2.5 CHILDCARE 59 In the UK, 35% of families choose grandparents as their favourite childminders. Where does the expression au pair come from? What does it mean? EU regulated au pair placements with an international agreement called Au Pair Placement, signed in France in 1969. It states that a person working as an au pair is neither a traditional student nor a traditional domestic worker. IN-HOME CARE The action of taking care of, supervising, and providing a child with everything they need from a physical, emotional, and cognitive point of view, is called childcare. Depending on the age of the child and the family situation, it may be possible to choose in-home care when this important activity takes place at home or out-of-home care when an external structure is involved. The following are the most common forms of childcare available. Pre-schoolers Besides primary caregivers, i.e. parents, family members, or friends who look after the child as the main people responsible for the child s wellbeing, there are other options. Childminders are usually selfemployed professionals in the field of childcare who look after one or more children in their own setting on a regular basis. Nannies are people employed longterm by a family to look after their child/children in their own home. While a live-out nanny comes to the family home each day, a live-in nanny lives with the family. They may also be asked to do some light housework. Babysitters (or sitters) are people who provide short-term childcare occasionally, on an as-needed basis. Au pairs are young foreign students who exploit the chance to explore a new culture and learn the language by staying at a host family s house and taking care of the children while doing some housework, usually in exchange for food, accommodation, and some pocket money. School-age children When children start going to school, childminders or occasional sitters can offer a wraparound service, by helping with pre-school and after-school activities such as dropping them to school, picking them up from school, or taking them to afternoon activities. If instead, parents opt for not sending the children to school, the alternative is home-schooling. Homeschooling is the practice of educating a child at home rather than at school. In this case it is usually parents or family members who are in charge of the education, but private tutors can be involved. wraparound: tutto intorno agli orari scolastici