Is it "a pair" or "a pairs?

I'm going to au pair in Netherlands next year and would like to hear how au pairing is from other au pairs.?

• Any au pairs, not just au pairs from Netherlands. How did you find au pairing? Any tips for the children (I'm going to au pair 2 girls, 6 and 9).

• Answer:

  I have not been au pair, but my sister in law has. Even before I knew her I had talked with many girls about their experiences, since I have heard even more. While many girls are happy in the family they are placed, a lot are not. Sometimes it is just being lonely. In theory you will be seen as family member, eating at the same table, helping with household tasks a bit but not much. Many girls told me that they had to work more than the 30 hours in their contract, and cleaning all the house, doing all laundry, cooking and doing dishes everyday was common. My sil came to the Netherlands speaking English, but not fluently, no Dutch at all. In the first week with the family she was told that the next Saturday the parents would go to the USA for a couple of weeks. She was given the phone number of the uncle of the children as only emergency number and told that there was a phone list for things like doctor and dentist. So she had responsibility for 2 kids and a big dog 24/7 for a few weeks before she had even gotten to know them. Hours were not always that bad, but never less than 40 solid hours in the week, parents allowing the kids things when she had said no because it was too dangerous. Like she having to bring the older one to school, walking the big strong dog at the same time, and the kid allowed to go on his scooter, while he did not stop at road crossings, not did listen to being told to stop for whatever reason. An other 'family' consisted of a mother with a dirt phobia, her sister who did the cooking in a shed so the kitchen stayed clean, a baby who was taken care of by his mother and aunt. The au pair had to clean all the portions of the house the mother might use, several times per day, but her own room was extremely dirty when she came to the family, and she was not given time to clean it. In the first 2 weeks she had been with the child for half an hour. Mobile phones did exists but were very expensive still and the au pair did not have one. She was not allowed to phone in the house and her 'free time' was to short to walk to the nearest phone box and back. She did, coming in late and was reamed out for that. It was that she did know people in the country who did support her in going to the agency and requiring a different family, but if it had been a young girl alone she would have been worked/lived like a slave with no way out. One of the girls I heard about worked for a family who were naturist, going naked in the house even when she was around, no door to the bathroom and the father would come in when she was taking a shower, no lock to her bedroom. She was the 3th girl in the family within a year and when she left number 4 came within a few weeks. The agency was told but they still send the new girl. I did a search here on yahoo answers as I know there are several stories here, good as well as bad. Here are a few, if you want more, enter au pair and things like stories, good, bad and that kind of words in the Yahoo answers search bar at the top of this page. http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=ArrsTkGR3sarJ_GgPrWnvksjzKIX;_ylv=3?qid=20100602025309AAkT69U http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Ah1WbNHHwSddP96W3huXFFojzKIX;_ylv=3?qid=20100528022636AAmAHae http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100706224447AAtSE2J http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AkF8EipqxpZgrrlQg9XOxPEjzKIX;_ylv=3?qid=20100110133707AAjXyIJ http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AkLMdpwon4e1du_9XXCrO9kjzKIX;_ylv=3?qid=20080317121238AAm751D