Au pairs and families tell how best to make the relationship work

Parents should be welcoming and fair, but must set ground rules. The girl should be responsible, but should also feel appreciated, says Helen O’Callaghan

YOU have sifted through CVs, interviewed the candidates on Skype, and finally clicked with an au pair you think will be ideal for your family. But now that she has agreed to live with you, how do you make the best of the working relationship?

Detail is all-important — it can make or break an arrangement, says Julie Kelly, owner of Au Pair Study Agency, which annually handles 600 Irish families a year, 95% of whom want an au pair for a year. “She needs routines, rules, timetables and duties set down clearly from the start. Is her boyfriend allowed to stay over? When is mid-term and school holidays? So she knows she can’t book time off then,” Kelly says.