Yearly Archives: 2011

Happy New Year!

Learn to say Happy New year in these languages heard in our clusters

* Chinese (Cantonese) – Sun nien fai lok
* Chinese (Mandarin) – Xin nian yu kuai
* Danish – Godt Nytår
* Dutch – Gelukkig nieuwjaar
* French – Bonne année
* Gaelic – Aith-bhliain Fe Nhaise Dhuit
* German – Gutes Neues Jahr
* Hebrew – Shanah tovah
* Italian – Buon Capo d’Anno
* Norwegian – Godt Nyttår
* Polish – Szczesliwego Nowego roku
* Portuguese – Feliz ano novo
* Romanian – La Multi Ani
* Russian – S Novym Godom
* Spanish – Feliz Año Nuevo
* Swedish – Gott Nytt År
* Turkish – Yeni Yiliniz Kutlu Olsun
* Welsh – Blwyddyn Newydd Dda

January 2012

January 1~New Year’s Day – The first day of the New Year is a federal holiday.  For many people, January first also means making a New Year’s resolution.  The most common being to lose weight/get in shape, stop smoking and get organized.  What is yours and how do you plan to achieve it?

In some communities families visit each other for New Year’s Day brunch and lots of watching football bowl games.  There are five “bowl” games today, including the Outback Bowl in Tampa Florida, The Rose Bowl in Pasadena California  and the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, Louisiana.  To learn about football visit http://aupairinamerica.com/resources/life_in_the_us/football.asp

January 16~ Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  Martin Luther King Jr. was an important leader of the civil rights movement here in America during the 1950s and 60s. The holiday was created as a day to remember his fight for the freedom, equality, and dignity of all races and peoples and as a time to remember the message of change through nonviolence.  Usually schools are closed this day.  If so, take your children to the library to get a book on Martin Luther King.  Read it together.

Holiday Party

Westport au pairs gathered together at my house to celebrate the holidays.  They brought tasty treats from their native lands to share with everyone.  We heard about special holiday traditions in Mexico, Sweden, Germany, Panama, Thailand, Israel, and the U.K.  We met new friends and shared a lot of laughs.  As usual, however,I forgot to take a picture while everyone was there. My apologies.  I was having too good a time!  Happy Holidays, everyone!

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Driving Safety

Driving – Traffic tends to be heavier around the Holidays.  My best advice is to leave earlier than normal and take your time.  Be the “bigger person” and allow that one last car to slip in ahead of you.  It may avoid an accident.  Remember au pairs can be asked to pay up to $500 of the deductible for an accident.

December Calendar

December 21- Chanukah – Chanukah is a Jewish celebration, also known as the Festival of Lights, Chanukah starts at sundown today and lasts for eight days. It is traditional to exchange gifts or gelt (Yiddish for money) in the form of real coins or chocolate wrapped in gold foil, to play a game of put-and-take with a four sided top called a dreidel, and to light candles each night.

December 22 – First day of winter

December 25 – Christmas – Every family and culture has their own Christmas traditions. Embrace those of your host family and share some of your own.

December 26 – Kwanzaa – This festive, non-religious African-American celebration was started in 1966. It lasts for seven days. On each day a candle is lit and the day focuses on one of seven principles.

December 31 – New Year’s Eve- Chances are you have to work tonight, so after the kids go to bed, sit down and watch Dick Clark’s Rockin’ Eve and think about how to make 2012 better.  Before they go to bed,  the children and you can choose simple “New Year Resolutions.” Or create a keepsake of the year that is ending by making a time capsule or a scrapbook of memories. Include what are cool, slang words, popular activities, clothes, games, names of popular songs or games, and a picture of the hottest toy. If you are making a time capsule, put a date on it and decide when they will open it – in a year, 5 or even 10. Don’t forget to include a photo of you and the children! Tomorrow, the first day of the New Year, is a federal holiday.

