Au Pair Chatter

With Memorial Day just passed and Fourth of July coming up next month, I wanted to remind everyone about program rules on holidays and vacations.

Holidays

• Host families are NOT REQUIRED to give au pairs any specific holidays.
• Each host family will make different arrangements on holidays, some au pairs will be off and others will be required to work.
• Au pairs should NOT make plans for holidays without checking with your host family FIRST.

Vacation

• Au pair earns 2 weeks of paid vacation during the course of her year.
• The host family can pick a week and the au pair can pick a week, if an agreement is not reached.
• All vacation should be preplanned (at least 4 weeks in advance.)
• All au pair’s friends and/or family visits/vacations should be pre-approved prior to purchasing a ticket.
• If an au pair travels with their host family, it should be discussed UP FRONT whether this is the au pair’s vacation or if she is working.
• If an au pair travels with the host family to work, the host family is required to pay for her transportation, lodging and meals.

Important: An au pair MUST have her DS2019 signed PRIOR to her departure from the US. More info. about this can be found on the right side of this page under “Travel Links for Au Pairs.”

Just a reminder about how important it is to respect your host family’s privacy and not share personal details and information.  This applies to all kinds of situations, including: personal conversations, email and social websites.

For your own safety, it is a good idea to be careful what personal information you share about yourself as well. You should not be giving out information like your telephone number and address to people you don’t know.

Once you post something on the internet (even if you later delete it), it can show up elsewhere.  Unless you have specific permission from the host family, you should not post pictures of them, their children or their home on the internet.

If you have a blog or website where you post in your native language, remember there is translation software.  So, even if you say it in your native language, be sure it is not something you will regret.

Now that the weather is getting nice, it is likely you will be spending more time outdoors with the children. Playing in the back yard, at the playground or walking on nature trails are great ways to get fresh air and exercise.

What are ticks? – Ticks are small mites that attach themselves to skin and suck blood. Click HERE to see examples of ticks.

Where are ticks commonly found? – Ticks are normally found in areas with trees, bushes or tall grass. This includes back yards, parks, nature areas and most places you would be spending time with the children outdoors in the nice weather.

What needs to be done? - When you return home from areas where ticks might live, carefully check the children (their skin and scalp) for ticks.

Most ticks do not carry diseases, and most tick bites do not cause serious health problems. But it is important to remove a tick as soon as you find it. Removing the tick completely may help you avoid diseases such as Lyme Disease that the tick may pass on during feeding, or a skin infection where it bit you.

Click HERE for Instructions on Removing a tick from WebMD.com.

Host parents, this is a good time to make sure that the car your au pair drives is in good operating condition and up to date on routine maintenance.

See these previous posts on car related issues:

What to Keep in the Glove Box

Car Safety Kit

Car Accident Emergency Form

As time goes on, it can be tempting to become relaxed in the way you complete your duties. This is especially true in the final months of your au pair year.  Don’t let yourself get into a routine of not doing your best.  Take initiative – don’t wait to be asked, anticipate children’s needs, offer to help when you are sharing “family time.”

Wishing a Happy Mother’s Day to all the host moms in our cluster.

From the Starbucks website -

Click here for more info

Frappuccino® blended beverage lovers, we heard you – and we are excited to announce the return of Happy Hour to Starbucks!

Starting May 6 and running through May 15, come into participating stores between 3-5 p.m. for a half-price Frappuccino® blended beverage of your choice.

Cinco de mayo commemorates the May 5, 1862 Battle of Puebla (Batalla de Puebla) in which Mexican troops defeated Napoleon’s French forces. A common misconception is that this holiday is the Mexican equivalent to the U.S. 4th of July/Independence Day holiday. That is not the case. Cinco de mayo is not a major holiday in Mexico, it is actually celebrated more in the United States than in Mexico.

Search here for local celebrations in the entire DC area.

Many of these celebrations are at bars. If you are under 21, celebrate cinco de mayo by going to California Tortilla. If you tell them the secret words “cinco de mayo” you will receive a coupon for a free taco on your next visit.

One of our au pairs (Ingrid from Germany) was lucky enough to go to the White House Easter Egg Roll with her host family.  I asked her to share some photos and her impressions about the experience.

Here is what Ingrid had to say about it:

First of all, I was so glad that my host mom took me!!! We had tickets for the first group on that day and had to be there at 7:30a.m. Consequently, Monday morning we had to wake up at 4:30 a.m. to wake the kids, and to get ready. Everybody was really excited to go in the garden of the White House. After almost two hours, we finally arrived in the garden.

There they had a lot of different activities for children like Easter egg hunt, egg roll, story time stage, face painting and other pretty cool stuff. So, first Sophie, my host child, went to the egg roll; she did a really good job.

While we were there we saw funny characters from TV shows, and I was surprised how Sophie reacted, when she saw them. She gave almost every character a huge hug and I took a lot of pictures of it.  We saw Elmo from the Sesame Street, and danced to his song. That was really funny and I had Sophie on my shoulders, so she could see. After a while we went closer to the White House, hoping see the President Barack Obama. But he wasn’t there, which was really disappointing.  However, when we left the garden we got a special wood Easter egg with the signature of Barack and Michelle Obama.

Caught a glimpse of the Obama Family dog, Bo.

In the April kids activity kits, I included peat pots, potting soil and sunflower seeds. At the last coffee meeting, I received many reports of how well the sunflowers were growing and how excited the kids were to watch them grow. Tina was kind enough to send me some pictures she has taken to document the process of growing the sunflowers with her host child.

Have you ever heard the figure of speech “to have a green thumb?”  It means to have the ability to grow plants well. I personally do not have a green thumb, but it looks like some of our au pairs and host children do.

As these sunflowers get bigger, it will be time to move them to a larger pot or outside. It would be great if some of these survived the summer and you were able to harvest some sunflower seeds in the fall. If your sunflowers make it through the summer, please send me a picture!