When the forecast calls for a rainy week do not despair my dear au pairs, there are many fun activities to do with your host kids indoors and out.
http://mommypoppins.com/ny-kids/50-indoor-activities-for-a-rainy-day
Photo Credit: Kasey Eriksen (Flickr)
By Christine Connally
Kids in our cluster will be returning to school soon. This will mean changes to the au pair schedule and possibly to the duties. It is very important to communicate these changes to avoid problems.
Please discuss the following (if applicable):
Here are some Printable Fill-in-the-Blank School Notes for parents. You may print these out and use them for times when the kids are absent, late, have early dismissal or you need to give permission for something.
If the au pair will be the one going through the children’s back pack and helping with homework, I suggest you designate an area for putting things that need to be read and/or signed by parents.
It is completely normal to feel homesick sometimes when we are far from home. Homesickness comes from feeling disconnected from familiar people, places and routines. It is an emotion you have to learn how to cope with while you are here. It is an emotion that passes with time. Here are some tips to help you:
A little inspiration from a former au pair… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3IBmRWGnwA
Have a great year, this is your dream, make the most of it!
All au pairs starting with the August 15, 2016 arrival last week will be receiving their insurance card, brochure and claim form via email during their orientation week. They will no longer receive paper cards.
We recommend au pairs print down the information when they get to their host home and keep it in a safe place. They should keep the card in their wallet and print an extra copy to keep in their room just in case they lose it.
Photo Credit: Pictures of Money (Flickr)
Au Pairs should contact CISI if they have not received the email with this information. The website address is http://www.culturalinsurance.com/ and by phone 1-800-303-8120.
If your Au Pair needs to drive, please carefully read the DC Department of Motor Vehicles website section entitled Driver License for Non-US Citizens also see the Quick Reference Guide that I give each Host Family at our Orientation Meeting and send to each Au Pair by mail so that she has it as soon as she arrives to your home. http://dmv.dc.gov/service/driver-license-for-non-us-citizens
Photo: Glenn3095 (Flickr)
By Christine Connally
Photo: Hoang Vy (Flickr)
Almost everyone experiences culture shock when they come to a completely new environment. Everything is different: the language, the food, and the people.
Here are my Top 5 Tips for Dealing with Homesickness
1. Make Friends – Don’t wait for other au pairs to reach out to you, reach out to them. There are other lots of new au pairs who are feeling the same way you are right now. Set a goal to reach out to a few of them each day. Some will respond and some will not. Don’t let that discourage you. No one will ever be mad at you for sending them a message to say hello or ask if they want to do something together. Make friends from various countries and you will also get a chance to practice your English skills together.
2. Stay in touch with your home country, but not too much. Skyping or talking on the phone every day with your family and/or friends back home normally makes homesickness worse. Try emailing instead and reduce the Skype and phone calls to once a week, until you feel stronger. It’s much harder seeing the faces and hearing the voices of those you miss.
3. Get out of the house (or your room specifically) – Go to cluster meetings, have coffee or movies with other au pairs, join a gym, go to the library, go for a walk, visit the mall, get a manicure, visit a museum. If someone invites you out, say “yes.” Also, don’t be afraid to do the inviting. If your host family invites you to do things with them, say “yes.” This will help you get to know each other and contribute to your overall happiness.
4. Realize that it definitely gets better – All au pairs experience homesickness and nearly all of them stay and have a successful year (some stay for two years.) So, it must get better, right? Once you get past the initial homesickness, most au pairs report how quickly the year goes by.
5. Make Plans – Create your own Au Pair Bucket List (places you want to go, new foods to try, new things to experience during your year in the U.S.) and start doing them now. Post on our cluster Facebook group to find others who may want to join you on your adventures.
By Robin Leon
You made it! Your time in the US has flown by, and now it’s time to plan for your return. Think about all of the time and effort you put into preparing for your arrival in the US – interviews, paperwork, training. It makes sense that your return home would also require some thought.
