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Mom Starts Getting Suspicious Of Au Pair As Ring Camera Catches Something Fishy
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Mom Starts Getting Suspicious Of Au Pair As Ring Camera Catches Something Fishy

Mom Starts Getting Suspicious Of Au Pair As Ring Camera Catches Something FishyMom Goes On A Holiday, Starts Getting Doorbell Alerts And Becomes Suspicious Of Her Au PairWoman Wonders If She Is Overreacting To Her Au Pair’s Erratic BehaviorSingle Parent’s Holiday Turns Into A Nightmare As Au Pair’s Actions Spark PanicMom Sees Suspicious Activity On Her Doorbell Camera, Can’t Trust Her Au Pair AnymoreRing Camera Exposes Au Pair’s Shady Actions, Turning Single Mom’s Vacation To WorryAu Pair Loses Mom’s Trust After She Goes Away And Her Doorbell Camera Shows Suspicious Activities“I Hate Being Lied To”: Mom Asks For Advice After Camera Footage Leaves Her Fearful Of Au Pair“A Shirtless Man Ran Out”: Mom’s Vacation Takes A Turn As Ring Camera Alerts Buzz At 3amWoman Worried Her Au Pair Is Bringing Strange Men To Her Home While She’s Away
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Taking care of kids, particularly as a single parent is a lot of work, which is why some folks decide to get help. Sometimes that means babysitters or even live in nannies, sometimes it’s just getting one’s family to pitch in. But a few people out there do something more unusual and host a young person, often from abroad, called an au pair.

A mom reached out to the internet for advice on what to do with her au pair who seemed to be acting suspicious when the mother went on vacation. Between turning off the ring cam at weird times and accidentally letting the dog out, she wondered if it was time to find someone new.

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    Trusting your kids with a stranger can be difficult, particularly if they start to act strange

    Image credits: Dan Gold / unsplash (not the actual photo)

    One woman wondered if she was wrong to be nervous about how her au pair was acting

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    Image credits: Giorgio Trovato / unsplash (not the actual photo)

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    Image credits: Amin / wikipedia (not the actual photo)

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    Image credits: Vika Glitter / pexels (not the actual photo)

    Image credits: Needaholidaay

    An au pair is a weird mix of babysitter and person just visiting your country

    For those who are not familiar, an au pair is a sort of live-in nanny, who is given an allowance. Unlike a “professional” one might hire or family members that end up being press-ganged into it, au pairs are often from other countries. Young people tend to use this as an employment opportunity that allows them to travel, have room and board and some money.

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    In some cases, parents might hire a university student who stays with them part time to make a little extra money and perhaps save some on housing costs. If you are wondering what exactly is the difference between an au pair and a nanny or babysitter, it comes down to some strange social norms.

    The word itself is French, “at par” or “equal to,” which designates an au pair as “above” regular employees. In many cases, the family considers the au pair as a sort of member of the family and not just a worker. In the 19th century, this word was important, as some families would take in young women from families of roughly equal standing. If you were from a higher economic class, you would no doubt want a “title” that separates you from the common folks.

    These sort of “distinct” class differences are still around, even if we don’t think they are. After all, most au pairs, particularly if you hire them from “abroad” are young, educated middle class people who just want to live in another country for the experience. Contrast that to working class people who do this kind of labor just to make ends meet.

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    The reason one might do this is because it can be hard to get a working visa in many countries, but there are special au pair programs. After all, most younger people don’t have the resources to just travel as a tourist, they need a way to make ends meet at the same time. Unfortunately, some folks have exploited this system by sponsoring, for money, multiple au pairs so they could traffic people illegally into the country.

    It’s possible that this young woman just doesn’t quite see what her actions look like

    Image credits: Valeriia Miller / unsplash (not the actual photo)

    It’s not all the wild west. Some countries have “minimum” allowances that the hosts have to give them. That being said, it’s still not exactly a huge amount of money. In Spain for example, the minimum is set to 70 Euros a week, which still falls well below the minimum wage (1,134 Euros per month.) Interestingly, the US also has some regulations, including guaranteed time off and, at minimum, a private bedroom.

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    However, as previously mentioned, most people do not become au pairs for financial reasons. Some want to travel, some enjoy a stipend, free food and lodgings and a few even want experience working with kids, if they are pursuing a degree in education. As this story demonstrates, there are, of course, other advantages to being an au pair. For example, having an entire home to yourself when your host goes on vacation. It’s worth noting that some families will even bring their au pair on vacation, which is just one more benefit.

    That being said, this this story demonstrates, sometimes letting someone into your house can come with its own amount of risks. While it does seem unlikely that this au pair is there to just rob this family, given her young age, she might not really think that breaking some rules is bad. This is purely speculative, but there is a good chance she sees her actions as a sort of victimless crime and doesn’t realize the stress it puts on the mom.

    This is perhaps why so many readers suggested she cut her loose. The entire point of an au pair is to take some pressure off a parent, not to make them more stressed. Given that she does seem to like how she interacts with her children, perhaps she can give her a chance to explain and defend herself first. Many of us have made dumb choices as twenty year old’s, it’s basically a right of passage.

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    Many readers things seemed a bit fishy

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    Justin Sandberg

    Justin Sandberg

    Writer, BoredPanda staff

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    I am a writer at Bored Panda. Despite being born in the US, I ended up spending most of my life in Europe, from Latvia, Austria, and Georgia to finally settling in Lithuania. At Bored Panda, you’ll find me covering topics ranging from the cat meme of the day to red flags in the workplace and really anything else. In my free time, I enjoy hiking, beating other people at board games, cooking, good books, and bad films.