Childcare Safety and Fun:

Driving – Keeping children happy in the car can be challenging. One helpful approach is to engage them in car games in the safety of their car seat or seat belt.  Sing songs, such as the “”Wheel on the Bus””,  tell stories or play “”I Spy””, a color game.  Children take turns stating “”I spy something red”” and the other people in the car need to guess what the child sees that is red.

Alphabet Game- ages 3 and up

Children who can identify letters and can easily see out the window of the car can play this game. One child starts with A and has to find a word on a sign visible from the car with the letter A. The next child has to identify the B, and so on.

November 18 – Mickey Mouse’s birthday – Mickey Mouse was created in 1928! Celebrate his birthday with Mickey Mouse pancakes:  Follow the directions for mixing on the package.  Heat a griddle or frying pan.  For each pancake pour batter into pan in a large circle with two smaller circles at the top to make the ears.  Cook until pancake is puffy and bubbles.  Flip and cook the other side until golden brown.  Use chocolate chips for the eyes.

Then go to the library and read some Mickey Mouse books or take home a video or two to watch after bath time.

Scratch Pictures – This is a fun art project for children ages 7 and up. You need paper, crayons (make sure you have a black one), and a paper clip. Take one crayon and rub it over the paper. Use the flat side of the crayon and rub hard. Take another color and do the same to another part of the paper. Cover the whole paper with different colors of crayon. Now, take the black crayon and color over all the other colors until the whole paper is black. With a paper clip or coin, draw a picture by scratching through the black crayon. The other colors will show through where the drawing is scratched.

Yale University Tour 2011

It was great to see so many of our au pairs at our annual multi- cluster tour of Yale University in New Haven, CT.  It was a great, sunny but cold Fall morning .  Hope the afternoonIMG_0003IMG_0004IMG_0005IMG_0008IMG_0009IMG_0010IMG_0011IMG_0012IMG_0002 Yale vs. Brown University football game was fun!

November Calendar

November 6 – Daylight Savings Time Ends-In most parts of the country you’ll get an extra hour of sleep – set your clock back one hour.

November 8 – Election Day for local elections in Westport

November 11 – Veteran’s Day
A day to honor American veterans of all wars, Veterans Day is a federal holiday.

November 24 Thanksgiving – Thanksgiving dates back to the first European settlers in North America. After hardship, illness and hard work the Pilgrims celebrated a successful harvest that they shared with their Native American friends. This national holiday is a day to feast and give thanks.

November 25- Black Friday is the Friday after Thanksgiving and is the beginning of the traditional Christmas shopping season. Black Friday is not an official holiday, but many employees have the day off, which increases the number of potential shoppers. Merchants and the media use the term Black Friday to refer to the beginning of the period in which retailers are in the black i.e., turning a profit for the year.  Sales are everywhere–set your alarm and hit the stores before the sun comes up to get an authentic experience this unique day!

Brooklyn Bridge Walk

Sunday October 16th was a beautiful day for our annual multi- cluster walk across the historic Brooklyn Bridge.  Au pairs from Greenwich to Hartford met each other, caught up with some old acquaintances, and took  some great photos of the New York City skyline and the Statue of Liberty.  Afterwards some went shopping, others went out to eat.    It was a terrific day to be outside enjoying New York City!IMG_0001IMG_0002IMG_0003IMG_0004IMG_0006IMG_0007IMG_0008IMG_0009IMG_0011IMG_0012IMG_0013IMG_0014IMG_0015

Host Family and Au Pair Get Together

Au Pair In America host families and au pairs from the Westport cluster gathered together Sunday October 2nd at Compo Beach to meet each other, make some new friends and catch up with some old acquaintances.  Host families had an opportunity to meet new Westport neighbors and our au pairs  from the Netherlands, Germany, South Africa, Costa Rica, Israel, Switzerland, the U.K and Sweden.  Au pairs met each other and the children they care for and arranged future play dates for all.  It was a great afternoon at the beachIMG_0042IMG_0043IMG_0044IMG_0045IMG_0046IMG_0047IMG_0048IMG_0049IMG_0050.