The President has suspended the au pair visa.  Consequently the market for domestic au pairs has boomed.  This is an opportunity for LDS girls.

An 18-year old I heard of just accepted an au pair position with a quality (non-LDS) family down in DC that she heard about from friends of friends.  She wasn’t even looking.  It will be wonderful experience for her being paid to practice motherhood and being able to see a second exemplary family (besides her own) from the inside.  All her needs are met so if she is thrifty she will come out in one year with somewhere around $15k or even more in savings.

My wife did this when she was young, and had a bad experience and a great experience with different families.  Obviously working through connections can help.  There are probably also agencies that understand some of the needs and concerns of good latter-day saints.  At least, dropping a search for ‘LDS au pair’ makes it look like there are.

For any LDS girl who is interested in the idea, I would encourage it sooner rather than later.  This is the ideal time to nanny, whereas corona makes it uniquely complicated to be a missionary or university student.

Young women aren’t always aggressive, good for them, so I encourage you to make a conscious decision to do some research about common problems in advance and be clear about them and be clear about your other expectations with your prospective employers.  Negotiate a little, it’s a sellers’ market.  Talk for current/former  nannies for tips.

Also, lets be practical, au pairs/nannies do have time off and therefore chances to date.  Mixing things up a little bit and meeting new people never hurts.  I’m not saying try to find the one family in Alaska that needs a nanny because there is a lot more men there than women, but on the other hand I kinda am saying that.  Avoid NYC, the area is over-womaned.

Comments welcome from any one with any inside knowledge that is relevant.  (Or anyone else, of course, complete ignorance didn’t stop me from posting).