How an Au Pair Provides Great Child Care Help for Twins

Raising twins can be an exciting adventure, but it can also present many unexpected challenges. To make sure each child receives individual attention, and to help with the increased responsibility, some parents are inviting international au pairs to live in their homes and provide care for their twins.

An au pair is a young adult from another country who lives with your family and provides in-home childcare services. Au pairs work up to 45 hours per week, in exchange for the opportunity to live with an American family. Because au pairs provide live-in childcare, they offer more flexibility and can care for your children at times that accommodate your family's schedule.

Parents of twins face challenges parents of single children do not, including increased competition for a parent's time, helping more than one child through key developmental phases at the same time, increased costs associated with food, activities, and child care, and the tendency to think of twins as a group, as opposed to individuals. Au pairs help parents with daily child care related tasks, while providing emotional support and individualized attention for young twins. Au pairs are also affordable -- the average cost of an au pair is approximately $8 per hour, regardless of how many children they care for in one family.

How an Au Pair Helps Raise Twins

• Au pairs are an affordable child care option that does not cost extra per child. Au pair rates remain the same regardless of how many children a family has.
• Au pairs provide an extra set of eyes, ears and hands to help change diapers, push strollers, feed, potty train, fold clothes, wash bottles, travel, and supervise multiples.
• Au pairs can offer additional emotional support to both parents and children, allowing each group the opportunity to take a "time out" when needed.
• Au pairs can take twins on special outings one at a time, to encourage individuality.

"As a mother of five children, including twins, I can say that having an au pair was invaluable, and at times we couldn't have done it without her extra set of hands," said Heidi Woehl, vice president of AuPairCare. "Whether it's pushing a second grocery cart around the store or traveling with the family to visit grandparents, our au pair was able to step in whenever an extra adult was needed."

AuPairCare is a leading au pair agency providing affordable live-in childcare services to American families since 1989. Designated by the U.S. Department of State, AuPairCare offers superior childcare to fit families' unique needs. To find an au pair to fit your family's needs, call 1(800) 428-7247 or visit www.aupaircare.com.