No matter the age of your child, they can benefit from an au pair. Just as a smaller class size in school can improve the effectiveness of teaching, the Au Pair in America programs can help facilitate your child’s intellectual growth through personal one-on-one attention and interaction. Au pairs provide an enriching multi-cultural experience as well as unique educational and language capabilities that benefit kids (and adults!) of all ages.
0 – 4
During these formative years, the more words that are spoken to your children, the faster their language, vocabulary and IQ develop. The benefits of speaking to your child from an early age have been researched in depth by the LENA Research Foundation and reported in The Power of Talk. Your au pair caring for your children during hours you are not with them increases the number of words they hear each day. What’s more, their exposure to both English and the au pair’s native language further enhances and stimulates their growth. Younger children are uniquely suited to learn a second language as their developing brain is wired to learn a new language as easily as they learned to walk. Many au pairs utilize books, songs and games when helping to teach host children their native language.
School Age
As your child grows older and begins to expand their thinking, an au pair provides additional educational enrichment outside the classroom. Being exposed to your au pair’s culture, customs and language accelerates your child’s intellectual and linguistic development. From Host Mother Jennifer of New York:
We have kids in a dual language (Spanish-English) program at our local public school, so our au pairs have helped them to learn proper Spanish. It’s also important to us that our kids know about the bigger world outside our town and country, and our au pairs have made this real. And they help our kids (and ourselves) learn more about our own country by sharing the excitement of their discoveries as they learn about and adapt to life in the U.S.
Learn more about the educational benefits of our au pairs on our website, or contact us today to talk to one of our program experts about your child care needs: (800) 928-7247 – aupair.info@aifs.com.