One of the most important parts of my jobs as an Area Director is answering questions regarding the au pairs' schedule. While the answers are not always black and white, we can offer some very helpful guidelines.  This week, one of my au pairs emailed to ask about working hours. Karina and her host family understood the maximum of 10 hours a day, but it was what constituted “working hours” that seemed to be a question.

Karina was scheduled from 10am-8pm. While just 10 hours, the host family would not be arriving home until 10pm. Since the au pair would put the children to bed at 8pm, they did not see why hours the kids were sleeping would count as work time.

After hearing from Karina, I got in touch with her host family to go over the work hours again. While her hours worked on paper, they over looked one important rule of thumb: should there be an emergency, who would be in charge of the children? Clearly, with no other adults in the home, the au pair would be the care giver. Armed with this new perspective, the host family adjusted Karina’s schedule to be more in line with Department of State schedule requirements.

O.K., so it is the morning. I am starting my day and it is definitely a two cup kind of day.  Every morning, I fix myself one cup of coffee; but, sometimes, I need two.

This morning, as I was realizing it was going to be a two cup kind of day, I had an ahh-hha moment, as Oprah says.  My two cup days have a theme.  They have something in common. There is a constant.

That constant is not a lack of sleep or sleeping through my alarm. That constant is unpreparedness.  I am unprepared for my morning.

My unpreparedness for morning actually starts at night. We all have our night time rituals. Clean up dinner, read a book, kiss our little ones good night, have a glass of wine with our spouse--these are part of our night. I realize that I sporadically include getting ready for the morning in my night time ritual. The nights I add this to my routine, my mornings are easier.

Here are some ways your night time routine can make morning easier.  These are great ideas for an au pair or parent.  Post your version on the refrigerator for whoever is in charge of the night and morning.

• Make and pack lunches as you fix dinner.
• When cleaning up for dinner, lay out what you can for breakfast including the dishes you will need.
• When putting pajamas on little ones, get clothes out for the next day.  Make all those decisions at night so there is no fussing in the morning.
• Take a look at the calendar and lay out anything that needs to be put in the car for the next day.  Include two groups.  One for the children and one for the adults.  Grab them as you leave in the morning.
• Most importantly, get your coffee set up before you go to bed!

What are some of your ideas for easy mornings?  How do your family and au pair work together for a smooth morning?  I hope you share so we can all get some ideas.

AuPairCare is becoming a more popular form of childcare through the US. While the program has been around and designated by the US Department of State for more than 20 years, the economic climate and shift in families from one income to the necessity of two income has sent many families looking for childcare solutions. Additionally, workforce mobility has increased the number of parents who have the ability to work from home or to create working hours and solutions that are more family friendly. The idea of having an au pair is appealing since the hours are flexible and the hours not used can be scheduled somewhere else for baby sitting or hands on help.

That brings me an important topic: scheduling your au pair. It's easy when you need coverage from 9-5 Monday to Friday every week. There are many families who have an au pair for part time childcare, mother's helpers, etc. I've found that some au pairs are, well, a little concerned to jump into the ambiguous schedule that it can bring about. Our family has one of these schedules and I recently tapped into our au pair to hear her thoughts on it. Thankfully, she's either really happy or too polite to tell me otherwise! 

First of all, we set expectations. If that had scared her off, she wouldn't be the right au pair for us! She matched with us knowing that the schedule would never be the same and that we needed evenings and weekends.

Second, there are many times that she's scheduled, we come home earlier than we expected, and the kids are asleep. If everything is done, tidied up, cleaned, put away, etc... we let her go for the evening. We don't try to take back the extra time and schedule it somewhere else. In my opinion, the au pair cleared her schedule to be available during that time and it's difficult to find something else to do with no notice at all.

Third, we ask for an incredible amount of flexibility from her when it comes to scheduling her hours. On the other hand, when something comes up we are very quick to accomodate her. Last week an appointment took longer than expected and I was able to easily shift my plans to include my kiddos for an extra hour.

Finally, because the nature of our au pair's schedule means that she is often working with or around us, hen she's done, I make a point of thanking her for her time and efforts and letting her know she is free to go. We write down her schedule and if we deviate to accomodate her plans or because something comes up for us and she agrees to work different hours, we keep a written schedule in our kitchen. Albeit, sometimes inked out on a papertowel! :( But hey, it's there in writing for all of us to keep track and ensure our au pair does not go over her hours and we don't lose track!! 

I've definitely had the au pairs that complain they never know when they are working or not. When you have someone who is part of the family and sometimes is working, it's easy to mix work time and non worktime. The good thing is, it all looks a lot alike around here! Our au pair is always engaging with our kids or spends time with them during non work hours including them in projects that she's working on. If she's not working, the kids know she can and should have her privacy or alone time and she is clear on what her schedule is.

If you have a schedule that's always changing, how do you keep track of it?? And what would your au pair say are the pros and cons of how you communicate about changes to your schedule?

 In my last post, I discussed how scheduling tools and techniques can help keep you, your Au Pair and your family in sync with one another's schedules and expectations. When your Au Pair is new to the community, it's a great idea to get her started off with different things for her and your kids to experience together. I have one child, so I like to ensure that he and his Au Pair have different things to do during the week to stave off cabin fever (especially during our long winters). There are great activities right in your backyard - many of them free - that you may consider checking out if you haven't already. Some of my faves have included:

• Storytime at the local library and Barnes & Noble
• Mall events (for example, the Mall of America in Minneapolis hosts a "Toddler Tuesday")
• Park events - hikes, puppet shows and an abundance of playground equipment
• Community Programming through the school districts - we have found that early childhood education classes offer "pop in and play" type activities either for free or a nominal fee
• Au Pair play dates are always a hit with the kids and the Au Pairs
• Local children's museums - many of them will host free days
• The zoo - one in our area is free, and another charges admission

I'm always looking for new fresh ideas. Any favorites you'd like to share?