Photo: Skyseeker (Flickr)
Of course you expected US culture to be new, but do you anticipate your home culture to be familiar and without difficulties? This is often not the case. In many ways, the experience of returning home can mirror the experience of arriving in the US. Change can be stressful, but thinking about these transitions ahead of time can make them less scary.
For au pairs, the reentry process begins in the eighth month when return flight packets are received. At this time feelings can be mixed, and au pairs may feel very confused as they anticipate the return home but are not ready for the US experience to end. For those returning at the end of the first year, they must select a travel date, deal with questions and excitement from family and friends at home and, with three months left, continue to keep focused on their au pair duties.
As the departure date nears, there is a flurry of activity – you’re trying to get everything done, packing, and seeing all your friends one more time. It can be tempting to disengage from friends and your host family – keep in mind, even if you’re not aware of it, it’s easier to leave angry than it is to leave sad. Be aware of these emotions and remember that they can impact your host family and host kids too. Talk to a trusted friend or your Community Counselor.
Now you’re home! When you first arrive, everyone will be so happy to see you, and you may feel like a visiting celebrity. This will fade though, and your friends and family may no longer be interested in hearing dozens of stories of your adventures in the US or seeing hundreds of photos of you and your new friends. They will move on and be ready for you to do the same, which leads us too…
Reverse Culture Shock – when you first return home, your family and friends may wonder who you are, who you’ve become. You may be thinking about how much you’ve changed, while everything and everyone at home has stayed the same. It may be tempting to romanticize your time in the US – everything was perfect there! There were friends who understood you! You may also experience a “parent problem” – you’ve been independent and had lots of freedom during your time in the US. It can be hard to go back to being someone’s child or following someone else’s rules.
This culture shock is not permanent. It takes time, but eventually, you will get back into the swing of things, and you’ll begin to relax into life in your home country, carrying with you the experiences you had as an au pair.
Tips for Transition:
• Talk to your Community Counselor – we are here to help you with all phases of your au pair experience, including your return home.
• Take some time to really think about your experiences in the US – what did you like most? What will you miss? How have you changed? What recommendations would you make to someone considering becoming an au pair?
• Think about challenges you may face when you return home.
• Think of skills and activities that helped you adapt to the US. These may be strategies that you can use to help you adapt back into your home country.
• Set short term and long term goals for after you return home. Think about ways that you can use the new skills that you gained during your time in America.
• Think about how your Host Family and kids are feeling. What can you do as a group to help with the transition? Think about how you can have a successful closure with them. Also, think about how your return may feel for your friends and family in your home country. What questions and concerns might they have?
• Keep talking – stay in touch with the au pairs and other friends you met along the way – it can be nice to talk with someone who had a shared experience with you.
• Develop ways to continue your exposure to American culture and language.
Photo: Kristina Zuidema (Flickr)
By Christine Connally Does your au pair have to do a last minute supermarket run to buy milk; is she taking the kids to the zoo and needs to buy everyone’s lunch or pay for the carousel ride? Whether you use a cookie jar with random spare cash, a petty cash box with a set amount per week or give your her a credit or debit card while requesting receipts, it is important that you have a conversation about how to handle miscellaneous expenses as soon as your au pair arrives. This allows you to set the ground rules for what the money is and is not to be used for, etc. and will avoid money-related misunderstandings early on.
Host Families
Au Pairs
Gas and Fare Cards
Host families are responsible for the au pair’s transportation costs:
It is a good idea to determine how much gas an au pair will use for these trips and either put gas in the car or give a gas allowance. If your au pair is riding to classes or cluster meetings with another au pair, you should offer to share the cost of gas.
Au pairs are responsible for their own transportation when they are off duty. Au pairs should replace the amount of gas used for personal use.
By Catherine McEaddy-Holmes (Excerpt)
Summer can be a wonderful time of year full of adventure and fun, but it can also be a time when routines are unsettled and rules are relaxed. I encourage you to think about ways that you can keep your children safe and healthy. The American Academy of Pediatrics’ Healthy Children website has many excellent articles on how you can help your family have a wonderful and healthy summer. Below are some highlights with links to the full articles.
Photo: Flickr
Photo: Pete (Flickr)
By Christine Connally
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.
