Awesome Au Pairs

After the decorations are put away, the celebrations are over, the New Year has begun: and the post holiday winter blues are starting to hit you and your host family.  What can you do to get through the long cold winter months happily?

1. Get outside every day with the kids, bundle up and play outside.  Go to the park, take a walk, ride bikes; we have been having an unusually warm winter, so enjoy it!  If it snows, build a snowman, go sledding, have fun outside!
2. Stay on routine with the kids; get up on time, have breakfast, get to the bus stop on time.  Make sure homework is done and everyone gets to their activities on time.  Bedtime routines are important, make sure everyone gets enough sleep and that includes YOU!
3. Register for your classes, and get ready to start learning something new!
4. Call a friend and meet for coffee and conversation if you feel housebound. 
5. Set up a play date with another au pair and her host children (similar ages) and enjoy a day together! 
6. Join a gym with another au pair!
7. Use the library in your town.  Sign the kids up for free programs (talk to host parents about the programs!)  Join the English conversation group, improve your English and meet people!
8. Prepare a Global Awareness presentation for one of your host kids’ classes, ask me for help!
9. Volunteer at a local hospital, school, animal shelter, food bank if you have extra time on your hands and need to do something!  Doing for others is always an answer for the blues!!
10. Come to our meeting on Monday, January 9th and meet the SunTrek representative who will have wonderful trip ideas for your vacation and travel months!  Come see the SunTrek slide show with all the beautiful places in the USA to visit!!

It’s a new school year and we are happy to be together.  We have a lot of new girls in our group and it was great to spend time together last weekend.  Not only did we get to learn about each other we also got to spend time talking about school in our area.  We have girls from many different countries in our cluster.  It’s great.

We had a great summer!  As a group we enjoyed the play, The Wizard of Oz and a concert by Beatlejuice, the premier Beatles cover band in New England, and a Salsa Boat Cruise around Boston Harbor.    The girls took trips to New York City, Cape Cod, Canada, California – just to name a few. 

Unfortunately, we had to say good bye to Trang, Charlie, Ivana, Bruna, Milene, Anna, Kermit, Melany and Sara.  It is always hard to say good-bye; but hopefully they come back this way again sometime.

Coming soon – a tour of Harvard University and a Salem Halloween Trolley Tour!

Dehydration The little ones, especially, forget to drink or to tell you that they need to drink. If you find the children not looking well and/or getting cranky toward the afternoon, it might be because they’re tired, or it might be because they’re dehydrated. Remember: By the time a person feels thirsty, he’s already partly dehydrated, so drink to prevent thirst, not to quench it. Common symptoms of dehydration are crankiness, headaches, aches in the joints and weariness. And don’t allow your child to fill up on juice or soft drinks; these are dehydrators. Water or child-appropriate hydrating drinks are best.

 However, if you or your child has severe dehydration (dry mouth, sunken eyes, reluctant to drink, unable to pee or cry, high fever, lethargy), call for emergency help and have your child sip an electrolyte-replacement fluid (such as Pedialyte).

 Hot Cars: Don’t EVER leave children alone in the car — not even for a moment. Besides the danger of abduction, the temperature in a car can skyrocket in minutes. And, if you see an unattended young child in a vehicle, please call 911, the police or other emergency personnel. Your call could save the child’s life.

 Drowning: Always actively supervise children in and around water.  Infants and children can drown in bathtubs, swimming pools, ponds or almost any other water. Toddlers aren’t strong enough to lift themselves back out of a toilet, bucket, container or wading pool.

 Sun Protection: Children’s skin and eyes are more sensitive to ultraviolet rays. Babies should be protected from direct sun entirely. Toddlers, preschoolers and older children should be covered well in sunscreen (SPF 30 or higher) at least one half hour before going out in the sun. Sunscreen should be reapplied every hour or so, and it should be reapplied after the child has been in water. Don’t forget ears, hands, feet, lips and under the eyes. Also, make sure your child wears a hat and sunglasses when out in the sun for any length of time.

Surviving Summer Boredom with your Kids

Sometimes, especially with younger children, cries of boredom are really calls for companionship and attention—their friends may be away on vacation and without the structure of school they may find it difficult to keep occupied during long summer days. Prolonged intervals where the kids have nothing to do can be stressful . When bored, children often become whiny, cranky and demanding.

