Category Archives: Fun Things We Do

Smithsonian Folklife Festival

The Annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival will take place June 29-July 4 and July 6-9. 

The Annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival is an international exhibition of living cultural heritage. This year will be the 50th anniversary of this popular event. Attracting more than one million visitors yearly, the two-week long celebration is the largest annual cultural event in the United States.

The Festival is held outdoors on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., between 7th and 12th Streets and inside the Arts & Industries Building. There is no admission charge. Visitors should dress for hot and humid weather. Parking around the Mall is extremely limited, so visitors are advised to use public transportation. Smithsonian is the closest Metro station to the Festival site. L’Enfant Plaza, National Archives, and Federal Center stations are within a half-mile. For general Smithsonian visitor information, http://www.si.edu/Visit or call 202.633.1000 (voice).

Festival hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., with special events taking place most evenings beginning at 5:30 or 7 p.m. View the schedule here.

I highly recommend that you visit their website to plan your visit http://www.festival.si.edu/

Preventing Dehydration in Hot Weather

Dehydration means that the body lacks the necessary amount of fluid. Infants and small children are more likely to become dehydrated than older children or adults, because they can lose relatively more fluid quickly.

Here are some steps to take to make sure children remain hydrated in the summer months:

  • Encourage your child to drink plenty of water. On hot days, children should drink significantly more water than usual, as they are losing more due to the heat.
  • Do not wait until your child is thirsty to give him water. By the time they feel thirsty, they are already becoming dehydrated.
  • If your child is resistant to drinking enough water, have other liquids on hand for your child to drink throughout the day.
  • Be alert to changes in behavior. A child may act confused or more irritable when they are becoming dehydrated/overheated. Get them into cooler temperatures and drinking more fluids.
  • Dress your child in lightweight clothing in the summer months, particularly if she’ll be playing outdoors in warm weather. You may also consider clothes that are well ventilated as they do not trap heat close to the body.
  • When there are heat and/or air quality advisories because the weather is dangerously hot, you should avoid taking the children outdoors. Check with your host parents for further guidance on this topic.

Remember to follow these tips for yourself too, so you stay well hydrated.

Photo: Darwin Bell (Flickr)

We LOVE Our Au Pairs Awards Dessert Party 2017

Momina from France

Over 50 Au Pairs came to the Kentlands Community Center in Gaithersburg, MD on Friday night May 5th to be “Guests of Honor” for an Awards Dessert Party to celebrate THEM.

Claudia from Spain

 

Victoria says: “This is, by far, one of THE best Cluster activities of the year. We all get so close. Other Au Pairs listen and applaud each other’s accomplishments. I’m so proud.”

After an hour of mingling, making friends and just relaxing together, the formalities began.

Andrea, from Costa Rica, is almost at the end of her year…and is going to miss her Host Family so much

Melisha from South Africa “Most Stylish Au Pair” laughs with Franzi from Germany and Elise from France.

Each Au Pair was called up one by one to receive her award, designated by her Host Family, specifying an area in which she excels.

The ceremony included presentation of a printed certificate as well as a lovely red rose and a quick, souvenir-pose with Senior Community Counselor, Victoria Paton.

Victoria has been the Counselor for Potomac, Bethesda, Cabin John and Glen Echo full-time for more than 17 (amazing!) years… Serving 65 Host Families and their Au Pairs annually.

Awards included “Best Lullaby Singer”, “Most Thoughtful”, “Best Listener and Cheerer”, “Most Willing to Help All the Time”, “Best Math Tutor”, even “Best Penguin Whisperer”…clearly an inside joke with Host Family and Au Pair!

Mariana from Mexico cares for 5 children…like a family member.

Cara from South Africa finishing her 2nd year.

Kerstin from Germany

Awards continued for each of over 50 Au Pairs: “Best Big Sister”, “Best Treasure Hunt Maker”, “Best Polish Pancake Maker”, “Most Stylish Au Pair”, “Best at Being Positive About Everything”, and “Best Baby Smile Maker.”

The award explanations were touching:

Nadine from Germany

 

 

“When I am home I can hear my little boy giggle and laugh with her…she treats my son as her own and loves him with an open-heart.”

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“This has been a difficult year with a grandpa’s illness but our Au pair remembers every piece of baseball equipment and sits through karate practices and cheers on our kids. We love her!”

Some were most heart-felt and  brought tears to all…

Nam from Thailand

Robin is doing her 2nd round as an Au Pair having been an Au Pair 2 years ago and is now back with a new family

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Every night at bedtime, our family sings an old, irish lullaby passed down from grandma. It’s always hard for Spanish speakers but our Au Pair has learned it well and sings it with gusto!”

