Surviving & Thriving in the Holiday Season

The fall/winter holiday season is most often a time of joy and excitement. However, it can also be a time of stress and disappointment for both host families and au pairs. Here are some ideas and insights that will hopefully help you avoid stress and disappointment and share more of the joy and excitement! Holiday Read More

5 Tips for Safe Trick or Treating

TRICK OR TREAT TOGETHER – Children should trick or treat in groups and younger children should have adult supervision. DRESS UP SAFELY – Avoid masks that block children’s vision and make sure costumes don’t pose a tripping hazard. Avoid sharp or heavy props that could cause injury. BE VISIBLE – Children should be visible to drivers. Read More

Fall Traditions: Carving Pumpkins

It was great to see so many of you at our Pumpkin Patch Host Family & Au Pair Meeting on Sunday! A treasured fall/Halloween tradition in the United States is pumpkin carving or making “jack-o’-lanterns”. Whether this is your first time decorating a pumpkin or you are a seasoned pro, these videos have a few tips Read More

Hints for Success – Homesickness/Culture Shock

Almost everyone experiences culture shock and homesickness when they come to a completely new environment. Everything is different: the language, the food, and the people. Here are my Top 5 Tips forDealing with Homesickness 1. Make friends – Don’t wait for other au pairs to reach out to you, reach out to them. There Read More

What are the Rules for Holidays?

There are no regulations requiring host families to give au pairs any specific holidays off. In the spirit of the au pair program, many host families will give their au pair the day off on major holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Eve, July 4th). Most au pairs look forward to sharing holidays like Thanksgiving and Read More

Going Unplugged During Work Hours

Phones, tablets, and laptops are wonderful tools to stay connected and informed, but we need to be careful not to let them become distractions from real-life interactions and most importantly our responsibilities. Au Pairs – Imagine for a moment that you went to the hospital and you were in the care of doctors and nurses. How would Read More