Monday, 2nd August 2010
LONDON parents are roundly condemned as lazy by the au pairs they employ to look after their kids, a new study reveals.
One au pair's comment that she was, "regularly employed as a babysitter, so that the couple could stay at home and watch TV together without interference," might be an extreme example, but is far from untypical, according to a new book called Au Pair, which looks at the experiences of 50 au pairs who have worked for 86 London families.
In general, the young women surveyed hold the view that parents who call them in, "must, by definition, be either lazy, or lack proper care and consideration for children and for people in general," say the book's authors, Daniel Miller, of University College London and Zuzana Burikova of the Czech Republic's Masaryk University.
Among the comments from au pairs in the book unearthed by the Daily Mail are:
* The British like TV programmes by experts telling them how to keep their home, since they don't know how to do it themselves. This is why they need au pairs."
* "[I] was particularly shocked when the mother just seemed to be playing games on the computer and failing to take an opportunity to be with her child."
* "These people have no shame and behave as swines."
Among the swinish things suffered by au pairs is the unwanted attention of host family men.
One au pair quit her job after the man of the house invited her to join him for some fun in the jacuzzi, while another was confronted by a man in her bedroom wearing only underpants.
I think families who employ aupairs in London are not all that bad but it's just my experience. This book would make a good read for my au pair candidates.
Are there any Hungarian testimonials in the book?
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