Despite having no children of her own, in the space of three months, Anna has a new appreciation for what mothers do.
``I think sometimes it's a really hard job,'' she says in a heavy German accent. ``You have to manage all the housework and cleaning and then the kids are crying.'' Then she softens and says: ``It's a lovely job because the kids give you so much love. ``They're really good most of the time, eh,'' she says, nudging Anna-Petra, and giggling into her blonde hair.
Anna, a high school graduate and aspiring teacher, is one of a growing number of foreigners travelling to New Zealand on a work visa, to help out increasingly busy Kiwi families.
The couple she works for, Jaine-Lee and Derek Maisey, live on the beachfront in a modern home decorated in white and beige. Floor-to-ceiling windows look out to swaying plam trees, a spa pool, and Motiti Island.
Anna, from Cologne, Germany, says the word ``wow,'' popped out of her mouth when she walked through the
Maiseys' front door for the first time.
Today, a heavy wind is bowling waves on to the sand. It wouldn't be a good day to go swimming, Anna, a trained swimming coach, notes. She is home alone with Anna-Petra until Janie-Lee, who has the day off, returns from the hairdresser.
When the front door finally opens, Anna-Petra runs to it and is hoisted on to her mother's hip.
In today's busy world of parenthood, a relaxed-looking Jaine-Lee sees having an au pair as a need, rather than a want.
The Maiseys own two businesses and work long hours in Rotorua. The 36-year-old worked from home until eldest child Luke, now 5, was 18 months old, and with Anna-Petra, she went back to work straight away.
``I think it's a luxury and if I had a choice, I would stay at home,'' she says.
The couple have weekends off and Jaine-Lee is trying to have Fridays off to spend with her daughter.
She believes women shouldn't feel guilty about getting help. The Maiseys have had three New Zealand nannies and two foreign au pairs.
``I think it's a sign of the times, families are not being as available as generations past to help. With daycare you're restricted by time but having someone in your home, if you're going to be late, it's not as stressful,'' she says.
Au pairs cost on average $180 a week for 30 hours, and $200 for 40 hours. The cost goes up by $100 if clients want an au pair with early childhood qualifications. As part of the package, families provide food and board.''Jaine-Lee's personal preference is an au pair over a nanny.
``These guys are here to work and see New Zealand and they seem more motivated,'' she says.
The cost for the Maiseys to hire a nanny was about $2 more an hour.
For Anna, who has her own bedroom decorated with postcards from home, having been paired with such a great family means she wants to stay longer than her planned six months.
She has made friends with other au pairs in Tauranga and together they go exploring on the weekends, and have sleep-overs.
She works 40 hours a week and generally has Friday to Sunday free, although her days can be swapped if she agrees.
As well as minding the kids, she does a bit of cleaning, washing and cooking for the children. Like most au pairs, she has a driver's licence and picks Luke up from school. She has formed an attachment to the pair.
Already, the idea of having to leave them, causes her to sigh.
``Oh gosh, I think I need to cry,'' she says.
``I think it will be really, really hard because especially with her [Anna-Petra], I'm with her all the days.''
***
Almost 10 years on, Cecilia Robinson is still exchanging emails, phone calls and gifts with the girls who changed her life.
The founder of Au Pair Link cared for 4-year-old twin girls Alison and Elisabeth in Connecticut, USA, for one year, and says they became like a second family to her.
``I would do anything to protect my girls and the bond and love that we formed when they were 4 years old is still there almost 10 years on.''
Swedish-born Cecilia and her husband, James, own the only au pair agency licensed by the New Zealand Ministry of Education as a Home-Based Early Childhood Education provider. It was set up in 2007.
She says the twins she cared for have a network of adult women around the world.
The twins' family hosted 11 au pairs.
Cecilia says many parents are swapping the traditional forms of daycare and despite what some might think, there is no threat in another woman moving into the family home.
``Au pairs are looked upon as a family member or elder daughter. People love to joke about this though but having placed over 1000 au pairs we have never had this issue,'' Cecilia says.
Meanwhile, the number of male au pairs has doubled in the past six months.
``What 10-year-old boy doesn't want to have a 20-year-old cool dude to look up to and take you out for a game of soccer or rugby?'' Cecilia says.
She believes Kiwis are open-minded and love the idea of someone from a different country and culture involved in their family and helping to raise the children at home.
***
In the Gilbert household, Sabrina Meyn is cooking German food, and singing German songs.
While she teaches three Tauriko kids her culture, they are teaching her theirs and making a lifetime contact.
Below an All Blacks flag in the lounge, Sabrina confesses she knew little about the game when she arrived.
``In Germany we don't know the rugby, really,'' she says.
On the mention of the word, 3-year-old Lenny, dressed head-to-toe in a green dragon costume, starts smacking his knees.
``Are you doing the haka Lenny?''asks his mother, Kristen Gilbert.
Sabrina studied up on New Zealand before her arrival in Tauranga but still keeps some of her own traditions alive in the household.
She has the children saying ``guten morgen'' now, instead of ``good morning.''
She made a brave move leaving her home town of Luneburg and separating from her identical twin sister, Sarah, who has gone to be an au pair in the Australian outback.
Today she is wearing a singlet under her shirt reading: ``My other half is in Australia.'' Until now they have never been apart.
