Author Archives: Beverly Resnick

Helping Young Children Learn Language

Being an au pair is an important role in a child’s life. When you are caring for a young child up to 45 hours per week, there are lots of opportunities to help them learn language. Many host parents are eager for their children to be exposed to foreign language. If this is true of your host parents, you can try the suggestions below, in both English and your native language.

Below are a few tips to start with, for more ideas, check out Ready at Five.

  • Read – Read to them daily, point out pictures and ask questions. Even if they can’t answer the questions, this is still modeling conversation.
  • Talk – Point out objects around them, names of their body parts, explain what you are doing and places you are going. Long before babies can speak, they benefit greatly from being spoken to.
  • Sing – You can sing childhood classics or make up your own silly songs. If you are looking for song ideas, HERE is a great website with lists of songs, lyrics and links to YouTube videos* of the songs.  Children’s music is also available at the public library and even on iTunes.
  • Words – As children move from toddlers to preschoolers begin to point out written language.
  • Writing – Toddlers and preschoolers can begin to learn pre-writing skills by drawing with crayons or doing finger paints.

*The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no screen time for babies under 18 months of age. For children 18 months to 5 years they recommend no more than 1 hour of high quality content. You can play the songs on youtube for the audio and not necessarily show the screen to the child.

Photo: Quinn Dombrowski (Flickr)

Fire Safety

IMG_2266Wilton Fire Department presented a fire safety seminar to au pairs from Wilton, Weston, Redding, Ridgefield, and Pound Ridge, N.Y.

The au pairs heard a discussion about kitchen fire safety, home exit drills, keeping young children safe from a fire, and escaping from a fire. They also received a tour of the firehouse and went home with brochures to share with their host families and children.

The event was organized by community counselors Margret Greene and Beverly Resnick.

Handling Expenses

Host parents often ask for suggestions on how best to handle common expenses that occur as au pairs are caring for the children.

Miscellaneous Expenses

There are different ways to handle the little day to day expenses that come up.  Things like when an au pair takes the kids out for ice cream or picks up a gallon of milk.  Some families keep a cookie jar fund, a little cash that they set aside weekly or monthly for these types of expenses. Others give their au pair a prepaid debit card for this purpose. Below are some suggestions for avoiding problems with expenses.

Host Families

  • It’s important to be clear about how long this money should last and what types of expenses are approved.
  • Let the au pair know whether or not you expect receipts.

Au Pairs

  • Only spend the money on approved expenses.
  • If it is something you are not sure about, ask first.
  • Put your receipts in the cookie jar in place of the money to avoid any confusion.

Gas and Fare Cards 

Host families are responsible for the au pair’s transportation costs: to and from classes, cluster meetings and when driving the kids.

It is a good idea to figure out 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 at all other times.  You should replace the amount of gas used for personal use.

Photo: Andrea Travillian

Au Pairs, Snow and Winter

Its been a mild winter here in Connecticut thus far.
Many of our Host Families and Au Pairs enjoy skiing together.
Snow days, delays and early dismissals are fun for the kids but, they can wreak havoc on working parents!
Knowing your au pair is at home and prepared for these days is a nice bonus for everyone.

Here’s a photo of Au pairs who aren’t accustomed to our weather enjoying an afternoon of ice skating.
For some, it was their first time!! IMG_2243

Au Pair Holiday Party

Our host families come from a wide variety of backgrounds and faiths. Some celebrate Christmas, some Chanukah some Kwanzaa and some celebrate more than one of those or none of the above!

Both Host Families and Au pairs enjoy the cultural exchange aspect of our program. The holidays are a joyous way to embrace each others traditions.

Au pairs from Austria, Brazil, Czech Republic, Colombia, Costa Rica, Germany, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Namibia, Netherlands, Poland, South Africa, IMG_5990Spain and UK all celebrated the holidays together this evening. We sang each others songs, played International games, ate and had a blast together!

Au Pairs and Education

Education is an important component of the Au pair program.
Here in Fairfield County, Au pairs can choose from many outstanding colleges and coursework.
Some may choose ESL to improve their English. Others may select math, chemistry, psychology or photography.
The options here are plentiful. Au Pairs on the standard program complete 6 credits or 80 hours.
Fairfield County Au Pairs took a prestigious tour of Yale University today.
Many took in a Yale vs Princeton game following the tour. It was a fabulous day in New Haven!thumbnail_IMG_2055

Au Pair Pumpkin Carving

Au pairs from our group came together for pumpkin carving on the beach!
A lot of creativity shown and then shared with host families.
Important tips discussed on staying safe with the children on Halloween.IMG_2005

Au Pair Art Presentation Anti-Bullying

“More than words – Courage against bullying”
Westport Arts Center presented works from around the globe that generated dialogue on anti-bullying.
Au pairs viewed the artists work meant to inspire courage, resilience and empowerment in the face of bullying.
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