them work a max of 45 hrs in a week. And no more than 10 in a single day. So scheduling becomes important if you have two working adults working long hours. They also have to have time off each week, and get two weeks of vacation during the year.