Here for six months, the 20-year-old plans to study when she returns home in three-and-a-half months' time. But in the meantime, she is relishing life in Poripori Rd, where she has a scenic view of a swimming hole and native bush.
The rural property, neighbouring a paddock with lambs, is inviting, but Kristen says it naturally took her and Sabrina time to adjust.
Kristen admits the idea of having a stranger move into her home was daunting but now sees hiring Sabrina as one of the best things she and her husband, Dave, have done.
``It's definitely something I thought about a lot. We have a big house, that probably made it a bit easier. And she's really respectful of our time as well. When Dave and I need some time to chat about things, she reads the situation really well and she'll go away and she'll be on the computer or Skype. She's not totally in our space all the time,'' Kristen says.
The 35-year-old is studying fulltime, while Dave works long hours running, and being on call for, Accident and Health Care Medical Centre.
They hired Sabrina for 30 hours a week, at a cost of $130, to get Kristen through her last study semester and complete her post-graduate diploma in education. Another $60 comes from the Government, for ECE hours for Lenny.
She says studying around the clock at night, adding to the family with a third child, and Dave working, there weren't enough hours in the day.
``I was usually putting the kids to bed then doing all the washing up and starting my study at about 8.30pm and I'd be brain dead. But now, Sabrina does the washing up while I'm putting the kids to bed and then I start studying at 7pm. So it's working much better.''
Kristen is a fan of parenting in the home and says it's been invaluable to have Sabrina around.
``[Dave's] never here in the evenings when it's the witching hour, so to have that extra set of hands is priceless and all my friends are jealous. They all want au pairs. One of them was so jealous she stole her for the weekend, took her away, a long weekend, might I add.''
Sabrina takes the children to the park and playcentre and entertains them in the house.
``She gives them focused time, which is something mothers really struggle to do because we get distracted with the phone, or chores, or other things, but when Sabrina is playing with the kids, she's completely playing with the kids,'' says Kristen. ``It's not directed play, she supports their play. She's able to take them off to all the things that I do, the playcentre and the kindy. She's filled in all those gaps. All the stress is taken out.''
For Sabrina, the experience has been amazing.
``It's a great family and really easy to come into this family and life because they took me really well.''
Sabrina has the weekends off but is flexible. If she's around, she's happy to babysit. She will also go away on holiday with them next week, and at Christmas.
``It's been a wonderful experience for our family,'' says Kristen.
***
Director of Au Pair Link James Robinson says au pairs do become part of the family. Some are happy to help out in other areas and James says they have au pairs on dairy farms who milk cows.
There are 20 au pairs in the Bay of Plenty. But Ruth Elliott, director of One World Nannies NZ, says the difference between a nanny and an au pair is nannies have extensive experience and/or a qualification. Some would come from a nursing or teaching background.
Au pairs are essentially parent helpers and may require direction from the parents, whereas nannies can take over the reigns completely, Ruth says.
A nanny's primary focus is on the children and not the household stuff, whereas au pairs usually do a bit of both.
While nannies did cost more, Ruth said she believed you got what you paid for and nannies were available for long-term care and offered children more stability. It was a career for them, she said.
***
In the Pearson household they are trying out an au pair for the first time.
Mum Helen Pearson was up at 6am attending to son Drew, and now at 8am, is pouring a coffee and buttering toast, in preparation for a big day ahead.
Helen and chef husband Dave own catering business Global Cuisine and while Dave has been at work since 5am, Helen, who looks immaculate for this time of morning, needs to be out the door shortly.
Today Global Cuisine will serve 3600 meals at the Mana Korero Speech Competition at Baypark.
Foreign au pair Charlotte Kress has Helen's children, Lily, 3, and Drew, setting up art supplies on a red-topped children's table and chairs. Charlotte arrived at the Pearson household a month ago and will stay for nine months. She plans to save the $195 she gets weekly, and then travel around New Zealand, before going to Australia, and then home to Aichach in Germany.
The choice to hire a stranger was an easy one, says Helen, 36.
Their business, which employs 40 staff, has recently expanded. Hospitality brings long and unsocial hours. The couple interviewed Charlotte on Skype, while she was on holiday in Thailand.
``It felt like a pretty good idea,'' she says. ``The chemistry was right and I haven't worried about having her here.''
From her stool at the kitchen island of their modern open-plan Oropi home, Helen says Dave, 39, is working 80 to 100 hours a week. She is also busy running the office side of the business.
They considered a nanny but it wasn't workable.
``We work weekends ... I would have had to have three nannies to juggle the times that we needed somebody to look after the kids,'' Helen says.
Before Charlotte, 18, arrived a month ago, Helen says her parents were often looking after Lily and Drew.
On average, 18-year-old Charlotte works 35 hours a week, but can work up to 45 hours, if required.
For three days a week, Lily attends The Treehouse Private kindergarten, and Drew, Porse In-Home Childcare.
Helen says things are working out so well, the family will consider getting another au pair when Charlotte's tenure is up in nine months.
Having an au pair has allowed her to concentrate on work, and while she admits that might sound like the kids are taking a backseat, when she does spend time with them, she is less stressed and more focused and relaxed.
``At the end of the day, we're still there doing what we always did but having an au pair has enabled us to work smarter. Having Charlotte there is like having another member of the family help out.''
