What are the specific qualities that host families look for in an au pair?

Dear Asenath,

I can tell you what we're looking for in an au pair. While some of the points will probably be rather universal to all host families, others are probably pretty specific:

Our au pair has to be...

• ...reliable and trustworthy: We need to feel absolutely safe to leave our au pair alone with the kids. A befriended host family once told me, that their au pair left one of the kids behind at the play ground. That would have led to an immediate cancellation if it has happened with my kids!!
• ...ready to execute our "house rules" with the kids: While it's ok that our au pair sets up some rules which are valid while (s)he looks after the kids, there are several rules that need to be obeyed all the time. E.g. our kids are only allowed to watch TV for a certain time per day or to eat a certain amount of sweets per day. We expect our au pair to strictly execute these rules.
• ...present while looking after the kids: We once had an au pair whose mobile phone vibrated all the time and every other minute she had to check it. As she wasn't able to handle her use of the mobile phone responsibly, we finally defined that she had to leave her phone at her room while she was looking after the kids (unless she left the house and needed the phone to be able to reach us in case of emergency)
• ...relaxed and fun: While it's important to always stick to the basic rules, being with the au pair and having e.g. an "au pair evening" should be fun for the kids - if the au pair is too strict and/or boring and uninterested, the kids will not want to stay with the au pair. And then the very reason to have an au pair doesn't work out anymore...

Best regards,

Maria

We always look for someone who has a similar approach in life to our family.  We are quite relaxed and like to spend time together so we don’t want someone who is sat in their room the whole time.

Someone who is present when looking after the children and not a slave to their phone is also a good one.

We also look for someone to take the initiative, while Isaac is at school most of the time, during holiday we want him to be out and about exploring with his aupair.  This is a great opportunity for our aupair to see more of the UK, but we haven’t found many who will look to do this.

Hope this helps