“We, Host Parents, think our Au Pair is a great, calming presence in our home. She is great with the kids, engages them openly. She is reliable and unflappable.”

    

 

 

 

At the end of our evening, each Au Pair selected a red balloon and wrote on the paper attached her wish or dream for the coming year. Then we all went outdoors and let them fly into the evening sky. There was a light breeze so all but one made it past the trees and on to points beyond. For many Au Pairs, they had never done such a thing.

And finally, each Au Pair went home with a goodie bag of fun items…and a warm feeling in her heart.

And, least we forget, the GROUP PHOTO…what fun trying to get us all into the width of a lens!

Oh, what a night!

Holiday & Vacation Reminders

“Rest and be thankful.” – William Wordsworth

Holidays and vacations are a great opportunity to rest, recharge and explore the U.S.

Memorial Day Weekend is the unofficial start of summer travel season. Here are some reminders about program rules regarding holidays and vacations.

Holidays

  • Host families are not required to give au pairs any specific holidays.
  • Each host family will make different arrangements on holidays, some au pairs will be off and others will be required to work.
  • Au pairs should not make plans for holidays without checking with your host family first.

Vacations

  • Au pairs earns 2 weeks of paid vacation during the course of her year.
  • Vacation time should be mutually agreed upon.
  • All vacation should be preplanned (at least 4 weeks in advance.)
  • All au pair’s friends and/or family visits/vacations should be pre-approved prior to purchasing tickets.
  • If an au pair travels with her host family, it should be discussed in advance whether this is the au pair’s vacation or if she is working.
  • If an au pair travels with the host family to work, the host family is required to pay for her transportation, lodging and meals.

Important: If an au pair is traveling outside of the U.S., she must have her DS2019 signed (travel validation) PRIOR to her departure from the US. More information about this may be found here on the Au Pair in America website.

Photo: torbakhopper (Flickr)

Helping Young Children Learn Language

Being an au pair is an important role in a child’s life. When you are caring for a young child up to 45 hours per week, there are lots of opportunities to help them learn language. Many host parents are eager for their children to be exposed to foreign language. If this is true of your host parents, you can try the suggestions below, in both English and your native language.

Below are a few tips to start with, for more ideas, check out Ready at Five.

  • Read – Read to them daily, point out pictures and ask questions. Even if they can’t answer the questions, this is still modeling conversation.
  • Talk – Point out objects around them, names of their body parts, explain what you are doing and places you are going. Long before babies can speak, they benefit greatly from being spoken to.
  • Sing – You can sing childhood classics or make up your own silly songs. If you are looking for song ideas, HERE is a great website with lists of songs, lyrics and links to YouTube videos* of the songs.  Children’s music is also available at the public library and even on iTunes.
  • Words – As children move from toddlers to preschoolers begin to point out written language.
  • Writing – Toddlers and preschoolers can begin to learn pre-writing skills by drawing with crayons or doing finger paints.

*The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no screen time for babies under 18 months of age. For children 18 months to 5 years they recommend no more than 1 hour of high quality content. You can play the songs on youtube for the audio and not necessarily show the screen to the child.

Photo: Quinn Dombrowski (Flickr)

Handling Expenses

Host parents often ask for suggestions on how best to handle common expenses that occur as au pairs are caring for the children.

Miscellaneous Expenses

There are different ways to handle the little day to day expenses that come up.  Things like when an au pair takes the kids out for ice cream or picks up a gallon of milk.  Some families keep a cookie jar fund, a little cash that they set aside weekly or monthly for these types of expenses. Others give their au pair a prepaid debit card for this purpose. Below are some suggestions for avoiding problems with expenses.

Host Families

  • It’s important to be clear about how long this money should last and what types of expenses are approved.
  • Let the au pair know whether or not you expect receipts.

Au Pairs

  • Only spend the money on approved expenses.
  • If it is something you are not sure about, ask first.
  • Put your receipts in the cookie jar in place of the money to avoid any confusion.

Gas and Fare Cards 

Host families are responsible for the au pair’s transportation costs: to and from classes, cluster meetings and when driving the kids.

It is a good idea to figure out how much gas an au pair will use for these trips and either put gas in the car or give a gas allowance.   If your au pair is riding to classes or cluster meetings with another au pair, you should offer to share the cost of gas.

Au pairs are responsible for their own transportation at all other times.  You should replace the amount of gas used for personal use.

Photo: Andrea Travillian

Au Pairs Get Certified at MEGA American Red Cross Class

On a chilly Sunday, 35 Au Pairs traveled from all over the DC Region to become certified by the American Red Cross in Infant/Child CPR & First Aid.

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Au Pairs from Thailand work as a team to remove blockage from baby’s airway.

The class was offered free of charge to Au Pairs by Au Pair in America and was hosted by Connelly School of the Holy Child in Potomac, Maryland.

