Yearly Archives: 2016

Cultural Calendar

APIA offers many services to our families. One that I haven’t yet mentioned is our Cultural Calendar. This handy calendar shows the special days and times of year in a easy-to-read visual calendar. It will help your au pair better understand seasons and celebrations in America as well as provide a calendar for possible fun activities. We try to include activities that families an au pairs can use with all different ages of kids. For example, the October calendar includes everything from recipes to celebrate Cookie Month, to Le Courbusier’s birthday.

Take a minute every month, or just when you’re looking for things to do with kids, to check out our Cultural Calendar!

http://www.aupairinamerica.com/resources/calendars/index.asp

Infant and Child First Aid/CPR scholarship

Au Pair in America includes first aid training in our orientation, which all of our au pairs attend when they first arrive in the U.S. We also offer a scholarship which will pay for Infant and Child First Aid and CPR training through the Red Cross. We want all of our au pairs to be the most highly qualified in the industry, and we provide ongoing training to help meet that goal.

We also offer ongoing training quarterly during our au pair cluster meetings, and we have regular webinars for the au pairs on a variety of topics.

If you have any questions about this, please feel free to reach out!

Fall in Minnesota

There are so many fun things to do with kids in Minnesota! We have apple orchards, pumpkin patches, haunted houses (some of which aren’t too scary, but some are, so be careful!) beautiful drives through changing trees, football games, and all kinds of Halloween activities.

It’s also a great time for au pairs and families to talk about fall in other countries. Some places don’t even have fall! So this could be the only chance she has to see leaves change from green to red, orange, yellow, or brown.

Take a look around your community and see what kinds of things you can do, that you haven’t taken advantage of in years past. I bet everyone can find something new. Comment on your best idea of how to celebrate this amazing season!

State Fair Time!

I love the fair! I go (almost) every year. I go on the rafting ride, eat at least one ear of corn, go on the giant slide, get some honey lemonade, pick up a bunch of swag in the Education Building, pet a few animals, listen to live music — I know I’m forgetting something. Oh, yeah, Sweet Martha! Mini-donuts! Rides! Corn dogs!

If you haven’t been to our State Fair, you’re in for a treat. We have the biggest (in terms of daily attendance) and best fairs in the country. Minnesota has such a proud agricultural tradition that we in the metro might take for granted, but when you see 4H kids sleeping with their lambs, then crying when the lamb is sold, you understand how important this lifestyle is to all of us.

But it’s not all educational. Every kind of food you can imagine is sold at the fair.  They have live music on three different stages all the time. There is a parade every single day at 2. The art exhibit has some amazing stuff, and the home ec quilts blow my mind.

I hope every au pair gets a chance to experience the Great Minnesota Get-Together. It runs from August 25th to September 5th. Park and ride at area malls and wear comfortable shoes.

See you at the Fair!!

Back to School (cue ominous music)

August means back to school for many of us! Shopping, organizing, waiting to see what friends are in your class — it’s all a lot of kids can think about as August marches on. My kids always wanted to get their school supplies the day they hit Target so they could rearrange their backpacks over and over.

But it can be stressful for kids, too. They don’t want to waste any summer, and of course they’ve already wasted a lot of it. They don’t know if their new teacher will like them, if they’ll make any friends, what if it’s too hard…

The change in schedule can also throw everyone off. Even though families try to keep routines in place over break, let’s face it, my kids were always up later in the evening and getting up later in the morning. They recommend that you make kids get up at school time for a week or so before school starts so they aren’t too groggy to learn in class. Good luck with that….

It is a good idea to discuss all the changes with the family before they happen. This especially includes your au pair, who may not be familiar with your before-school routines, packing lunches, etc. Everyone should sit down and talk about what will be different and what will be the same in September. Particularly if the au pair’s schedule will be changing – give it to her in writing so she definitely understands!

I hope everyone has a fantastic year in school!

APIA ongoing au pair training

Au Pair in America is committed to providing the best possible childcare to your family. Au pairs get ongoing training in childcare and related topics throughout their year, both at their monthly cluster meetings and in online webinars.

Webinars are scheduled roughly every week throughout the year. Recent topics have included things like:

  • Toilet Training 101
  • Activities to develop speech and language in young children
  • Managing play with more than one child

Recent cluster meeting child care focuses have included:

  • Severe weather safety
  • Swimming safety
  • Getting ready for back to school

Au Pair in America has a scholarship for any au pair who wishes to get certified in Infant and Child First Aid and CPR. This is in addition to a thorough training in first aid and CPR at our Orientation program, which is the gold standard in the industry.

 

Summer Fun

It’s getting to be that time, isn’t it, when kids start to whine about being bored. Personally, I haven’t been bored in about 25 years, but kids, you know…

If you’re looking for ideas on things to interest kids, Au Pair in America has a Pinterest board with great ideas for themed ‘Camp Au Pair’ weeks. Each week has a variety of ideas for activities for children of all different ages and interests. Some of the themes are Outer Space Week, Backyard Beach Week, Dinosaurs Week, Kids Cooking Week, Cars and Trucks Week, Pirate Adventures Week and Olympics Week (especiallly fun this year!.)

Printable Flag Handprint Wreath - great activity to gear up for the Summer Olympics:

The APIA Pinterest Boards can be found at APIA Pinterest Boards and you don’t need to join Pinterest to browse through them. We also have boards on many other topics of interest to parents and caregivers.

Enjoy our wonderful summer!

Swimming Safety

It is absolutely important to keep kids safe by the water. That means NO using cell phones, NO running inside “just for a moment,” and NO getting so caught up in conversation that you aren’t watching them 100% of the time. If you are swimming with little kids, you need to be within arms reach at ALL TIMES and if the child is too little to swim you must be touching them at ALL TIMES.

Even big kids can get in trouble. This link is something I shared a year ago, but it’s so important I want to share it at least once a year. We think we know what it looks like when someone is drowning and we are WRONG. Please take the time to read this. It only takes a minute for a child to get in trouble in the water and this could literally help you save a life.

http://tinyurl.com/kd8mltf

Minneapolis Aquatennial 2016

The Aquatennial is coming! Minneapolis celebration of summer is a little shorter this year so make sure it’s on your calendar so you don’t miss it! There are all kinds of fun family-friendly events including the Torchlight Parade through downtown Minneapolis on 7/20 (with a Family Fun Night beforehand at Loring Park,) the Twin Cities River Rats Waterskiing Show on 7/21, the crowning of the Queen of Lakes on 7/23, and the Target Fireworks Show on 7/23. The fireworks show is considered one of the top 5 fireworks shows in the country!

Get the scoop on all the fun at http://www.aquatennial.com/events/13575815_10153511532731876_6057849803309567395_o

Au pair extension program

Au pairs come on a 12 month, J-1 visa. If they complete the requirements for their first year, they can extend with the program for up to a second year. This can be great for families who want to have the continuity of two full years with the same person. No learning curve!

Au pairs can choose to change families for their second year, instead of staying with their first family. This is generally because they would like to experience another part of the US. Their host family writes a recommendation for them and their profiles become available to families seeking a new au pair.

Second year au pairs can work out very well for families. The au pair has already gotten through the worst of any homesickness, and she understands exactly what the job of an au pair in the US is. They have probably been driving in US traffic, and their English has improved. Some families really enjoy these benefits. The only drawback is that the au pair can’t extend again, so it’s not for families who are looking for two years with the same caregiver.

You can see mini-profiles of many of the au pairs interested in extending by going to http://www.aupairinamerica.com/aupairs/available_year2.asp