Category Archives: Fun Things We Do

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.

 

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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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C’est La Vie – Au Pairs Celebrate France at Crêpes A Go Go

An annual favorite, Au Pairs from Potomac all the way north to Frederick, MD gathered together to enjoy a variety of French crêpes at Crêpes A Go Go in the Kentlands.

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Au Pairs who completed their year in July or August received their completion certificates and offered advise: “Communicate with your host family”, “Make lots of friends”, “Travel whenever you can”..

5079It was a scorching evening but the feelings of Au Pairs getting to know new friends and saying goodbye to old was warm.

                 A bientôt mes amies!

bon voyage

Spartan Race a Great Milestone for Au Pair from Poland

Magda was 18 months into her 2nd year as an Au Pair, when she heard about the Spartan Race in Blue Mountain, PA from a friend.

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Muddy crawl under wires.

She decided that would be a super goal and an accomplishment to aim for as she finishes her two years in Potomac, MD.  So, Magda and her friend trained every day for at least half-a-year to be ready for the Race.

“It’s a 5-mile race total and it involved so many things: jumping walls, climbing ropes, monkey bars (I don’t think there is a word in Polish for these…). We had to go on our stomach in the mud under wires, and in the end we had to jump over fire!”

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Hauling rocks up and down the hill.

When asked how long it took to complete the race, Magda replied “About 3 hours because it took a while to do some of the running: up and down one hill we had to have a big, wooden board on our backs. For another we had to fill a bucket with rocks and carry it up and down the hill.”

It was one of the best things she has ever done she announced. “It was so cool – I got a medal too!  I want to participate in this in Poland also.”

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Magda running over fire at the finish.

Victoria beams: “As a Counselor for more than 16 years, Au Pairs like Magda always makes me SO proud.  I see Au Pairs reaching for the stars…setting goals and accomplishing them.  I encourage my Au Pairs to create a Vision Board at the beginning of their year to pin-up their photos of their goals (academic, travel, athletic, social etc.), and the board can remind them what they came to America to achieve as the year unfolds.”

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Magda is an all-around winner

 

Magda departs her current Host Family on Tuesday for a trip out-west before returning to Poland. Both her Host Family and her Counselor, get tearful thinking about saying goodbye. But Magda has goals, and we all know that wherever she is, she will achieve whatever she puts her mind to.

Community Counselor Has Reunion with Au Pair in Italy

Milan is a beautiful city, and that is where Victoria Paton, Senior Community Counselor in Maryland and Sara Canclini were reunited.  Sara had recently finished her year in Victoria’s cluster and returned to her family and work in Milan. As Sara had been too busy saying goodbye to friends and her host family before her departure from the US, she had not had a chance to receive her completion certificate for her amazing year with a wonderful family in Avenel (Potomac) where she cared for 2 school-aged children.ry%3D400

Victoria, who was visiting Italy for work and pleasure, decided to present the certificate to Sara personally – in Italy..in the Piazza del Duomo So they arranged to meet on the steps of the Milan Cathedral and, in the company of Sara’s friend (and hundreds of on-lookers/tourists), acted out a formal certificate presentation. Italy shopping

How fun it was to catch-up over a cappuccino and to spend some time strolling the beautiful streets of Milan!

Au Pair in America places  many Au Pairs from Italy. These young women excel in childcare, have strong English skills and are skilled drivers.Firenze

So it was a great treat  to return to Milan and Florence to become more familiar with the culture and life of the Italian people…and her Au Pairs.