Working As An Au Pair In Germany

There are lots of advantages if you decide to work as an au pair in Germany. The decision may take you some time to consider but if you choose this option you will find that you will have great success in several areas. The following 3 points are just a few of the advantages to be gained.

What Is An Au Pair?

An au pair is similar to being an older brother or sister in a family. You take on the responsibility of looking after children and your duties can range from preparing breakfast, taking children to school, babysitting and doing light housework. An au pair usually lives as a member of the family and gets one day off per week. If you get a good family, it will not seem like work at all and you will be treated with great respect. Some families do try to exploit au pairs and expect them to take on the role of a full-time live in nanny. This should not be the case because an au pair has no formal childcare qualifications and it not paid enough for such a position.

Learn The German Language

If you get an au pair position with a German family, you will have the opportunity to use any language skills that you were taught in school. If the children are young you will have no choice but to try and make yourself understood in their language. This is a great incentive to get your language skills up to scratch. After just a few months, you could find that you are completely fluent. This will happen if you also take language lessons, listen and read as much German as possible.

Live Rent Free In Germany

As an au pair you will usually be working as a live in assistant. That means you will be given your own room and be provided with meals. An Au pair will get a set amount of money per month which is really the equivalent of pocket money. As you do not have any other expenses, this money should be adequate for your needs. It is even better if you look at this opportunity as a working holiday. If you are good with money and budgeting then you should find that you can live on the pocket money while still enjoying what the town has to offer. If you need more money to live on then just make sure that you have access to savings but most people are able to cope without delving into their own funds.

You should use your au pair home as a base to visit other places in Germany.  If you are already in the country it makes it so much easier to organise day trips or weekend excursions to see different towns and cities within Germany.   If you are a student, you can purchase cheaper train or coach tickets and really explore the different areas.  You may even be able to use your German base to visit other countries that surround Germany.  The most important thing is to make the most of your opportunity.

Good luck and Viel Spass.