Arcachon

This morning we left for Arcachon, a small beachside town not too far from Bordeaux. We caught a train at 11am and (after sleeping through most of the three hour trip) arrived in the beautiful Bordeaux with ease. We were met by the grandmother, Manou, and from there took a car ride to lovely Arcachon.

Nothing really happened today other than a little conversation with Eléonore and some sitting on the beach. I asked her if she was happy with me and she said that I was doing a good job and that the children love me a lot. That's nice. She then mentioned that I need to not be on the internet, on my phone, reading, or journaling as much in front of them. She wants me to be WITH them all when we're all together.

That's when my job gets awkward. The role of an au pair isn't really a role at all. You are there to make sure the children are alive, entertained, and doing (eventually at least) what the parents expect them to do. The job gets really difficult though when the kids yell at you all the time, make you feel stupid, and don't listen to anything you say.

In English, I'd have zero issue asserting myself over the kids, and having loads of fun but also knowing how to discipline and get what I want out of them. I'm an adult. I'm smarter than you, I know more than you. I don't need your advice on how to bake because I assumed the bakers role in a functioning kitchen that fed 150 of you little shmucks for an entire summer. Pipe down there petite fille. 

However, an au pair is kind of the doormat. The scapegoat. When the parents don't want to be near the kids, you have to be. When the parents don't want to discipline their kids, you have to be the bad guy. When you think you're going to kill them because they're being dicks, it doesn't matter, you're "being paid" to be the punching bag.

Ultimately, I love them. This is a lovely family, and we have a lot of fun together. Would I au pair again? Probably not in another language, and without firmer requirements/necessary accommodations. This is a really tough job, it's not just playing with kids all day. It's being abused, hit, ignored, fought with, and essentially taking the heat for any and everything. You're not a parent, you're not a guardian, you're not a friend, a sibling, nothing. It's a bizarre experience. You have no say, and no rights. You're just kind of there to make life easier.

But anyway, I'll do my best to step it up, well the kids just got home so I have to flee the scene and hide my computer.
C'est la vie.

Sometimes it is SUPER hilarious when they fight though