Cyndi Frick never had children in her long-term plans, until one day she and her husband changed their minds. The costs, however, were not in the plans and by the time she had her second child on the way, she was done with nannies.
Daycare was not an option for her and she needed something more affordable than her current nanny. “We don’t have a mansion, a big ranch at the base of the mountains, a house on the water, manicured grounds with a large swimming pool, no, we are what I would think is pretty middle class.” Cyndi wasn’t sure how she would balance her career, another child and the additional childcare costs.
Childcare takes up a large part of the family budget, Child Care Aware has reported the cost of having kid’s childcare is similar to the costs of sending your child to college. Dual working parents pay about 15 percent of their income and for single moms childcare can be higher than half of their salary. There are a lot of families looking for solutions to the rising childcare costs.
The Child Care Aware says there are close to 11 million children under 5 years old in a childcare program. The majority of these families only consider getting a nanny or using daycare to take care of their children. Many parents are unfamiliar with Au Pair childcare and most families who do know about Au Pairs assume they are for the rich.
For the first couple years after having her baby boy Cyndi used nannies. She was in the category of families knew very little about Au Pair childcare. “When I thought of a family getting an Au Pair, I used to associate that sort of childcare with rich families like you see in movies. I mean, any word with a French origin must equate to expensive, right?” said Cyndi Frick. When Cyndi’s husband came across an ad for an Au Pair she turned down the idea thinking it was way to expensive, but then she decided to do a little research.
Cyndi’s first nanny cost $15 an hour and by the time her second child came around she started looking else where for childcare. She found not only were her nannies too expensive, but they’re hours were difficult to work around. “When I found out an Au Pair costs roughly $7.85 an hour, I was shocked. How affordable is that? Plus, you get the added benefit of live in care and a cultural exchange which is exciting to me and to my husband.”
Cyndi has been using Au Pairs for the past two years and she and her husband have been thrilled with the price and flexibility. On top of these benefits, their Au Pairs have really become a part of the family.
