Yearly Archives: 2017
Holiday & Vacation Reminders
“Rest and be thankful.” – William Wordsworth
Holidays and vacations are a great opportunity to rest, recharge and explore the U.S.
Memorial Day Weekend is the unofficial start of summer travel season. Here are some reminders about program rules regarding 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.
Vacations
- Au pairs earns 2 weeks of paid vacation during the course of her year.
- Vacation time should be mutually agreed upon.
- 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 tickets.
- If an au pair travels with her host family, it should be discussed in advance 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: If an au pair is traveling outside of the U.S., she must have her DS2019 signed (travel validation) PRIOR to her departure from the US. More information about this may be found here on the Au Pair in America website.
Photo: torbakhopper (Flickr)
Face Painting Au Pairs
Westport Au Pairs braved the cold weather Saturday to bring smiles to kids. Au Pairs volunteered to face paint at the Westport-Weston Cooperative Nursery School fund raiser Touch a Truck. Although the weather was cold and raw, spirits were high as we painted, danced and shared some laughs. 
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)
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 Pair Winter Webinars 2017
Below is the schedule for our Au Pair winter webinars. See below to register.
FEBRUARY 14, 9:30 PM EST: TALK WITH A TRAINER
FEBRUARY 21, 9:30 PM EST: FEELING SAD OR STRESSED: TIPS
FOR GAINING BALANCE IN YOUR LIFE
FEBRUARY 23, 9:30 PM EST: NUTRITION: GOOD EATING FOR YOU
AND YOUR KIDS
FEBRUARY 28, 9:30 PM EST: VISITORS FROM HOME? MAKING IT
WORK FOR YOU, YOUR HOST FAMILY,
& YOUR GUESTS
MARCH 1, 9:30 PM EST: GOING HOME: TIPS FOR LEAVING THE
US AND SETTLING IN AT HOME
MARCH 7, 9:30 PM EST: A WORKING VACATION: SUCCESSFUL
TRAVELS WITH YOUR HOST FAMILY
MARCH 13, 9:00 PM EST: TANTRUMS ARE NO FUN FOR ANYONE:
HOW TO HELP YOUR OUT OF CONTROL
CHILD
MARCH 14, 9:30 PM EST: AMERICAN KIDS AT PLAY: WHY IT IS
IMPORTANT AND WHAT YOU CAN DO
MARCH 21, 9:30 PM EST: 100 ACTIVITIES FOR SCHOOL AGE KIDS
MARCH 27, 12:00 PM EST: TALK WITH A TRAINER
MARCH 28, 9:30 PM EST: TRAVEL TIPS FOR AU PAIRS
AuPairs can register to attend for free at www.aupairinamerica.com/webinars
AuPairs who attend an entire session will receive an e-certificate for attendance.
AuPairs who attend 6 webinars between JANUARY 1 and MARCH 31, 2017 will be entered into a raffle to receive a $250 AMAZON GIFT CARD*
*AuPairs must register for and attend 6 Au Pair in America webinars held during the specified timeframe of January 1 through March 31, 2017 and must be in attendance the entire length of each webinar. Au Pairs that leave the webinar before it is complete, will not receive credit for attending that particular webinar. Once an Au Pair completes her 6th webinar, her name will be entered into a raffle drawing, with the winner being awarded a $250 Amazon Gift Card.
If you have any questions about the Webinars for Au Pairs, please contact Sandee Plescia at splescia@aupairinamerica.com
Ice Skating Cluster Meeting
Westport Au Pairs had a great time ice skating at the Westport Police Athletic League rink at Longshore Club Park, which is right on Long Island Sound. wpalrink.com 
They had the rink practically all to themselves Thursday morning January 5th. Although it was a cold day, it was fun skating and a wonderful opportunity to meet some of our new arrivals.