Author Archives: Annie Stauffer

Cooking With Kids!

Cooking with children can help with many skills and encourage them to become an adventurous eater! It engages the senses, builds mathematics and critical thinking skills, explores science, build language skills, you can share your culture or learn about a new one together through food.

Check out these great tips for kitchen safety!

Ready to cook up a bit of fun in the kitchen? Check out these great ideas! Consider making animal pancakes for breakfast or a fun snack! Or a birdhouse sandwich for lunch!

How about a tropical fruit snack plate?  Or a fun popcorn mix? Or try some PB&J faux sushi?  Create a fruit filled rainbow!

Make your own granola bars! Or jellyfish sandwiches!

 

Photo: Melissa {flickr}

Big Kids Need Interaction Too!!

Just because a child is old enough to occupy themselves, doesn’t mean that they should be expected to do so the majority of the time.  Host families have a certain expectation of activity and involvement for their children. Get the kids engaged and active. You can be more fun than the TV or a video game.

Problem:
But, my kids don’t want to do anything but watch TV or play video games.

Solution:
Instead of saying,  “Would you like to (fill in the blank with any activity)?  The answer will often be, “No.”

Try this, “Now we are going to (fill in the blank with any activity.) or “Would you rather do  _____ or ______?”  Make sure both the choices are good options.
Your chances of co-operation are greatly increased. Even kids who are reluctant to try new things will usually get in the spirit of things and have fun, if you pick a good activity.

Problem:
I don’t know what to do with school age kids.

Solution:
Look for ideas online. Google “activities school age kids” or “activities ‘tweens”. Below is a list of some ideas to get you started.

  • Cooking
  • Making things (check craft stores or online stores like Michael’s for kits and models that are age appropriate)
  • Going outside for fun activities
  • Sports (kick around a soccer ball, play tennis, bicycling, roller skating, shoot hoops)
  • Let them teach you to do something they enjoy. Kids this age love being the expert.
  • Get outdoors and visit local parks.  You can even make a project of reviewing all the local parks (what kind of equipment they have, is there shade?)  They can write this up and keep, so they remember which ones they want to go to again and which ones to skip in the future.
  • Let them help you search and plan some activities.
  • Check on the APIA Pinterest page and here on our cluster blog for ideas.
  • If you have a GPS, try taking them geocaching. Here is a website with all the details.

Note: Always get permission from your host parents before taking the kids places.

Photo: Killian77

Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day (February 14) is a time of love, friendship, giving, and caring. Americans use Valentine’s Day as an opportunity to tell friends and family how much they care.  Children usually exchange cards at school.

Are you looking for Valentine’s Day activity, recipe and craft ideas? Look no further…  Au Pair in America has a Pinterest pinboard devoted to Valentine’s Day.

APIA Valentine’s Day Pinboard

Photo: Clever Cupcakes (Flickr)

Lunar New Year

Lunar New Year is is the most important holiday in China. Tied to the Chinese lunar calendar, the holiday began as a time for feasting and honoring ancestors as well as deities. Lunar New Year celebrations begin on February 1st.  The year 2022 is slated to be the year of the tiger. The tiger is known as the king of all beasts in China and the zodiac is associated with strength and bravery.

Chinese people celebrate Lunar New Year with the traditional greeting, “Kung hei fat choi”  Sounds like (gung – hay – fah – choy) in Cantonese!

Lunar New Year covers a long span, not just one day. Two weeks is the typical time frame. Traditionally this time is used to celebrate with family and friends. It’s important to start the new year with a clean home. Red envelopes are handed out to others, typically children or young people, containing Lucky Money. Foods are important in the celebration and have meaning. Long noodle dishes, for instance, represent longevity or long life, while dumplings represent wealth. Interestingly, fortune cookies are not authentic Chinese treats, though enjoyable and fun, you can read more about their unique history here.

You can read more about Lunar New Year here.

Crafts, recipes, activities, and games related to Lunar New Year can be found on the APIA Winter Pinterest board. Try some of these great ideas!

Arts & Crafts:

Kids in the Kitchen:

Virtual Field Trips can be a great way for kids to learn and have new experiences. Here are a couple of virtual field trips that fit this theme:

Videos – Online you can find many examples of celebrations. Please review the content for appropriateness for your own host kids before watching with the children.

Webcams – You can do a google search for Lunar New Year celebrations with webcams. Here is a popular one for the upcoming season:

Books – Check out your local library or bookseller for books to order / reserve and pick up /read online:

 

Make Your Own Playdough

Play dough is the perfect modeling material for children. Their small hands can pat, poke, pinch, roll and knead it into many shapes. Keep it in an airtight container to use another day, or let it air dry into favorite shapes.

