German grannies take up new calling as ‘Mary Poppins’
| FEATURE |
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HAMBURG — In Germany the idea of a teenager spending a few months abroad looking after someone else’s children while she studies or travels has given rise to a new concept — the granny “au pair.”
Newspapers now explicitly solicit applications from older women rather than students with ads such as: “Family living in Australia with two children aged 4 and 2 seeks German replacement granny for three to six months.”
“Older women (aged between 50 and 70) are often better than young ones because they have more life experience,” says Michaela Hansen, 50, who has set up an agency in the northern German city of Hamburg to help put families in touch with would-be hired “grannies.”
And the German “Mary Poppins” have as good a reputation abroad as the fictional eccentric nanny with magical powers from the children’s books..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110717com8.html
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