On this page we have published a few letters for you to read from former au-pairs who came to the UK or Ireland with Peek-a-boo Childcare.
-------------------------
London
1st July 2008
My year as an au-pair.
My name is Silvia and I've lived in London for 14 month as an au-pair. I
started straight after my A-levels without hardly any life experience or houshold
skills. Yet this nice family was kind enough to give me this life changing
oppotunity. I've looked after two girls aged 11 and 13 at the beginning of
my year an I've had a dog to care for ,as well. The girls are really fantastic.
They are lovely and understanding and try to be helpful wherever they can.
Of course ,from time to time they can be a handful when they are in sulk or
fight with each other , but generally this isn't causing any inconveniences.
The parents both work full time and coming back in the late evening. Nevertheless
they've been a great help for me. They explained how I had to cook things
and how to use all the labour-saving devices in the right way. Besides ,whenever
I made a mistake and unfortunately there were several little slip-ups from
my side they never screamed at me but talked in a calm way to me and suggested
how I could improve things. They've made my stay as comfortable as possible.
During my stay things have changed a lot. Not only has my English improved
, but I have also changed in my personality. I have become more open and adventurous
as London offers a wide range of activities. The number of museums ,parks
,shopping streets and clubs gives you hardly time to be bored. I can say for
myself that I've seen so many things from castles to English towns and landscape
to museums and musicals that I could have never seen somewhere else. I've
also heard a lot of stories about au-pairs who are really unlucky with their
family. Then I always thought how fortunate I've been to have found this family
who has enabled me to have one of the best years in my life! For nothing in
the world would I have missed that experience and I am very sad that it's
already over now. I know it's going to be a very emotional farewell from the
family as well as from my friends who I have made within this year. I want
to say thank you to Peek-a-boo who showed so much effort to place me with
the right family.
I can truly say you did an amazing job !
Kind regards ,
Silvia
Dear Silvia, thank you so much for your superb letter. Its a true inspiration to read about your experience. We wish you best of luck in your future endevours and ask you to keep in touch. Have a great summer. Love, Lina & Sara
------------------------------
London,26th June 2008
My time as an Au Pair!!
Hi, my name is Linda and I've been working as an Au Pair for 10 months in
London. I've been very lucky with my family, I'm sure you've heard scary stories
just like me, but I've been super-lucky I must say.
I've been looking after an 11 year old girl, Katie, she is the only child.
She is very sweet, but of course she can be grumpy sometimes, like if she's
tired or stressed, but she is very caring and understanding.
The parents work very hard. The dad is away during the weeks but usually comes
home for the weekends. The mother works full time as well, sometimes from
home, but they are always very busy, a lot of travelling as well. That's why
they need someone who can look after Katie, which I've been very happy to
do.
As I've already told you she's a very sweet little girl, loves dancing and
singing, I know a lot of musical theatre songs now:
Working for this family has been an amazing experience for me, I've learnt
so much about everything. About myself, about people and different lifestyles,
about London and I've really improved my English. Becoming an Au Pair is definitely
one of the best things I've done in my life - getting away from home and becoming
more independent. It's been a magic journey and I'm really going to miss them,
and Richmond Park. That's where I've spent most of my spare time. Lovely,
absolutely lovely, like a paradise. London is a lovely and very charming city,
I'm definitely coming back.
Hopefully those who read this will have a great time becoming an Au Pair or
if you're a family looking for one. Whoever you are, I wish you the best of
luck in the future.
A BIG thanks to Peek-a-boo, especially Lina, who has been very kind and helpful.
Thanks for reading my letter!!
Lots of love from Linda.
Thank you so much Linda for the lovely letter. We are really happy
you have enjoyed yourself this much. Please stay in touch in the future and
let us know if you have any friends that want to be aupairs too.
Love, Lina
------------------------------
Farnham Royal, May 2008
Hello everyone,
For the past 8 months I've been living in the UK as an au pair. Just a year
ago I decided to stop studying linguistics because it was just the wrong choice
for me. However, I didn't really know what to do next, and after thinking
about it for a long time I decided not to go back to uni but to take a year
off, go abroad and work as an au pair. I had bought a book about au pairing
and one of the agencies mentioned in this book was Peekaboo. I liked what
I read, so I called them and from then on I was really impressed with how
well they helped me. They responded to my emails very fast, and started looking
for a hostfamily for me even before I had completed my file (some things can
take a while to arrange, so my advice to future au pairs is to start early).
Before a week had passed, two families had called me, and I decided to accept
the offer of the second family. They live about thirty minutes from London
by train in a beautiful green area (best of both worlds). They have three
kids and a very large (and very lovely) dog. I work about thirty hours a week,
three in the morning and three in the afternoon. I used to have to entire
days of, Fridays and Sundays, but now I work Friday mornings instead of Saturday
afternoons, which is great. Most of the work is looking after the kids, tidying,
walking the dog and other general help around the house. My hostfamily has
been on holidays a few times, and during that time I looked after the dog
and the house. When I first arrived, there was a letter waiting for me from
Peekaboo, with advice, telephone numbers for emergencies and adresses of other
au pairs in the area. I found some english friends in the area quite soon
so I didn't contact any of the other au pairs, but it would have been a big
help if I hadn't made any other friends.
Being an au pair is really great! It's great to improve your English, you
make new friends, and you learn a lot about the country you go to and the
country you come from.
I want to thank Peekaboo for all the help they gave me, especially Lisa Carlsson,
who found me a hostfamily!
Hanneke
Thank you Hanneke for the lovely letter you wrote us! Please stay in touch in the future.
