Every year my best friend and I take our families on vacation. My favorite week of the year, it is a week of perfectly choreographed “momming”. I cook, she cleans, she rises early to make pancakes and I start the coffee. I bring the board games and she does the laundry… did I mention she loves doing laundry? I have never seen anything like it. Neat little piles of laundry showing up on all of our beds throughout the week. I imagine this is how my children feel about life, house fairies just making stuff happen. The week after our annual trips always feels a little lonelier and slightly more overwhelming.
Coming off one of these amazing weeks, I was looking into our upcoming summer activities when a friend presented the idea of an au pair. Initially, I had to laugh, when I thought of an au pair it felt out of reach or like an option for families in a tax bracket beyond my own. But, the idea wouldn’t go away, and the truth is my family, like so many of you, had been looking for ways to make our budget work smarter, not harder. Instead of shutting it down, I allowed the idea to roll around, quieted my knee-jerk bias and gave the thought room to grow.
It may have been the forced slow down of the last few years, or just the natural transition from easily contained babies to outside-influenced young people, but these kids feel so busy. My calendar has begun to feel like small boxes of looming stress. There is always a place to be, a child I am not giving enough of myself to, or the ever-present impossible sacrifice of time for money and vice versa.
On a recommendation, I met with Jill of AuPairCare. Within minutes of our meeting, I realized that this wasn’t just a placement for her or for the amazing women choosing to become au pairs. Jill had once been in my shoes, making these big decisions for her own family. She understood the gravity of allowing the wrong, or amazingly the right person into my family dynamic. She asked the deep questions and heard the honest answers. It wasn’t just a placement, together we were expanding my family unit. Could I ask if my au pair liked laundry? Is that an option on the questionnaire?
With the support of AuPairCare I introduced another level of flexibility, added love, and created additional support for my children and our home. Financially, it was not only comparable to the daycare and aftercare fees, but more cost-effective. I was able to broaden their experience of other cultures while all this was happening in the safety of our home.
Every family functions in its own way and I would never presume to tell you what is right or wrong for your dynamic. But, what I can say is that if I had allowed my own limitations to prevent me from meeting with Jill, my children would have lost out on too many experiences to count. I am forever grateful for the expansion of my team and the love that is now a normal part of our lives.
And spoiler alert…she starts the kids’ laundry and I do the folding. What a team!
For more information about working with Jill Schechter at AuPairCare, call (443) 564-2212 or e-mail at jschechter@aupaircare.com
Author: Patrice Craig
Patrice Craig is a long-time Annapolis Mom bringing her New York sarcasm to the joys of parenting. Momma to many and two dogs, she may not have all the answers but she has a lot of opinions.
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