With baby #3 entering our world soon, we've been looking for more help around the house. Although the time I spend at work add up to about 25 hours/week, I feel I still need help around the house even when I am home. Otherwise, I just can not get any chores or important phone calls in.
We've never used an au pair agency before and we're entering this somewhat tentatively but some of the factors that drew us to try this include:
- Cross cultural experience : I would love my kids to be fluent in Mandarin Chinese and this is the age where they can soak it up easily and it will probably stick for the rest of their lives. Plus, I'm also excited about the idea of sharing life here in the States with someone who grew up in a different culture and country.
- Availability: Advantage of a live-in caregiver is that I don't have to worry about someone cancelling on me if there is a snow day (and we had a lot of those this past winter). Plus, there is also the advantage of being able to sneak out after the kids are asleep late at night because someone is home with them.
- Economic financially : Using an au pair comes out to about $7.50 per hour. That is practically impossible to beat especially if you are asking someone to watch 3 kids under the age of 4!
There is a small part of me that feels I should be able to do it all and why do I need to get so much help when there are other moms out there doing it all by themselves without any help. Well... for the sanity of my family, I'm giving in and realizing to just accept help and use help if available. I will always fall short of my own expectations. So we'll see how it goes!
