Tag Archives: Southern Maryland au pairs

What Does an Au Pair Actually Do?

 

Spencer Means

This is NOT a comprehensive list.  If additional clarification is required, please contact Cynthia.  The best matches follow the Host Family / Au Pair Agreement.

DO NOT negotiate outside of the State Department Guidelines.

The Au Pair’s top priority is the care and safety of your children –

everything else will be a lower priority!

Within Au Pair Program Expectations Outside Au Pair Program Expectations
Child Care Activities

  •  Wake children
  • Dress children
  •  Feed children
  •  Play with children
  • Prepare meals for children
  • Bath children
  • Keep children clean and safe
  • Organize play groups
  • Supervise homework
  • Care for children during travel
  • Grocery shopping as needed (shouldn’t be the sole person)

Light Child Related Housekeeping

  • Make children’s bed
  • Change/wash children’s sheets
  • Pick up toys
  • Straighten children’s room
  • Clean up kitchen after children’s room (sweep, Swiffer mop)
  • Straighten/organize playroom
  • Wipe down children’s bathroom
  • Wash/put away children’s laundry
  • Tidy up after children
  • Help in preparation and clean up of family meals or other activities

Flexible Schedule

  • Flexible schedule (at least one week schedule in advance needed)
  • Available for sick days, snow days, and holidays

Au pair’s total hours worked per week revised to reflect unexpected changes in schedule.

Driving

  • Drive children to and from school
  • Drive children to and from appointments
  • Drive children to activities

Treat your Au Pair as a Family Member –

 this is a Cultural Exchange Program!

 

 Housework

  • Mop and vacuum entire house
  • Scrub children’s bathroom
  • Dust entire house
  • Clean windows
  • Wash/put away laundry for adult family members
  • Housework unrelated to children
  • Prepare dinner for entire family daily
  • Pick up dry cleaning for adult family members
  • Housecleaning on Monday – if toy pick up and kitchen were left untidy by family over weekend
  • Sole responsibility for family chores:  garbage, recycling, mail, empty/load dishwasher, grocery shopping.

Au Pair Schedule

  • Hours can’t be carried over week to week

Work >45 hours per week/  > 10 hours per day for additional pay

Other Children

  • Request au pair to care for children not listed on the  APIA contract (family or friends)
  • Request an au pair to organize play dates with children she is not comfortable supervising  Parent of the play date friend should be available to au pair if needed

Pet Care

  • Request au pair to care for pets on “free time”
  • Request an au pair to train a
  • Request an au pair to care for pets over family holiday while she stays at the house

Age Limit

  • Request and au pair to prepare meals, laundry or chore for children over the age of 18.

Driving

  • Request au pair to serve as a driving teacher or serve as a responsible adult for non licensed driver
  • Charge au pair maintenance of car (Federal Mileage Calculation not applicable.

Au Pair should NOT be considered a Maid, Cook, Landscaper,  Domestic Servant or Pet Sitter

Cluster Fun – Frozen Yogurt & Community Service

This month we met at the Sweet Frog in Charlotte Hall for a sweet treat and some community service fun! We continue our partnership with Sending Smiles, a local charity that sends postcards to sick and injured children across the country! To date, they have distributed over 30,000 postcards to cheer up these sweet children! This is our third year partnering with them!

Au Pairs at the US Capitol!

This past weekend several clusters with Au Pair in America met in DC for a tour of the United States Capitol. This building is the most widely recognized symbol of democratic government in the world. It has housed Congress since 1800. The Capitol is where Congress meets to write the laws of our nation and where Presidents are inaugurated and deliver their State of the Union messages.

This was very exciting day for several hundred au pairs in our region as we received a very informative tour by our tour guide! Thanks to everyone that participated!

Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is a public holiday celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November every year in johnny-flickrthe United States. It started as a harvest festival and has been celebrated nationally on and off since 1789. The most important part of Thanksgiving for American families is to spend family time together. Here are some fun facts about this special holiday:

· The first Thanksgiving was held in the autumn of 1621 and included 50 Pilgrims and 90 Wampanoag Indians and lasted three days.

· The first Thanksgiving was eaten with spoons and knives — but no forks! Forks weren’t even introduced to the Pilgrims until 10 years later and weren’t a popular utensil until the 18th century

· Thanksgiving is the reason for TV dinners! In 1953, Swanson had so much extra turkey (260 tons) that a salesman told them they should package it onto aluminum trays with other sides like sweet potatoes — and the first TV dinner was invented

· Presidential pardon of a turkey: Each year, the president pardons a turkey and spares it from being eaten for Thanksgiving dinner. The first turkey pardon ceremony started with President Truman in 1947. President Obama pardoned a 45-pound turkey named Courage, who has flown to Disneyland and served as Grand Marshal of the park’s Thanksgiving Day parade!

