In today’s fast-paced world, young parents are balancing it all: careers, personal lives, and the demands of raising a family. Many are discovering that hosting an au pair offers the personalized, flexible childcare solution they need to keep everything running smoothly.

An au pair provides an enriching experience for both the host family and the au pair themselves. This unique arrangement fosters open-mindedness and provides children with a supportive environment to grow while learning about a new culture and language.

For many young parents, like Kristin from Pennsylvania, this cultural exchange and flexibility are key reasons they embrace the au pair program. We spoke with Kristin about why so many parents like her are turning to au pair childcare.

Thanks for talking to us today, Kristin. To start off, can you tell us a little about yourself and your family?

I'm Kristin. I am 27. My fiancé's name is Austin. He's 28. We have three kids—seven, three, and one. I am by degree a registered nurse, but I now tattoo full time and do a little bit of photography on the side. My fiancé has his own business and has a varying schedule being self-employed, so he basically is working all the time. AJ is our youngest, and then Eva and Viv. We've had Angie with us nine or 10 months now. She just left today for her two-week vacation back to Colombia and we can't wait for her to come back and be with us again. It's only been a few hours, but we miss her already!

What was most important to you when you were exploring childcare options? 

We wanted someone that would go along with our parenting style—that was our biggest thing. We tried a couple different childcare options and fell in love with the idea of having our kids at home and being with the same person every single day, so that led us the au pair route. We love that Angie lives with us and we can hang out with her, and she's definitely become part of our family. We also like that it's just the kids and her—all of her attention is focused on them, and she knows them so well.

When Angie first arrived, what changes or benefits did you notice in your household?

The thing I noticed at the very beginning was how much more organized we could be. Before Angie, we would leave in the morning in a hurry and everything was a mess and then come home and have that chaos to deal with. 

Now when we leave everything's calm, and we can come home to a house that looked better than it did when we left. And obviously they make a mess throughout the day, and it's not always perfect, but it's just, I don't know, calming to come home to things in order. It just saves us a lot of time and energy. 

What benefits did you notice that you didn’t necessarily expect?

The cultural exchange part is amazing. My one-year-old—he’s basically bilingual now, since Angie only speaks to him in Spanish. We've celebrated all of the Colombian holidays, and she's celebrated all of ours.

The kids have learned so much. Right now they're actually upstairs making a Colombian flag out of playdough.

Do you think that hosting Angie has influenced your children's perspective on diversity and inclusivity?

Yes, definitely. Like at the very beginning, when Angie first got here, Eva's class did an assignment about people being different than you, and she expressed something along the lines of, “Angie's different than me, but we love each other no matter what, and even though she speaks a different language that doesn't change anything about our relationship.” It was cool that I wasn't present and she was expressing those things in the classroom setting.

Overall, how has your life as a young parent changed since you welcomed Angie into your home?

Before we had an au pair, I was working 12 hour shifts at the hospital and my fiancé was working ungodly hours trying to get his business running. We never had the flexibility to do things that we enjoyed. Now that Angie's here, I'm doing something I've always wanted to do that I didn't have the time to do before—tattooing.

We've also gone on more trips since Angie came—it's exciting to share things that are so familiar to us but completely new to her, like watching your child do something for the first time.

How do you think you’ll maintain your relationship with Angie once she returns home?

Angie will always be a special part of our family. We are hoping that she can continue to come visit us, but we'll also definitely be traveling to Colombia. Wed love to see the place she calls home and meet her family and friends, who we have connected with over FaceTime.