Au pairs from all around CT came together for a tour of Yale University, in New Haven, CT on Saturday Nov. 2nd
. Afterwards many stayed for the Yale vs. Columbia football game.
Category Archives: Au Pair Tips
Looking for Something Special to do with your Host children?
APIA Fall, Halloween & Thanksgiving pinboard with lots of great activity ideas. Visit. http://www.pinterest.com/aupairinamerica/fall-halloween-thanksgiving/
Fun Things to do with your Host Children:
Dinosaurs are fascinating but no more so than to preschool and young school age children. Check your local library for fact and fantasy about these prehistoric creatures. Take out some dinosaur books or videos. Westport Library will loan them for free.
Collecting stamps is a fun and easy introduction to geography, history, art and nature. Help your children start a stamp collection by sharing stamps from your letters from home. Ask your au pair friends for stamps from their countries.
Make a Pizza – Pizza is easy and fun to make and can be a nutritious meal for the children. Buy a ready-made crust, shredded mozzarella cheese and a jar of pizza sauce. The crust goes on a cookie sheet, then spread the sauce and sprinkle the cheese. Bake as directed for the crust.
October Calendar
October 14- Columbus Day – Today commemorates the landing of Christopher Columbus in the “New World.”
October 23 – Game One of the Baseball World Series – In baseball the World Series is the championship games of Major League Baseball in North America, played in October after the end of the regular season between the pennant winners of the American and National Leagues. The Series winner is determined through a best-of-seven playoff, meaning that the first team to win four games wins the series. The World Series has been an annual event since 1903. It is played at the baseball stadiums of the two teams in the series. Baseball is so popular that it is sometimes called the “national pastime.” The word “ballgame” in the United States almost always refers to a game of baseball, and “ballpark” to a baseball field.
October 31-Halloween This is the day children dress up in costumes and, in many communities, go door-to-door to ask for candy. Safety on Halloween is extremely important – don’t take our eyes off the children and don’t let them eat unwrapped candy
September 8- National Grandparents Day
Take some time with your host children today to make a surprise for Grandparents Day. This is not a widely celebrated holiday, so grandparents will appreciate being remembered and would particularly enjoy a homemade gift or card.
American Football season kicks off this month The first game in the NFL is September 5th ~ Baltimore Ravens vs. Denver Broncos
American Football Simplified
A Football Game is made up of 60 minutes of play time. The 60 minutes is divided into four Quarters of 15 minutes each. At the end of two Quarters, there is a break called Half Time. On the Scoreboard you can see the minutes and seconds running out. The team with the most points at the end of four Quarters wins.
A football field is 100 yards long. There is a Goal Post at each end of the field (called the End Zone) one for each team. Each team has an Offense and a Defense. If the Offense has the ball and tries to score by getting it across the Goal Line – the line where the playing field and the End Zone meet, the Defense tries to stop them. The Offense gets four tries to move the ball 10 yards toward their own goal post. These tries are called Downs. If they move the ball down the field 10 yards or more, they get another four tries to move the ball another 10 yards. If they don’t move the ball 10 yards in four tries, the ball goes to the other team; we say the team “loses the ball.” The Super Bowl is the final game of the Football season when two teams play each other for the championship. The game takes place in late January or early February. For some people the TV commercials are the best part of the Super Bowl.
August 27 – First Day of School
The rules regarding stopping for school buses are:
- Yellow flashing lights indicate that the bus is preparing to load or unload children. You should slow down and prepare to stop the car.
- Red flashing lights and extended stop arms indicate that the bus has stopped, and children are getting on or off. Motorists approaching from either direction must wait until the red lights stop flashing before proceeding.
- It is against the law to pass a stopped school bus while its lights are flashing and its’ stop arm is extended. Vehicles must stop on both sides of the roadway. Failure to stop can result in high fines which the au pair has to pay, not the host family.
Healthy Eating…Summer is Almost Here!
Healthy eating–Start slow and make changes to your eating habits over time. Trying to make your diet healthy overnight isn’t realistic or smart. Changing everything at once usually leads to cheating or giving up on your new eating plan. Make small steps, like adding a fruit or vegetable to your diet every day. As your small changes become habit, you can continue to add more healthy choices to your diet.
Children should eat 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day. Many children prefer the crunch of raw food – especially popular are apples, pears, carrots, broccoli, celery and cucumbers. Use your imagination to serve cut up vegetables in an interesting way– for example, make a figure with carrot stick arms and legs, a celery body and a round of cucumber for a head.
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June 6 – National Applesauce Cake Day
Here’s a recipe for a healthy and delicious snack to make with the children
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup shortening
2 cup flour
2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 cups applesauce
1 cup raisins or dried cranberries
Mix first sugar and shortening, then add flour, baking soda and cinnamon. Mix in applesauce and raisins/cranberries. Place in a greased and floured 9 x 13 inch baking pan and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.
Challenged to Get Children to do Chores?
Ask your host parents how much time they think it should take your host kids to complete a certain task that you and your host kids struggle with. Then set the timer and have a race against the clock to get things done before the timer beeps. There is no reward, just a high five and a challenge to do it faster the next day. This makes it fun and exciting! Once the behavior has changed and the struggle is over, you will not need the timer as the expectation has been set and met.
Use a timer for things like
- getting dressed
- room cleaning–set the timer for five or ten minutes and challenge your host kids to clean as much of the toy room as possible before the timer beeps
- playtime before doing homework or chores
Having a hard time getting your host child to improve his behavior?
Childcare focus– Charts – Stickers or stars are put on a piece of paper to show behavioral improvements. This is called a behavior chart. It works well with chronic problems –such as completing chores and homework or for starting routines. Once a goal of quantity of stickers has been achieved, a reward is given. The reward should not be food or toys; it should be more time doing a favorite activity, such as going to the park. You should only focus on improving one behavior using the chart method at a time. It takes a lot of work and consistency to maintain an effective chart, so if you don’t know enough about charting, research it before you start.