    Read less »
    Justin Sandberg

    Justin Sandberg

    Writer, BoredPanda staff

    I am a writer at Bored Panda. Despite being born in the US, I ended up spending most of my life in Europe, from Latvia, Austria, and Georgia to finally settling in Lithuania. At Bored Panda, you’ll find me covering topics ranging from the cat meme of the day to red flags in the workplace and really anything else. In my free time, I enjoy hiking, beating other people at board games, cooking, good books, and bad films.

    Mantas Kačerauskas

    Mantas Kačerauskas

    Author, BoredPanda staff

    Read more »

    As a Visual Editor at Bored Panda, I indulge in the joy of curating delightful content, from adorable pet photos to hilarious memes, all while nurturing my wanderlust and continuously seeking new adventures and interests—sometimes thrilling, sometimes daunting, but always exciting!

    Read less »

    Mantas Kačerauskas

    Mantas Kačerauskas

    Author, BoredPanda staff

    As a Visual Editor at Bored Panda, I indulge in the joy of curating delightful content, from adorable pet photos to hilarious memes, all while nurturing my wanderlust and continuously seeking new adventures and interests—sometimes thrilling, sometimes daunting, but always exciting!

    What do you think ?
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    person (i think)
    Community Member
    4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Fun fact: I’m not used to the word “drůġs” being censored; every time I see d***s, my first reading is always “dïcķs”. It is a pretty funny mental image when someone hands another person a “bag of dïcķs” or is charged with intent to distribute dïcķs, etc. :’D

    LakotaWolf (she/her)
    Community Member
    4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I'm always amused by imagining it as "dícks" as well, even when I know it's not XD It's always funny to me (not ha-ha funny, if you get me) that the site censors "drúgs". We know why - it's because of the advertisers - the advertisers don't want their ads to be seen on a site that (GASP!) mentions the word "drúgs"!! Except... things like Tylenol/paracetamol are "drúgs". It's what they literally are. It's like censoring "knób" - because it is a naughty slang word in one country - but then no one can talk about literal doorknóbs or drawer-pull knóbs or the thousands of actual literal knóbs that exist. XD

    Load More Replies...
    Kaspar Kristiansen
    Community Member
    4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    It seems like we got ourselves an overthinker here. If she's really worried about all these things, the obvious thing is to just "thank her for her service" when they get back, but the OP really gives me vibes of an insecure person who easily sees the worst in everything. I know she probably can't help it, but besides letting the au pair go, she should consider getting some mental help herself.

    moon bug
    Community Member
    4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The au pair was probably just hanging out with friends on the weekend like a normal 20 year old and she’s acting like she’s suddenly an alcoholic pothead handing out d***s and dating a criminal who will kill her dog.

    Load More Replies...
    Littlemiss
    Community Member
    4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I can understand wanting someone in the house especially when you're late home regularly. Alas she's throwing up a few too many red flags. Trashed to oblivion every weekend, bringing strangers into your house, possibly got a mix of d***s and alcohol in there too,w with a possibility of stuffing around with the wifi to cover her tracks. Where do you draw the line? How long until she starts doing it with your kids present because she's so comfortable?

    Power puff scientist
    Community Member
    4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Bit of a leap to assume people will just drink and do d***s around kids just because they are young and like to party on their own time.

    Load More Replies...
    Load More Comments
    person (i think)
    Community Member
    4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Fun fact: I’m not used to the word “drůġs” being censored; every time I see d***s, my first reading is always “dïcķs”. It is a pretty funny mental image when someone hands another person a “bag of dïcķs” or is charged with intent to distribute dïcķs, etc. :’D

    LakotaWolf (she/her)
    Community Member
    4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I'm always amused by imagining it as "dícks" as well, even when I know it's not XD It's always funny to me (not ha-ha funny, if you get me) that the site censors "drúgs". We know why - it's because of the advertisers - the advertisers don't want their ads to be seen on a site that (GASP!) mentions the word "drúgs"!! Except... things like Tylenol/paracetamol are "drúgs". It's what they literally are. It's like censoring "knób" - because it is a naughty slang word in one country - but then no one can talk about literal doorknóbs or drawer-pull knóbs or the thousands of actual literal knóbs that exist. XD

    Load More Replies...
    Kaspar Kristiansen
    Community Member
    4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    It seems like we got ourselves an overthinker here. If she's really worried about all these things, the obvious thing is to just "thank her for her service" when they get back, but the OP really gives me vibes of an insecure person who easily sees the worst in everything. I know she probably can't help it, but besides letting the au pair go, she should consider getting some mental help herself.

    moon bug
    Community Member
    4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The au pair was probably just hanging out with friends on the weekend like a normal 20 year old and she’s acting like she’s suddenly an alcoholic pothead handing out d***s and dating a criminal who will kill her dog.

    Load More Replies...
    Littlemiss
    Community Member
    4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I can understand wanting someone in the house especially when you're late home regularly. Alas she's throwing up a few too many red flags. Trashed to oblivion every weekend, bringing strangers into your house, possibly got a mix of d***s and alcohol in there too,w with a possibility of stuffing around with the wifi to cover her tracks. Where do you draw the line? How long until she starts doing it with your kids present because she's so comfortable?

    Power puff scientist
    Community Member
    4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Bit of a leap to assume people will just drink and do d***s around kids just because they are young and like to party on their own time.

    Load More Replies...
    Load More Comments
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