What means being an au pair and what are the benefits?

Being an au pair allows you to live in a foreign country and learn its language and customs without spending a lot of money. Au pair people are usually young people who live with a foreign family where they have to take care of children and making housework with them (depending on the host family), in return for this they can live with the family as a member without having to pay accommodation costs. This allows young au pairs to know the  traditions of the country and learn the local language easily and cheap.

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The word “au pair” comes from  French, it means something like "equals" or " peer to peer " . This term is used to indicate that the au pair will live in the house under the same conditions of equality than the rest of the family.

The au pair concept comes from Europe after World War II. Before it was a task of the domestic staff, however, after the war, taxes increased and social changes made that hiring these services became very expensive. All this is connected with a change in the middle-class youth. They needed the money and they wanted  to travel, live different experiences and learn languages.