My plan is to graduate high school in 2020. I will be 16 at the time and I want to take at least one gap year so I can learn more about myself and the world and about what I really want to do with my life.
My current top option is to be an au pair overseas. I know that only a few countries allow that at 17, but I love kids and I live the idea of being engaged in a family of a different culture.
I have done some research into the topic and how it would work and I have found some information and resources. But I don’t know anybody who has any personal experience doing this.
I was just wondering if anyone could tell me about their experiences being an au pair? Or what resources they used to find their families? Or just give me some more information from someone who has done it?
( And if you did it at 17, I would love to know what country you went to that allowed you to au pair at 17)
I am old now but, my 16 yr old friend came home from Germany after her au pair yr pregnant to the father in the family. It was love on her side LOL. 16 is young. She never went to uni, never left the home town we all yearned to leave, married an alcoholic had a few more kids. If I was your mum, no way LOL.
Most families want age 20 and certified experience. Even 18 is seen as very young for aupairs.
How about you try for a year abroad in a high school? AFS, YFU, CIEE all offer this program. It’s year long and difficult but culturally enriching and age appropriate.
@MYOS1634 I applied for study abroad programs for next year and I was denied. That is why I’m super interested in the learning a new culture and being in a family aspect of being an Au Pair.
@Sybella I want to graduate high school early because I just don’t really like the environment of it and I want to experience more of the world than just the town that I live in. I’m my grade of ~900 kids I’m ranked <20. My weighted GPA is 106.4, I currently take 2 AP classes and the rest are Pre-AP but next year I’m planning on taking at least 5 AP classes. I took the SAT for the first time in early May and I plan on probably taking the SAT again and taking the ACT this summer.
@blue1516 I know that being an au pair isn’t easy but I’m not necessarily looking for something super easy. I want something that will challenge me because I think the most learning and understanding comes from challenging situations. I know that there is a potential for a bad situation which is why I wanted to hear from people in what worked and what didn’t work when they did it.
You may have been denied for different reasons: age; lack of maturity; lack of psychological stability at interview/group activity level; low level in foreign language; poorly formed plan/motivation. That you were denied makes it even less likely you’d be allowed to work as an aupair at 17, though. It’s much easier to be selected for a year in HS as a minor than to be selected as an aupair as an 18 year old.
Note: You won’t be “in” a family. You’ll be a family’s servant. It’s REALLY different.
Re-apply to "year in high school abroad"programs - perhaps consult with various programs (YFU, AFS, CIEE are some of the most well-known) to choose one where you find the best fit. You’ll be one year older, you’ll have had more experiences (or may have found way to volunteer and participate in various groups outside of school that’ll force you to stretch), you’ll have one more year in foreign language or even more if you go through dual enrollment classes (dual enrollment foreign language is faster paced and more intense than HS foreign language). Or see if your parents would be okay with a year in boarding school.
It does not exactly sound like you have exhausted the rigorous schedule in HS. Your SAT score is not cited, so what was it? You sat a real SAT? And soph PSAT?
Not liking HS is a thing. Do it anyway. Optimize your senior year APs, your test scores, ECs, service, so you have great college options. At 16 you are a child and a liability in many environments.
My 17 year old D will be au pairing in Italy this summer. A few things of note, though. She is conversationally fluent in Italian, she has been to Italy before and done a summer semester in a university there (and a homestay), and it’s just for two months she’ll be doing it. A whole year is a BIG commitment on both parties and at 16, you’ll be a big risky bet on their part and be gambling on your part.
I haven’t gotten my score back from my SAT which is why I didn’t include it. My soph PSAT was a 1430. I understand that just not liking high school might not be a great reason to leave early but it’s the specific environment of my high school that is one of the main problems. My parents aren’t willing to foot the bill for private school, birding school, etc. And I’m ready to leave. I’ve talked to my counselor and she has said that with the grades and scores that I currently have that I’d be able to get into good colleges even if I graduate early.
The study abroad programs that I applied to were the free ones through the government or other free programs that are super selective. I had looked at the other options( ones that cost money) but my parents wouldn’t be willing to pay for them. I understand that a cultural exchange and being an au pair are different things in different environments but, I’m still very interested in doing it. I love working with kids and it has always been something that I’ve considered pursuing ( teacher, daycare worker etc.) so I think the experience of working with kids that intensely will help me figure out of it is something that I really want to do.