· Why is Thanksgiving the fourth Thursday in November? President Abe Lincoln said Thanksgiving would be the fourth Thursday in November, but in 1939 President Roosevelt moved it up a week hoping it would help the shopping season during the Depression era. It never caught on and it was changed back two years later

· How did the tradition of watching football on Thanksgiving start? The NFL started the Thanksgiving Classic games in 1920 and since then the Detroit Lions and the Dallas Cowboys have hosted games on Turkey Day. In 2006, a third game was added with different teams hosting

· About 90 % of Americans eat turkey on Thanksgiving Day

· The ‘wishbone’ of the turkey is used in a good luck ritual on Thanksgiving Day.

Photo by: Johnny – Flickr

Thanksgiving – An American Experience

At Thanksgiving, we pause and express gratitude to others.  This year I want to thank all my au pairs and host families for the love and support they give each other every day.  I also thank each au pair for sharing with me and my family 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.

loren-kerns-flickr

I 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. I love the relationships that have developed that last after an au pair returns home. I am 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.” -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 hm’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 be with the whole family. 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 want to cheer football too and maybe shop on Black Friday!”

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

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

Photos by: Loren Kerns – Flickr, Cynthia Chan, Johnny – Flickr

Celebrating the 4th of July!

Known  as the Fourth of July and Independence Day, July 4th has been a federal holiday in the United States since 1941, but the tradition of Independence Day celebrations goes back to the 18th century and the American Revolution (1775-83). In June 1776, representatives of the 13 colonies then fighting in the revolutionary struggle weighed a resolution that would declare their independence from Great Britain. On July 2nd, the Continental Congress voted in favor of independence, and two days later its delegates adopted the Declaration of Independence, a historic document drafted by Thomas Jefferson. From 1776 until the present day, July 4th has been celebrated as the birth of American independence, with typical festivities ranging from fireworks, parades and concerts to more casual family gatherings and barbecues.

Washington, DC is a spectacular place to celebrate July 4th! The National Mall is the center of all of the Independence Day Celebrations in DC. There are events all day, beginning with a parade along Constitution Avenue and ending with a fireworks display over the Washington Monument.

Sara, a host mom in Maryland, has shared some links with information to help au pairs plan for the upcoming holiday.

Great list of local activities:
http://dc.about.com/od/specialevents/a/4thofJuly.htm

Getting to the National Mall & security info:
http://dc.about.com/od/4thofjuly/a/GettingtoMall.htm

The Capitol Fourth concert has a dress rehearsal on July 3, that while secure and crowded, is easier to attend than the concert on the 4th, as with July 4th, the gates open at 3:00:
http://thedistrict.com/sightseeing/events/a-capitol-fourth-4th-of-july/

A blog post that may be of interest:

http://blogs.rollcall.com/after-dark/washingtons-independence-day-patriotismpalooza/

Thanksgiving – American Experiences

At Thanksgiving, we pause and express gratitude to others.  This year I want to thank all my au pairs and host families for the love and support they give each other every day.  I also thank each au pair for sharing with me and my family 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.

loren-kerns-flickr

I 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. I love the relationships that have developed that last after an au pair returns home. I am 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.” -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 hm’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 be with the whole family. 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 want to cheer football too and maybe shop on Black Friday!”

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

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

Photos by: Loren Kerns – Flickr, Cynthia Chan, Johnny – Flickr

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American Experiences – Navy vs Tulsa Football Game!

15049940_10209475440234218_1080918765_nThis past weekend APIA clusters from around the DC area gathered at the Naval Academy in Annapolis for a football game – Navy vs Tulsa. Navy won 42 – 40. For many of the girls, it was their very first football game! Here are the thoughts of four young women who were at their very first game!

“I love how Americans make their love for football be more than just a game. Everyone has a team that represents themselves. – their state or their alma mater. Passion, proud, tradition and rivalries are some of the reasons why I got really excited watching a sport that I still don’t know all of the rules, but I wanna dedicate some of my time to learn about. Navy vs Tulsa was my first football game and I can tell how much it’s impressive, their love and being Navy! Once their team got a score, the Navy Academy had to do some push-ups in dedication. They were supporting, singing, dancing and vibrating all the time. During the break, the cheerleaders along with the band got in formation of the USA initials in order to show the proud of being an American.”                 – Brazilian au pair

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“It’s always good to see how Americans come together when it comes down to sport. It’s like for a minute they forget all their differences to enjoy the game. I love the unity.” – South African au pair

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“It’s totally different in my country, they are happy, enjoy the game and sing. In Brazil they just say bad words and fighting. I really liked to watch the game. I hope I can go again! -Brazilian au pair.

“The feeling to be there because the crowd  was really motivated so it was good to see that, how American people enjoy football!”     -Spanish au pair

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Mickey Mouse’s Birthday – Nov. 18th

Mickey Mouse was created in 1928!  Celebrate his birthday with Mickey Mouse pancakes: Follow the directions for mixing on the package. Heat a griddle or frying pan. For each pancake pour batter into pan in a large circle with two smaller circles at the top to make the ears. Cook until pancake is puffy and bubbles. Flip and cook the other side until golden brown. Use chocolate chips for the eyes.

ruth-hartnup