Online Childcare is a growing trend especially in times of
pandemic. Many families face combining working from home and caring for their children who often need to be homeschooled. This is not only a great challenge for parents, but also for children who lose their caregivers due to the absence of school or kindergarten. If parents have the option of working in a home office, this is not always the best solution either, because children need occupation while working parents need rest to be able to work in a concentrated way.
In addition, it is currently difficult for many Au Pair candidates to travel. So what to do? AuPair.com has developed a new programme that enables cultural exchange - without having to get on a plane!
Online Child Caregivers employ the family's children for an agreed period of time. They can play with the children, teach them their native language and encourage them, all completely online. This relieves parents who can work in their home office, do the housework or simply relax - because they know their children are in good hands. Does that sound good? Then we have compiled everything you need to know about the Online Childcare programme below.
Online Child Caregivers should meet the same requirements as usual Au Pairs when it comes to abilities and talents. They should be patient, encouraging and of course like to spend their time with children. Perfect candidates are creative and don’t run out of ideas to involve the kid in activities. On the other hand, Online Babysitters work virtually which obviously means that they need to have good technical equipment including stable Internet access. Having a good camera, microphone and using an efficient program for communication is already half the way. In addition, Online Child Caregivers should make their work a priority. If they are not available or do other things at the same time, the program is definitely not the right thing for them.
Do Online Babysitters need to have a certificate?
Online Child Caregiver can be compared to babysitters who spend time with a child offline. The only difference is that they are working virtually. Most babysitters do not have any certificates, the most important thing is that the parents trust the person. However, every family is different. If they request references or certificates, candidates can of course prove their qualifications. In most cases, a job talk to get to know each other is sufficient.
Basically, there are three main requirements that a family must meet to participate in the Online Childcare program. The first one is obviously having a child that needs to be cared about. At least one parent should be around all of the time. The Online Babysitter cannot be made responsible if something happens during the lesson since s/he is not in the same room and cannot interact in case of emergency. But if the mother or father e.g. works from home and just needs someone to involve the child in an online activity, this is just the perfect program. Second, the family must have stable Internet access, a working camera and a microphone. Otherwise, the communication between the child and the Online Child Caregiver will not be possible. Last but not least comes the payment. Online Childcare is a lot of fun but it is also a job that requires compensation. Each Online Babysitter can fix a price per hour and the family must be willing to pay for it.
Which communication program is suitable for Online Childcare?
The selection is wide: there are hundreds of good video chat programs out there - the problem is choosing only one. Most Online Child Caregivers will use programs like MS Teams, Zoom, Google Meet and Skype. It is important to agree on one program that both the babysitter and the family can use.
The matching process for the Online Childcare program is as easy as possible. During the registration one can select a program. Choose “Virtual Childcare” as an option. This way, interested users can see that you want to be an Online Child Caregiver or that you are looking for one. After you have matched, you will have the option to exchange messages as soon as one of the users has a Premium membership. Note: only one user needs to be Premium to get in touch and usually it is the family that purchases the membership.
You can exchange your contact details and set up a first meeting via video chat using your favourite communication platform. After that the family and the childminder agree on the payment and get started.
The Online Child Caregiver should think about which payment procedure is most convenient for him or her. In private messages, he or she should let the family know about the preferred payment method. There are a lot of methods and it is important to see which method is available in which country. Some payments methods are for example:
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transferwise.com
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n26.com
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PayPal.com
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azimo.com
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xendpay.com
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worldremit.com
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Geldtransfer.org
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currencyfair.com
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uphold.com
Note: AuPair.com is not involved in the payment process as the family pays the Online Babysitter on an external platform (see list above).
We highly advise against payment methods that require paying a fee. This is not necessary and in some cases might not be safe. Double check before using a certain method and google the name of the provider plus “experiences”.
If the Child Caregiver needs to pay taxes depends on the country the person lives in and on how much he or she earns. In most countries, there is a certain limit when it comes to salary. Often, it is allowed to earn a certain amount of money without needing to pay taxes. However, when crossing that limit taxes must be transferred. We advise every user to check this limit before starting the program. Usually, taxes must be paid in the country of the Childcare person, not in the family’s country.
Are you specialized in a certain topic and would like to give lessons as an Online Tutor? The find more information on that in our article about
Online Tutors.
You want to become a live-in
Au Pair or
Nanny? In this case click on the individual links to see how to do it.
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