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Old 08-23-2013, 12:00 PM
 
Location: Bellevue, WA
1,497 posts, read 4,449,619 times
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You can ignore the noise about oil vs. gas as long as you don't mind paying 3x the cost in winter but it sounds like you've got that covered with geothermal.

As for au pairs, I'd use them for a mother's helper but not primary childcare. They are young, inexperienced, and have pretty limited hours anyway if you work more than 40 hours or so. And most importantly, it's just cruel to keep giving kids a new caregiver every 12 months but many I met while living there were just happier to save a few thousand and deal with their kids' attachment issues later on.
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Old 08-23-2013, 09:03 PM
 
Location: Yorktown Heights NY
1,316 posts, read 5,182,415 times
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Au pairs are fabulous care and can be much better than nannies or other child care since they are a part of the family. We had three au pairs, all men in their mid 20s (23 and 25). Two were from the Czech Republic and one from France. We've stayed in close touch with them. Last year we visited the two in Prague and they took us all over. It was great to see them again. The French one now lives in North America and we've seen him twice in recent years. The great thing about au pairs is that they become part of the family. When you get home from work they stick around and interact and talk about the day--they don't just hand off the kid and rush off to their own families. So your child gets to see you having a real relationship with the person who cares for him all day. You also get to see the au pair interacting with your child, and the au pair gets to see how you interact with your child too. All of that makes for a more seamless and consistent care approach. And of course a great aspect is the cultural exchange. It was great to have young men from Europe share their culture with us and our kid, and to be able to share our culture and country with them.

You need to select your au pair carefully and make sure they're willing and able to meet your needs. (We knew we needed more than the 40 hours so during the initial phone calls we told the applicants what hours we needed and how much we'd pay per extra hour. We also sent our son to preschool a few times a week since that is critical for social development.) And you also need to be willing to take on the responsibility of caring for and being responsible for a young adult. We had a big impact in our au pairs' lives, as they did in ours.
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