Tag Archives: long island au pair
School End This Week!
Au Pairs and Host Families schedules change in Summer!
It is important to have a meeting to review schedule changes for the summer . Kids don’t have school, but they still have busy schedules. There is often even more driving for the au pairs during summer, taking the kids to day camp, sports, and to the beach. Playdates are plentiful and need to be part of everyone’s schedule. Some host parents have more time off in the summer, especially if they are teachers. Make sure you schedule who is in charge, parent or au pair. Keep posting a schedule to define working hours for your au pair.
Vacations are often taken by families and au pairs, together and separately. Be clear about time off and working time. If your au pair is going on vacation and is working, she gets paid!! Good planning will make sure everyone has a great time!
Father’s Day!
Happy Father’s Day to all our host dads!
Flag Day Contest for Au Pairs
Meet Your Global Neighbor
Au Pair in America au pairs helped us celebrate our second annual Flag Day Contest by submitting their creative expressions of their countries flags.
This year’s first place winner was Sabine Formanek of Austria. Sabine is so proud of her country’s rich musical culture and chose to incorporate Mozart into her flag. Read what Sabine had to say about her original drawing.
Brazil: Gisella Nascimento and her host children created the Brazilian flag in legos. Colombia: Veronica Giraldo created her flag by individually making each of these flowers in thread. Brazil: Raquel Brun Carvalho. Raquel built both the Brazilian and American flags in legos-our neighbors! Ukraine: Olena Petelko used needledwork to depict her country’s flag. Olena provided some background information for us. South Africa: Marianne Hohls and her two host boys, ages 4 and 5, created her flag from Legos. New Zealand: Melissa wedgwood designed her flag on a backdrop of the Pavlova dessert which is an icon in New Zealand. Germany: Julia Kahl and her host children created a crayon drawing of her flag against the background of the Denver sky. Israel and Germany: Nitzan Dorenboim and Freddy Eixner combined their country flags with cupcakes. What an ingenious idea! The partnering of Germany and Israel won Best Team Entry! United Kingdom: Hollie Cottrell baked a very delicious-looking cake to represent her flag. Germany: Mirijam Hinger used frozen yogurt and fruit to show us her flag. Netherlands: Carla Van Dijk who is living in Princeton, NJ, placed her flag against the backdrop of Princeton University. U.S.A: Denise Eliopolus’ cluster created their vision of the U.S. flag on cupcakes. U.S. A. This representation of the U.S. flag was done by Katie, age 7,a host child in CT. Katie used her favorite glitter and sprinkled it on the flag. Mia, from Malaysi is Katie’s au pair, and Mia’s entry is the next one. Malaysia: Mia Ng used fruit because it represents her country’s fruit production Many nations: Cindy Garruba, a community counselor on the North Shore of Long Island worked with her au pairs on representing all of their countries on a map of Long Island. The teamwork is awesome! Denise Eliopolus and her cluster: Denise is a community counselor in NJ. This photo shows the au pairs in her cluster who created the USA cupcakes. Around the world: many nations in Gosia Downes cluster (NJ) are represented by paper dolls. The next photo shows the au pairs who participated in the Flag Day Contest.
June Tips for Host Families and Au Pairs
June is such a busy month for host families and au pairs here in Suffolk County, Long Island. School is still in session, but the kids are busy with lots of fun school activities like field day, school concerts and presentations. Sports are in full swing; lacrosse, Little League, swim team, tennis, horse back riding and so much more keep au pairs and host parents driving kids around and cheering from the sidelines!
Vacation is coming up, school is out on June 22nd! Schedules are changing for au pairs and their host children. Day and sleep away camps for the kids are being planned. Au pairs and host families are planning summer vacations together and separate. New au pairs are arriving every week, and former au pairs are heading home. There are welcome and good bye parties, family BBQs and lots of special days to enjoy!
But with all the excitement comes some stress and a need for au pairs and host families to sit down together, discuss the schedule changes, where and how to fit in vacations and how to manage all the activities for the children. It is very important to continue to have a weekly meeting! Please take time to discuss all the changes so we can all make sure summer here in Suffolk County, Long Island is the best it can be!
Au Pair in America Scavenger Hunt in NYC
Rain did not deter Au Pairs from all over NY state from a fun Scavenger Hunt in NYC. Organized by the Community Counselors for Au Pair in America, clusters from Westchester, NYC and Long Island participated in the hunt.
Starting at the main branch of the NYC Library, they finished in Bryant Park! For 3 – 4 hours racing all over NYC, au pairs snapped pictures of themselves with smiling NYC doorman, by Broadway marques, Central Park statues and so much more. 4 teams of 4 each won prizes contributed by the counselors and several more won raffles as well. They all went home with unique pictures of themselves in NYC!
Are Your Kids Getting Enough Sleep?
So Many Parks on Long Island!
There are lots of parks on Long Island! You can find one near you by putting in your zip code. Or enter the name of the park you want to find and you can search for it that way, too! http://pickapark.org/
Cinco de Mayo
Cinco de Mayo officially commemorates the anniversary of an early victory by Mexican forces over French forces in the Battle of Pubela on May 5, 1862. It is not the anniversary of the defeat and expulsion of the French forces by the Mexicans, which occurred in 1867. It is also not, as is often assumed, the day of Mexico’s celebrations of independence, which are actually held on September 16. It is believed that the origins of Cinco de Mayo celebrations lie in the responses of Mexicans living in California in the 1860s to French rule in Mexico at that time.
Cinco de Mayo is seen as a day to celebrate the culture, achievements and experiences of people with a Mexican background, who live in the United States. There is a large commercial element to the day, with businesses promoting Mexican services and goods, particularly food, drinks and music. Other aspects of the day center around traditional symbols of Mexican life, such as the Virgin de Guadalupe, and Mexican-Americans who have achieved fame, fortune and influence in the United States.
Click on this link to go to some free Cinco de Mayo coloring pages for children: http://www.freekidscoloring.com/holiday/cinco_de_mayo/
May Day!
What is May Day?
May Day is May 1st and is a celebration of the arrival of spring. It is believed that the holiday originated in Roman times as a festival of flowers.
Today, children celebrate this day by making small baskets filled with treats or flowers to give secretly to friends and neighbors. It is a common custom (and lots of fun) to leave the basket on the doorstep of a friend, ring the doorbell and run away.
How about making some May Day baskets today with your host kids?