School breaks during holidays; ask your host family how your schedule will change during the break to make sure you and they are ready. Talk to your host family about how they celebrate the holidays. Share some holiday traditions from your country with your host family. Ask your host family which activities they really want you to join in; dinner with relatives, holiday gatherings, baking, decorating, and religious services. Discuss your plans for the holidays; parties or events you wish time off for well in advance, so your host family can plan. Be careful, accidents happen when children are very excited.  Know when to calm them down, so you can avoid accidents before they happen. Try to keep the kids on as much of a regular schedule as possible.  Kids will get over tired and cranky if there are too many activities in one day or several days in a row.  Try to help limit the activities to a few a day or week. Give kids downtime with quiet activities, like reading a holiday story or watching a holiday DVD. Make sure you and the kids get plenty of sleep. Remember to prepare some gifts for your host family, especially for the kids.  I recommend books, crafts, or games.  You can read the books, do the crafts, play the games with them. Take some time for yourself; to shop, to spend with friends, to call home.  Remember it is a stressful time, even if it is fun and exciting.  You are far from home and you may feel a bit homesick.  Don’t make promises to the kids that you can’t keep.  Don’t promise to go to an event and then cancel because you would rather be out with your friends. Go to your host children’s school holiday activities, the class party, the winter concert, etc. Offer to talk to their class about how you celebrate holidays in your country.  Do a craft with the class.  Earn a Global Awareness letter or certificate.  Ask me for help. Participate in family holiday traditions whenever possible.  Be available to help the parents watch the kids while they decorate the house, prepare holiday foods, or attend holiday parties. Come to our  International Holiday Party!! See you on Dec 4

Goblins and Ghosts stay safe!

1. Make sure to inspect the children’s Trick Or Treat candy to make sure everything is in a sealed wrapper and appears safe.
2. Small children should not eat hard candy because of chocking.
3. Children should be supervised when they go Trick-or-Treating.  Many parents will come home early from work on the day to go with their children.  Check with Host Parents about this.

Halloween Safety Tips for Drivers

Halloween is a wonderful holiday, but because of increased foot traffic and that Trick-or-Treaters are out at night, the potential for automobile related accidents with young pedestrians increases four times on this night according to a CDC (Center for Disease Control) study.

Streets are literally crawling with all sorts of witches, ghosts, goblins, vampires and all other sorts of costumed people. This makes for added responsibility for drivers to make sure that they drive safer than normal.

In many areas, people drive their kids into subdivisions and let them out to walk from house to house. Usually the parent follows behind in the car. This can cause traffic jams in small areas and much confusion as kids dart between cars on the streets going from house to house. A driver is already distracted because they are trying to keep an eye on their own kids and usually aren’t paying attention to much else.

Children and adults tend to be preoccupied and may not pay as much attention to safety as they should. They may not see your vehicle or just assume that you see them automatically. Stay on the defensive and you shouldn’t have a problem while driving on Halloween night

* Don’t use a cell phone or other electronic device while driving on Halloween night. You shouldn’t be doing this anyway, the rate of cell phone related auto accidents has jumped dramatically since the use of cell phones and texting has risen so high. Some states have already made laws concerning this and others are working on it.

Make sure your child carries a flashlight, glow stick or has reflective tape on their costume to make them more visible to cars. Left them know if they carry a flash light to never shine itin the eyes of a driver. This can cause blindness on the drivers part temporarily and they may not see your child.

HAVE SOME FUN THIS MONTH

The month of October brings exciting activities to the city of Salem, Massachusetts. There are many activities relating to the city’s history and penchant for things macabre, including walking tours, haunted houses, trolley rides, spooky performances, exhibits, harbor cruiss and more. Visit their website for all the details: http://www.hauntedhappenings.org/

Apples are great eaten raw and are ideal for school lunch boxes and snacks. You can bake, stew or microwave apples, then turn us into pies, tarts, crumbles and fritters.