CIEE gives out scholarships for study abroad and culture exchange- they gave my D a 75% scholarship. Can’t hurt to try and see if any of the not-free programs have scholarships.
My dd attended a summer study abroad program in Spain. One of her German classmates there was an au pair for the family of one of the instructors. She exchanged her au pair services for the classroom fees and board.
My daughter rarely saw her in class because she was always busy taking care of the four children. She had to take therm to all of their programs, make their meals, do their laundry, potty train them-everything. She rarely had a day off. When my daughter did see her, the girl was always exhausted, and in tears or near tears.
My dd tried to befriend her but they couldn’t really do anything together because the girl was always running to take care of a child. When one of the children is sick, guess who gets to clean up the mess? Guess who gets to take care of them on her one day off??
You have not been trained as a teacher; and you wont be busy doing the Mary Poppins thing.
Nope, this is changing diapers, prepping meals, intervening between fights, doing housekeeping, doing laundry, bathing kids, keeping them healthy and safe from the hours of 5:30 am to about 9 pm.
The minute they wake up, they are YOUR responsibility. You have to pay for your own medical insurance and you wont have time to go to a doctor when you catch all of their diseases, colds, pink eye, etc. Remember, that they are yours from the moment they get up, and this includes 2 and 3 am feedings.
Nope, these kids resent that their parents are away from home for 70+ hours per week and the kids take it out on you.
The witch of this for this poor girl was that she really wanted to up her Spanish skills and she was so busy taking care of these kids that her whole summer was a bust; her acquired skills included spanish for “stop that, don’t fight with your brother, please try to eat” etc.
I speak English and I’ve been studying Spanish for 3 years in school but I am in no way fluent.
My parents are good with me being an au pair. They know that it is something that I really want to do and as long as they feel comfortable with the family I’d be working for they said it would be okay. I do have a passport and I have an after school job. I’ve only been working at it for like 6 months but by the time I would leave it would have almost been 2 years.
I was an au pair in London for one summer when I was 19. Then when I finished college, I spent a whole year with another family in a different area of the country.
The au pair ideal is a cultural exchange between the au pair and the family, in which the au pair is treated as a member of the family and the au pair helps out with child care and household chores. The reality is usually very different.
The first family I was with was ok, they treated me well, but I didn’t feel part of their family whatsoever. I was one of the lucky ones that had clear working hours and was not being overworked, but I met a lot of other au pairs who were very unhappy with their situation. The second family was true to the spirit of the au pair ideal. I meshed with their family really well. I had a truly fantastic experience.
Honestly, I think 16 is very young unless you really luck out and end up with one of the very few families that are true to the spirit of the au pair ideal. If you don’t luck out, you will be thousands of miles away from your family, in a country that you don’t know and where you can’t communicate properly. In the best of circumstances, being an au pair is challenging in a good way, but when things go south it can be a terrifying experience.
I wouldn’t be leaving until I was 17 but I still understand that it is very young.
Once I actually begin my search for families I think I’ll look at them with my parents and try to flush out what they’re looking to get from it and all of the details about what my schedule would look like. I want to do my best to go into it as informed as I can with most of the details ( if not all of the details on working hours, what is expected of me, etc.) worked out ahead of time. ) I know that in order to find a good family I’ll have to communicate with them and Skype with them.
I would not hire a 16 or 17 year old child to be solely responsible for my family’s day to day needs. IMO, you’d be best advised to continue your education, even if it means continuing overseas - here is a link to get you started https://campusoxford.com/ This program is very flexible in terms of what you’d like to study, it will prepare you for SAT or UK uni entrance exams, you’ll live in a dorm with other young people or homestay (maybe you could trade homestay fees for household help) and you’ll be well taken care of.
So you are about 14 ½ now? You want to live in a foreign country, where you have no rights and work for a family to take care of their children being a child yourself???
What’s wrong with babysitting at a local community center that has multiple cultural events?
Where would you go if you are not fluent in Spanish?
My dd took 7 years of Spanish and speaks Spanish in our home. No way was the Spanish in Madrid, the same as the regional Spanish we speak/ spoke at home. She had a hard time, as did I, a NATIVE speaker. The vocabulary was different, as was the rate of speech.
Your parents are allowing you to even think of this??? WOW!