Chinese Au Pairs

  • Posted by Shaun on September 7th, 2006 filed in Junk drawer, Work
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The latest craze in the wild world of au pairs and nannies are Chinese au pairs. They are in hot demand, but in short supply. Okay, so maybe this isn’t that exciting, but it is a new trend that seems to be spreading across the US.

Why would an American family want to hire an au pair from China? Two reasons. First, many families in the US are adopting kids from China. These families want their children to group up knowing about the culture in the place where they were born as well as in the US.

The second reason is worldliness. Some parents realize that China is moving every day closer to becoming a world super power and they want to give their kids’ an edge.

…China’s expanding influence will make Mandarin the sophisticates’ language decades hence.

Requests for Chinese au pairs have skyrocketed over the past couple years. Companies are starting to actively recruit woman from China to come to the US to be a nanny.

This situation is beneficial not only for kids in American families, but for the au pair that comes to the US. Each receives a monthly stipend and is immersed in American culture for the entire time they are here. Some families even bring their au pair on family vacations.

The in-demand nannies from Beijing or Shanghai can easily earn $100,000 per year with the right references — $60,000 more than their colleagues from Old Europe, who used to be so popular.

For that kind of money the au pair must be fully qualified. She must be ambitious. She must be able to handle the complex life of the kids. And most importantly of all she must be fluent in English and proper Mandarin Chinese. Those who speak only Cantonese or some other dialect need not apply.

All of this leaves me wondering about Chinese women living in the US that meet these requirements. I’m sure you’ll find plenty of women willing to babysit and speak Mandarin for $100,000 a year. I suppose the downside to this is that you lose the awe factor of having a person travel directly from China to the US just to be an au pair.

Let’s see if this turns into a huge trend or if it fizzles out.

China Daily – Chinese nannies are the latest New York trend
New York Times – To Give Children an Edge, Au Pairs From China
BBC News – Chinese nanny state takes root in US
Taipei Times – Chinese au pairs are hot in the US (looks to me like an exact reprint of the NYT article)