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There are some legal requirements for the host family regarding the au pair room: According to these, the au pair room should have a size of at least 8m². It should have a window to let in some natural light. Also, the au pair room should have furniture. It has to have heating and it should be lockable, so the au pair can have some privacy. These requirements for the au pair room are part of the general requirements for being a host family.
Before your au pair arrives, you should decide which room you want to convert into an au pair room.
This might not seem very important to you, but choosing the wrong room for the au pair could actually affect the quality of life. Keep in mind that your au pair might want to listen to music (which can get loud), and that the au pair might go out on weekends and come home late. Also, there might be other au pairs who come to visit. All these activities involve a certain level of noise, so it makes sense not to have the au pair room right next to the children’s room or next to your bedroom.
Ideally, the au pair room should be on a different floor, so the au pair has the chance to spend some time alone after working hours without being involved in all the activities of the host family. This makes life easier for both sides.
When decorating the room for your future au pair, make sure to keep it warm and friendly. For you as a host family it is also important for your au pair to feel comfortable in their room. If they don’t feel comfortable, your au pair might spend a lot of time in common rooms or they might feel so uncomfortable that they want to change host families.
Stand in the middle of the au pair room and look at it critically. Would you like to live in this room for a couple of months? If you can answer this question with a “yes,” you have done a great job decorating the au pair room!
It makes sense to turn the au pair room into a combination of a living room and bedroom, including a nice, comfortable bed. If you buy a new bed, you might want to get a convertible bed. Maybe your au pair will have sleepovers at your place, so think ahead and provide enough sleeping space. When we say sleepovers, we are talking about male visitors with a male au pair and female visitors with a female au pair.
Sleepovers happen because your au pair might go out with a couple of friends and since it can be difficult to find public transportation late at night, they might decide to all sleep in one place.
A small table and one or two places to sit (for example, a rocking chair) make the room cozier.
It is also important to include a desk when setting up the au pair room. Since your au pair is also coming to your country to learn a new language, they will need a desk to study and to do the homework for the language class . Make sure the desk, chair and desk lamp are of good quality. This makes it more comfortable for your au pair to study, even on a dark winter night.