Here are a few easy tips to help child care providers combat summer boredom and help kids develop the internal resources that are important for developing creative, resource and time management skills:

1. Put a weekly calendar together so as not to overwhelm yourself with planning entertainment for an entire summer, just take it one week at a time—day trips, arts and craft activities, play-dates, reading time, nature hikes, picnics, bike rides, a trip to the movie theatre etc. This way kids will have something to look forward to during down time. A calendar also helps with getting kids prepared for what comes next.
2. Ask: “If you could do anything, what would you like to do?” Try and encourage your children to generate their own ideas for activities—they are more apt to have fun when they thought it up on their own! Reinforcing that children use their imaginations will also help them develop a sense of resourcefulness and get them in the habit of making their own choices about how they will spend their time.
3. Keep an “art box” handy full of supplies: scissors, fabric, felt, glue, paints and brushes, stickers, paper, markers, canvass, needle and thread, beads, yarn, picture magazines etc. Rummaging through a box of art supplies can ignite the imagination and occupy children for long periods of time. They could even begin an entrepreneurial enterprise and sell their wares at the end of the summer.
4. Inspire them to play with water. Water is very calming and soothing for children and they can while away many hours playing and keeping cool. Get them to wash the car, hose off the deck, or run through a sprinkler. Spend time together at the beach or pool*.

*Water Safety

1. Never leave a child unobserved around water. Your eyes must be on the child at all times.
2. Maintain constant supervision. Watch children around any water environment (pool, stream lake, tub, toilet, bucket of water), no matter what skills your child has acquired and no matter how shallow the water is.
3. Swim at beach near lifeguard. Do not take your eyes off child even when lifeguard is present. It is your responsibility to watch the kids!
4. Keep a phone nearby so that you can call 911 in an emergency.
5. Learn Red Cross CPR
6. No running in pool area!  Decks surfaces are slippery and accidents happen quickly.
7. No diving in shallow water. Head and neck injuries result from diving in areas too shallow.
8. Always keep basic lifesaving equipment by the pool and know how to use it. Pole, rope and personal flotation devices are recommended.
9. Don’t rely on substitutes. The use of flotation devices and inflatable toys cannot replace adult supervision.
10. Keep toys away from the pool when the pool is not in use. Toys can attract young children into the pool.
11. Keep doors and gates locked leading to the pool!

Our June cluster meeting was a barbeque on a rainy day at Susan’s house.  It was good to get together and catch up on what everyone has been doing this past month.  We had all watched the American Idol finale together in May, and now we were on to the local sports team, The Bruins Hockey!  We had plenty of delicious food, including Jessi’s Noodle Salad .  We had to say good bye to Carla, who will be leaving us soon to do an extension year in New Jersey.  We all hope to see her next year when she comes back to visit.   We welcomed Nadine who had recently arrived! 

Looking forward to seeing all of you for our trip to Prescott Park in July to see the play, The Wizard of Oz.

It was fun to get together to celebrate Saint Patricks’ Day.  We shared soda bread, Bailey’s (creamer) in our coffee , and what we know about Ireland.  We got to say good bye to Maricar!  She is returning to her home in Germany soon.  Our next get together will be a time to share what we know about Cooking For Children and For Children.  A prize will be given to the Au Pair with the best recipe.

Silvia, Anna, Zara, Melanie and Jessica brave the cold

Our joint cluster outing with the Newburyport cluster was a lot of fun.  We met at the Amesbury Sports Park last Sunday.  While it was cold, the girls braved the weather to enjoy sliding down the hill.  Silvia, the newest arrival from Costa Rica, said she had never tried anything like this before!! 

Our March get together is going to be a St. Patricks Day Party.  We’ll let you know when and where!

Our October Cluster meeting was a Pizza Party.  It was great to see everyone and enjoy some homemade pizza together.  We got to stay good bye to Nadia as she finishes her year and heads home to Brazil.  Our new girls to welcome included Melany and Jessica.   As always, some fun and lively discussions were held.  Our upcoming visit to watch Harvard University football game will be a big event.