Arrival to the host family - Settling in

Peek-a-boo welcomes you!

We are former au-pairs and nannies ourselves and are always very happy to make au-pairs feel more than welcome. If youa re not going to the UK, we have representatives in all the countries we send you to. We believe that friendship and patience help overcome homesickness and therefore Peek-a-boo invites all au-pairs to meetings on a regular basis. Here you can meet other new arrivals and girls who have been au-pairs for a longer period. You will be given advice about settling in, ask any questions but mainly just have a relaxing and good time. These meetings have proved very successful.

Peek-a-boo offers you a comprehensive back-up service. We are always available for help and advice. If you have any problems or questions please call us on 020 7600 9880 during the office hours (Monday to Friday 9am-5.30pm). We also have an emergency helpline that operates 24 hours 7 days a week should things go wrong. This number should only be used by members for true emergencies that may occur at weekends, out of office hours or during holiday periods. In an Emergency - but only in an emergency situation - please telephone 0870 067 1664 and your call will be dealt with accordingly

London Au-pairs: If you like going out to pubs and clubs on your spare time, Peek-a-boo Childcare offers you to join a free VIP e-mail listing for great clubs and bars in London.

We also run aupair first aid courses that most families are happy to pay for. These are run on Sundays. Please enquire if you are interested.

See a site called: www.internationalfriends.co.uk and you will see the great variety of tours available. This company have developed an excellent format for weekend tours for young people.
When you book a tour it is essential that you enter the Promotional Code BAPAA in the payment section.

Also see a site called www.aupair2aupair.com - to ontact other au pairs in your area and across the UK. It also provides you with other useful information about being an au pair in the UK. Please contact us about log in details.

Family life
The initial settling-in period is a very important time both for the au-pair and the family. You must try your best to be cheerful, pleasant and willing. Get involved with the family and take an interest in what they are doing. Your host family will respond to this and a good relationship will develop.

At the beginning you may feel lonely and strange, this is normal and the family will be aware of this. The homesickness will go away! Any problems or difficulties you may experience must be discussed with your family.

Communication is the key to a good understanding of one another and a little patience is required by both the au-pair and the family. Be open with your host family and take time to sit down with the parents and discuss concerns with each other. Sadly, relationships sometimes break down because the au-pair is unwilling to communicate feelings. The good news is that if you are willing and committed, most problems are readily worked out if they are handled correctly.
Au-pairs experience a lot of new situations and some might even experience a culture shock. Your host family's lifestyle, living situation, expectations, discipline style with their children or marital patterns might differ widely from what you are accustomed to in your own family life.

Peek-a-boo offers you a comprehensive back-up service. We are always available for help and advice and we have a 24-emergency phone service. We know that being an au-pair is not always easy and if you feel that you have been treated unfairly, please let us know so we can try and sort it out. If worse comes to worst and you have to leave the family, we will try and match you with a new family as soon as possible.

Duties
It is very important that you and the family have come to an agreement about your duties, working hours, babysitting and salary etc. It might be an idea to put everything down in writing although we do not suggest a contract since you should be more looked upon as a family member rather than an employee. Try and be as flexible as possible and try to plan your days in advance. If the family is happy with you they will show it and be more flexible and maybe even give you a pay rise. A happy family makes a happy au-pair and the other way around.
Au-pair duties normally include childminding, light housework and babysitting. Light housework will include; dusting, tidying, ironing and maybe hoovering. It is never fun when a family takes advantage of an au-pair and make her/him work unreasonable hours or make her/him tidy all day long. Don’t let them treat you unfairly and contact the agency if the situation gets out of hand. Remember, we are here for you!

Telephone and Internet
Using the telephone in England and the rest of Europe is expensive and the thing which families complain about more than anything is that some au-pairs abuse the use of the telephone by running up HUGE telephone bills. Most families will allow you to make local calls after 6pm and at weekends, which is cheap rate time, but for other calls it is much better if you buy a phone card when you arrive (available from most newsagents) to use in phone boxes or from the family phone in your free time. The telephone bill the family receives is itemized which means they can see what number you were calling, on what date, at what time and for how long. Most families will not mind you receiving incoming calls of course, but please don't ask friends or family to call at busy times, for example, when you are giving the children meals or putting them in the bath and to bed. Same goes for the internet so make sure you check the rules with the family.

Studies
This link to English courses in the UK is excellent
http://www.englishuk.com

Spare time and friends
Families will of course encourage you to meet friends and for you to have fun in your spare time although some families do not appreciate you staying out late on weeknights. They want you to be awake and fit in the morning whilst looking after their most precious belongings. Most families will probably ask you to be in by 11pm but will let you do as you wish on weekends when you are off. If you like spending your free time in pubs and cafes you should be fine since most of them shut at 11 anyway.

We will provide you with a list of au-pair in your area that you can contact and make friends with.

Its also a very good idea to inform them if you will be staying over at a friends place for the weekend so they don’t have to wonder where you are. Check with the family if you are allowed to have friends visiting and stay overnight, the majority of families don’t mind at all. Take the opportunity to make friends, do not wait for someone else to make the first move. Introduce yourself to others.

Be aware that there are differences in the night life in countries. Be careful. Travel at night with friends and do not take rides from strangers or people you do not know well.

Always arrange beforehand for a taxi or mini cab to pick you up - give your name and ask the driver to confirm the name before you get in the car. Reputable mini cab drivers wear identity cards. NEVER take a ride in a car whose driver offers you a lift and says he is a taxi driver. If you need to get home and haven't booked a cab, black London taxis are much safer.

---

Feel free to Contact us
  Telephone: 0207 600 9880