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Measure 2 cups of flour, one cup of salt and 4 teaspoons of cream of tartar into a bowl. Add 1/4 cup of oil to one cup of water in a separate bowl then add the mixture to the dry ingredients. For colored play dough, squeeze 10-20 drops of food coloring into the water before you add it to the mixture. Cook the dough at low heat in a wide pan, stirring constantly until it becomes rubbery. Remove the dough from the heat and knead it for a few minutes. When it cools the kids can play too!

Photo: Kevin Jarrett (Flickr)

Christmas Pierogi

A favorite Christmas experience! In preparation for Christmas, Patrycja, from Poland, currently residing in Southern Maryland, and her host dad spent all day making traditional Polish pierogi!

She said, “I wasn’t sure if we can actually do it since I’ve never made pierogi by myself before, but we did it!

‘Pierogi z kapustą kiszoną i pieczarkami’ one of the things Poland is most known for! (Sauerkraut and mushrooms)

My mom offered us her help (from Poland), so we had the greatest pierogi maker on our side 😁 We ended up with almost 100 pierogi

I am really really proud of us and I’m glad I could contribute to this Christmas with a little bit of my own culture!”

To learn how to make pierogi, follow this recipe.

Thanksgiving

At Thanksgiving, we pause and express gratitude to others.  This year we want to thank all of our au pairs and host families for the care and support they give each other every day.  We also thank each au pair for sharing with us & our families about their culture, for demonstrating their bravery for coming from far away places and giving so much to their host families and their friends in America.

We know that this year continues to be filled with uncertainty and stress, as we continue battling COVID-19 and experience a global pandemic together. We appreciate the uniqueness of each of you. Your spirits, sense of humor, enthusiasm. It is an honor to be a part of your lives for this time and beyond. We love the relationships that have developed that last after an au pair returns home.

We are thankful for the warm, caring host families in Southern Maryland who welcome some of the most wonderful young women into their homes and entrust the care of their children to them.  Host families who inspire, encourage, celebrate, cultivate and share their culture and customs. Host families that embrace each new au pair as a unique and special person. Host families that encourage an au pair to share her culture and customs and incorporate it to their family life. It is a beautiful thing to witness.

“The people-to-people ties and transfer of knowledge achieved through international education builds and sustains a more democratic, secure, and prosperous world that benefits the entire global community. International education and exchange is vital to our diplomacy efforts and establishes lasting ties between individuals today that translate into stronger relations between nations tomorrow.” -Former Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs, Evan Ryan

Some thoughts from au pairs current and departed about Thanksgiving:

“I didn’t know that thanksgiving was such a big holiday before I spent my year there. It was a really nice day. We started off with breakfast, cooking and baking in our pajamas and then we got ready and we were all dressed really chic and went off to my host mums part of the family in DC. There we had a lovely dinner with everything you can imagine! Everybody also had to say for what he or she is thankful, we were around forty people and it was so nice to hear about everybody.”

thanksgiving-dinner-plate-c-chan‘I was super curious on Thanksgiving and what it was like. It felt like something truly American and I had never tasted turkey or pumpkin pie before (which I had learnt you ate a lot of during Thanksgiving) since we went to Chicago and I got to meet a huge part of my hostmom’s family that was also something I really looked forward to! So the whole holiday was all food, food and some more food! And ALL kinds of pies! I believe there might have been around 7-8 different pies. I had a great thanksgiving!”

“Thanksgiving was actually one of my most favorite holidays in the states. We went to Ohio to spent it with family. Watching Macy’s parade while cooking the dinner and baking some pie. After eating the fantastic food watching some football and then of course some Black Friday shopping it was amazing!!”

“I really enjoyed Thanksgiving with my host family. It was as I imagined! So much food to try. Everyone got dressed up and shared what they were thankful for. It was so warm and special. The next day we began to prepare for Christmas. It was magical.” johnny-flickr

“I am really excited to see everyone gathered around the table. I am so happy thinking about the foods, some I have never tried. I am curious about pumpkin pie.”

“I am looking forward to experiencing the traditions. Sharing good things and food….my host mom says there will be so much food!”

We wish each and every one of you a Happy Thanksgiving!

Photos by: Tim Stackton – Flickr, Cynthia Chan, Johnny – Flickr

Places to Go For Urgent Medical Care

In a true emergency, seek medical attention as soon as possible at the hospital emergency room.

If you have a medical problem that you would like to be seen by a doctor the same day for, but you do not feel that it is an emergency, the best place to go would be an urgent care clinic. If you go to the emergency room for something that is not an emergency (like for a sore throat or pink eye), they will see you and treat you, but will not admit you to the hospital. In a case like that, there is an additional $500 deductible by the insurance company. The emergency room is not to be used as your regular doctor.