----------------------------
London, 2008
Hello everyone,
My name is Kasia and I have been working as a nanny in the UK for the past
7 years. I am really happy to have the opportunity to tell you my story. It
started in 1996 when I was on the 3rd year of my university and me and my
friends visited England for the first time. I studied agriculture in Olsztyn
and our school together with the farm near Ely-Buckingamshire gave as the
chance to work during our students practice on that farm. Although we worked
very hard all weekends we were visiting a lot of the English cities having
great time. We all thought we could speak English but the unfortunately the
reality was different, we understood a lot but when we spoke almost no one
understood us. I really admire English people for trying very hard:-).It was
the time when I realised that my English is not as good as I thought, especially
my pronunciation. Decision was made, when I finish university I will go to
London and learn English. Everything happened according to my plan, got the
Master degree and travelled to London. Always wanted to work with children
as I had teaching qualification but at the beginning was hard, to attend to
school every day and to be flexible with time I couldn't apply for any other
job than cleaning for example. My friends were asking me what I was doing,
studied for 5 years in Poland and cleaning in London. But I knew that I had
to sacrifice something to achieve my goal. After few months time I was offered
my first nanny job. I was really happy to get it because at that time I didn't
have any experience as a nanny in the UK. That was the perfect time to prove
how good I was with children. The best way to get some experience is to become
an au-pair first, which has a lot advantages like living with the family so
you don't have to worry about renting, working part time and going to school.
In my first job as a nanny I was looking after a lovely girl Maya who was
6 months when I started. After 3 years they moved to Scotland and asked me
to go with them but I couldn't, had to many friends in London. After working
as a nanny for the past 7 years the great thing about that job is that Maya,
the girl who I stopped looking after 4 years ago still comes to London to
visit me or just call me to tell me about her new friend at school. Isn't
that great? Unfortunately I have been ill for the past two months and I am
in Poland but I felt much better when I got the pictures of all the children.
I was looking after for the past 7 years and each family called me wishing
me the best. That is the best reward for my job as a nanny. One more thing,
I don't have to tell you how great it is to live in such a wonderful city
as London?
If you have the opportunity to work in England as an au-pair or nanny try
it, if you don't you will never know how your life could have changed.
Kasia
Thank you for your time and effort Kasia
----------------------------
Stockholm, Sweden,
May, 2006
Dear candidate,My name is Lisa Braun and I have just returned from London
after one year there as an au-pair. I am not really sure where to start and
what to say. I have only been home for a week and I haven't really gathered
my thoughts yet. I have had a wonderful year in London and I have made so
many new wonderful friends from all over the world. Sara at Peek-a-boo helped
me find my host family who lived in Fulham, London. We talked on the phone
a few times and I liked Tina, the mother from the first minute. We decided
that we liked each other and I was really glad they choose me as their au-pair.
I came over to work for them last year in August and it didn't take me long
before I had been introduced to at least 10 other au-pairs in the area. The
agency sent me a list with other girls where I lived and I went to the Peek-a-boo
meetings in town to find new friends. Most these girls were Swedish but a
lot of them were from Australia, Eastern Europe and England. We met every
day in a little playgroup for toddlers just down the road from the house and
we started going out at weekends too. I have never been a very homesick person
and I had spent a lot of time away from home before I went to England so I
settled in within a week. The family was fantastic and I really miss them,
I am going to make sure to keep in touch and to go over and visit them again
soon. David, the only child who is now 3 is such a cute and lovely little
boy who really enjoyed my company and I think he had a lot to do with the
fact that I enjoyed my stay so very much. OK, before I spend all night writing
this letter I will stop. I do recommend anyone to go to England and be an
au-pair, you will hopefully enjoy it as much as I did. Thank you Peek-a-boo
for all your help!
Lisa
Thanks Lisa! I'm glad you had a great time in London and hope you will contact us again if you are ever return to London.
Take care. Sara.
-----------------------------------------
London, UK
May, 2005
Hello there,
Sara asked me to write a letter about what it's like being a mothers' help in London. I had been working in a Swedish Childcare centre for two years and had a few friends who lived here in London. I really wanted to go and work abroad for a year and I decided to take the step and go to London. It's far away but not too far away, I thought. I applied to be an au-pair and I spoke to the Agency's office in London. They told me that with more than 2 years experience with kids I could be a nanny or a mothers' help. That meant more responsibilities but also more money. I decided to take a job with a family in Richmond, London to work as a mothers' help so I could still get some time off to study English during the day. I was very lucky to find out that there was a family with two Children, Sue and Isabelle and that they were looking for a Swedish girl. I was really, really nervous at first when I met them at Heathrow airport but after a week or so everything was fine. I get along well with the two girls who are at school and nursery during the day and Eve and Steven (the parents) too. I have met some new great friend that I will miss sooooo much when I decide to leave from here. Twice a week I attend an English college in Barnes nearby and on weekends I go to the pub or nice clubs with my old and new friends. The Agency put me on a mailing list with invitations to really fun clubs around London so I can go and take my friends for free. I never knew there was so much fun in this city. I love it here and I would recommend any one to go. Speak to Sara at the agency if you are Swedish. She is really friendly and is an ex au-pair and nanny herself.
Maria Svensson
Thanks so much Maria for the letter, we really appreciate it. Glad to hear you are enjoying yourself as much as you say you are.
All the best. Sara.
Feel free to Contact us
Telephone: 0207 600 9880
Home What we offer For Parents For Childcarers Current Vacancies Courses Contact us