Here are some wonderful ways to cook with your favourite apples:

Apple Cake
Peel, core and slice two apples. Prepare a packet butter cake according to directions, pour half the mixture into the cake tin, arrange apple slices evenly and top with remaining mixture. Bake according to directions allowing an extra 5-8 minutes.

Apple Crumble
Peel, core and slice 6-8 apples. Place apples in a lightly buttered baking dish with a 1/4 cup caster sugar and 2 tablespoons of sultanas. Top with toasted muesli and bake until apples are tender.

Yummy Apple Salad
Wash, core and roughly chop apples. Drizzle with lemon juice to prevent browning. Place in a bowl with sliced celery, lettuce , pecan nuts and toss with your favourite salad dressing.

Back to school

5 -Labor Day:

Labor Day is the first Monday in September and was first celebrated in the United States on September 5, 1882 as a trade union holiday.  Now Labor Day is seen as the end of summer and the beginning of school for many students. The day is often celebrated with picnics, sporting events and reunions.

11- September 11:

Take a moment to day to remember victims of the 2001 September 11 attacks, often referred to as 9/11 (pronounced nine-eleven) On this day, hijackers intentionally crashed two airplanes in to the World Trade Center in New York City causing them to collapse. Hijackers crashed a third airliner into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, just outside of Washington, D.C. The fourth plane crashed into a field in rural Pennsylvania, after some of its passengers and flight crew attempted to retake control of the plane.

11- National Grandparents Day:

Grandparents Day is celebrated on the first Sunday after Labor Day.  This is not a widely celebrated holiday, but most grandparents would still appreciate being remembered and would particularly enjoy a homemade gift or card.  Work with your children to create a simple but special surprise.  Use a photo of the child or the child and the grandparent to make it even more special.  If the grandparents do not live nearby to deliver the gift, call them to say hi and have a great day.

22- Fall begins

28-Rosh Hashanah

There are many safety tips on the Au Pair in America website http://aupairinamerica.com/

In honor of Baby Safety Month, here are some more specific baby tips:

• Check condition and sturdiness of toys. Discard any with sharp edges or are broken or falling apart.
• Check children’s clothing for loose buttons and strings.
• Is baby’s pacifier still in good condition? If not, toss it. Never use strings to attach the pacifier to baby’s clothes or crib.
• Where do you set baby’s carrier when she’s in it? Not on the counter, or any high surface. Babies can wiggle and tip themselves over.
• Walkers can be dangerous (especially old ones that don’t meet today’s safety standards), they allow baby to move very quickly and reach things they normally can’t. Never use around stairs.
• Stroller check. If your stroller is collapsible, be sure latches are secure before putting baby in. Always check that your child’s arms are out of the way when reversing handle directions so they won’t get pinched. Be sure to use that safety strap. Don’t hang overloaded or heavy bags on the handle of the stroller; this may cause it to tip over.
• Can you name the 12 most common choking foods for kids under five? Popcorn, hot dogs, chunks of meat, raisins, ice cubes, chunky peanut butter, nuts of any kind, hard candy, grapes, raw carrots, potato chips and corn chips. Don’t leave toddlers alone while eating; if they begin to choke you need to be nearby to assist.
• Get a piggy bank: this is a great place to put coins so they don’t end up on the floor, in the couch cushions and then baby’s mouth.
• Never leave your child unattended in the bathtub. If the phone rings, let the machine get it.

In most areas, blueberries are ready to pick in July and August. Highlight local pick your own farms and blueberry festivals in your area. To find a farm near you go to : http://www.pickyourown.org/massbluerasp.htm

Easy Blueberry Cobbler Recipe

½ stick of butter or margarine

¾ cup sugar

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup of milk

1 pint blueberries (rinsed and drained)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Melt butter and pour into a 3 quart casserole baking dish. Mix sugar, flour and milk. Pour over the butter, but do not mix. Pour the blueberries on top, but do not mix.  Bake at 350 degrees F for one hour.  Serve with or without ice cream. Enjoy