Here is the link to the medical insurance information and claim forms: APIA Medical
You may go to any doctor or clinic you choose, but if you go to an in-network doctor you are less likely to be asked to pay upfront. If you do have to pay upfront, you can be reimbursed by submitting a claim form to the insurance (providing you have met your deductible, if applicable.)

Here’s how to find the Urgent Care Centers near you who accept our insurance (Aetna)

  1. To find the one nearest to you, go HERE.
  2. Type in your zip code.
  3. Select a Plan. Choose “Passport to Healthcare Primary PPO Network”.
  4. Under “Find what you need by category”, select “Urgent Care” or “Walk-in Clinic”.

You will receive results like the examples below –

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What if you know of another Urgent Care Center near you and it doesn’t appear on the insurance search results? You may call the facility and ask if they accept Aetna. If they say yes, you may go there also. Urgent Care Centers are popping up everywhere and they don’t always get added to the insurance listing immediately.

As of 1/9/2020, Medstar Health, Patient Express, Righttime, Patriot Urgent Care are among the Aetna participating providers.  

For fairly simple medical issues the CVS Minute Clinic is a great option. 

CVS Minute Clinic – www.minuteclinic.com
Open daily – Hours vary by location. No appointment is necessary.
Locations including: Annapolis, Dunkirk, Edgewater & Leonardtown
For less complicated illnesses including: Allergies, Bladder Infections, Colds, Ear Infections, Pink Eye & Styes, Sinus Infections, Strep Throat, Swimmer’s Ear, Athlete’s Foot, Cold Sores, and Vaccinations.
Visit their website for a complete list of locations, conditions they will treat and the costs.

Bring your Insurance Card – You will need to show your insurance card. You should have received an email from CISI when you arrived. You can search for that email and print your card. Another option is to register at the myCISI portal and print a card from there.

Scam Alert: Tips to Avoid Being Scammed

SCAM #1 – A caller says they are a contact tracer and you may have been exposed to COVID-19 and asks you to pay for a test kit.

  • Contact tracers will not ask you for payment.

What to do? Do not give any payment information to someone who calls you on the phone.

SCAM #2 – Calls asking for your PIN, password, personal information or a payment.

  • Your bank will not call you and ask you for your PIN number or password.
  • IRS and Social Security Administration will not ask you for payment or personal info over the phone. Government agencies usually handle issues like this by sending a letter.
  • The number shown on caller ID can be manipulated, don’t take that as a sign that a call is legitimate.

What to do? Whenever you are in doubt, hang up and call the bank (or company) directly using a number you already have for them.

SCAM #3 – Email asking you to click a link to verify your personal information or share your password or PIN.

  • Be very suspicious of emails asking you to click links.
  • Scammers are very good at creating official looking emails and webpages.

What to do? Whenever you are in doubt, go directly to the website (not using the link in the email).

SCAM #4 – You see an offer online telling you to send them some money and they will double it or a pop-up ad says that you have won a great prize and just need to give them your information.

  • When something sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

What to do? Do not give your personal information or any money to people you don’t know.

SCAM #5 – You receive a call and you are told to stay on the phone while you go transfer or withdraw money from the bank and if you don’t you will be arrested or your bank account seized.

  • They are using the idea that this is an urgent situation to make you act quickly without thinking to avoid the consequence they have told you.

What to do? Do not follow their instructions.

Whenever you are in doubt, do not do as the caller or email asks. Check with your host parents or community counselor.

One other note: It is very important to keep your social security number private. There are very few situations where you will need to share this (bank, IRS, motor vehicle agency). Those are times you are taking an action and need to provide it. There is not a legitimate time where someone would be calling you on the phone or emailing you asking for that number.

Image: Canva.com

Halloween

Halloween is fast approaching! There are many ways that you can make this time fun and interesting for both you and the children you care for! COVID might change how we celebrate, but there are lots of ways to have fun at home with each other this season!

philip-james-flickrAu Pair in America has captured a wonderful array of projects you can work on together. You can find them on our Halloween Fun Pinterest board! Try making a collection of glowing pumpkins using jars from the host family’s recycling! You’ll need clean jars, liquid glue, orange tissue paper, some paint, black construction paper or cardstock and a strand of lights or battery operated tea lights.

mootsie

If you have a collection of plastic pumpkins for trick or treating, place them on a shelf or table and dress them up! Baseball hats, party hats, tiaras, fire fighter hats, pirate hats and more will help you create a fun display! Dig through the dress up collection for some great options or make some of your own with craft supplies!

Check out the Pinterest board for some great ideas like

Photos by Philip James and Mootsie