Baby AnneAll the young women care for small children every day as Au Pairs and they realize the importance of these lifesaving skills. They were at full attention for 5 1/2 hours for hands-on practice, lecture and videos depicting real-life  situations.

View a video of this class as the Au Pairs learn to rescue a “choking baby”.

Frank and his team from Red Cross supplied 20 “Baby Anne” dolls which permitted hands-on practice with realistic chest compression and chest rise as well as life-like nose pinch for mouth-to-nose ventilation. The “Baby Anne” dolls also were realistic to react to foreign-body airway obstruction through back blows and chest-thrust

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Elise from France and Sabrina from Germany, who had never met before, became fast friends as they tended to each others’ “wounds”.

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A good-spirited Au Pair from Colombia volunteered to be an accident victim bandaged by our class instructor in a  lesson on bleeding and broken bones.

 

marta

Marta from Poland worked with Nam from Thailand to “stop bleeding”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 35 Au Pairs from South Africa, Colombia, Thailand, Brazil, Germany, Poland etc. now are officially certified by the American Red Cross for 2 years, and received a large, lapel pin to wear with pride.

 

Bravo to these young women who voluntarily gave up their free time on a Sunday, to increase their childcare skills!

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All eyes on Frank from American Red Cross as he demonstrated what to do for a bloody or broken nose.

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Victoria’s Cluster Had a Very Krispy Kreme Christmas 2016

Oh what fun it was to spend an evening with the great young women in my cluster from all over the world having laughs with each other and sharing the holidays!

This is the 16th Au Pair Christmas Party for Victoria Paton, the Senior Community Counselor for the Potomac Shoreline Cluster of Au Pair in America (Potomac, Bethesda, Cabin John and Glen Echo, Maryland who says “It is very important for me to make Christmas special for my Au Pairs as it may be their first time ever to be away from family at the holidays”.

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Kerstin from Germany and Julia from Brazil share the holiday spirit

We all gathered on a Friday night for lots and lots of donuts at Krispy Kreme in Rockville, Maryalnd who were great hosts and very interested in the fun the Au Pairs were having.

Each Au Pair signed in, selected a holiday hat, dropped a pre-wrapped gift into a Santa’s sack,  and settled in for laughs and activities.

The Grab Bag game with Mr and Mrs. Wright (Right/left game) was a giggle.  Some Au Pairs were surprised that the gift they pulled from Santa’s sack would go right and left several times before they received the package she could open.

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Nadine from Germany loved her stocking

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Maddie from S. Africa will enjoy her Starbucks card

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Nam from Thailand opened a fabulous JCrew broach.

 

 

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Melisha from S. Africa said she really needed those fluffy mittens

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Marlies from Austria and Anna from Poland critique their over-head drawings.

We even had an ugly Christmas outfit competition won by “Miss Thailand” who was dressed as a Christmas Tree complete with pine cone, dangling earrings!

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Daria from Poland is dreaming of a wonderful Christmas in America!

 

 

 

 

 

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Seshnie and Shantal are sisters in our cluster from S. Africa and they did a fantastic job with tree decoration. Both are in their 2nd Year.

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Jenny and Nicki (who also has a sister in our cluster) from Germany and Shantal from S. Africa decorated trees for the 2nd year! Judit just arrived Thursday night from Austria and Seshnie is about to start her Year2.

 

Lastly, Au Pairs decorated several small trees to be raffled off and taken home to decorate an Au Pair’s room at the holidays.

Au Pairs Prepared for Winter Driving with Special AAA Class!

Just in time to be ready for the cold temps and possible snow soon to arrive to the DC area. Au Pairs in Victoria Paton’s and Imelda Farrells’s clusters met last week at the Cabin John Volunteer Fire Department for a class on Winter Driving with AAA Mid Atlantic (and former police officer) Joe Beddick.

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The 60 Au Pairs learned about preparing a car for winter driving, clearing car of snow, going slow etc.

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After his talk, Mr. Beddick, showed some very real videos about what happens when drivers are distracted by phone or texting etc., reminding them that it is illegal in the state of Maryland.20161129_200517

At the end of the meeting, Counselors raffled off prizes such as snow melt, snow scrapers, hand warmers, gloves, shovels etc. for Au Pairs to keep in their cars…just in case.

Brrrrr!!

Bethesda Big Train Baseball was a BIG Hit with Au Pairs!

IMG951936What could be more American than baseball in the hot summer sun?  Many Au Pairs joined Victoria Paton and Imelda Farrell for a Friday evening of minor league baseball with at a Bethesda Big Train game.af9690593ed42c34a078b1fa42b8899d.300

Au Pairs were treated to dances with the mascot. A few took home t-shirts that were shot into the audience between innings.

 

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