-- Posted by Frisky Dingo at 5:05 pm on Dec. 30, 2008 Okay so I decided I wanted to be an au pair this summer, and I went on greataupair.com to find a family.  And there are these guys in Switzerland and they want me to come, this is what they wrote me: Dear (me), We thank you for your in interest in our family which is not completely fluent in English. BUT just this is au-pairing: to experience other cultures without being lost (because your guest family is with you and helps you). On the other hand you are not tempted to speak (bad) German or French to our children who are still learning to express in any language (also in their mother-tongue). When can you start? I know that your holidays start rather late for our schedule. Kind regards, (cute little host family) Only apparently there are like a hundred complaints about host families trying to use their au pairs as sex puppets or getting pissed and throwing them into the street. So um. What do I do?  How do you get background checks or whatever? -- Posted by mattis12 at 5:09 pm on Dec. 30, 2008 backround check fer shurrr -- Posted by bigred23 at 3:24 am on Dec. 31, 2008 Definitely get a background check. Wouldn't it be more fun just to take a trip rather than be an au pair? There's no guarantee you're actually going to be able to see the country--you're going to be taking care of the family and the kids. Ever see the movie? Those kids were brats. Don't count on the happy ending she got, you might just be stuck with bratty kids and not-so-fun parents. -- Posted by tell me again at 3:15 am on Jan. 3, 2009 I don't know if you can get background checks. But I've met many au pairs. And generally it seems that it's a good/cheap way to travel if you are tolerant and flexible, and don't mind being a bit of a slave. But yeah, most of the time it doesn't seem to be fabulously fun. On the website, are there ways to review your host families? If there is, it could be a starting point.