Category Archives: Fun Things We Do

St. Patrick’s Day in the US

St. Patrick’s Day is a pretty popular holiday here in the US. It’s not much like St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland, which I understand is a pretty typical religious minor holiday. Here, it’s mainly an excuse to have fun.

Many Americans wear green on March 17th, and at some schools the other kids will pinch you if you don’t. There will be parades and parties, where people eat corned beef and cabbage and soda bread. In Chicago they dye the river green.  Here in the Twin Cities, we kind of go nuts. I’ve been told that more people claim to be Irish in St. Paul than in Ireland, although I don’t know if that’s true. Both Minneapolis and St. Paul have parades.

Kids enjoy the fun too, learning about leprechauns and four leafed clovers and that kind of thing. You can also plan an Irish lunch or dinner for the whole family. Here’s a link to a page with craft ideas and recipes: http://spoonful.com/st-patricks-day.

St. Patrick’s Day celebrations are much more American than Irish, so don’t expect too much green food if you ever do spend it on the Emerald Isle. Just sayin’….

St. Valentine’s Day

Hey – Valentine’s Day is just around the corner! Are you ready?

In the United States, kids almost always celebrate some form of Valentine’s Day. At my school, we are calling it Friendship Day, but it will be otherwise the same as it was waaaaay back when I was in elementary school: kids will bring little cards for each other, and they will be exchanged at a party toward the end of the day when most serious learning is done. Generally, children are expected to bring something for everyone if they bring anything, so no one gets hurt feelings. Even in preschools, this ritual is carried out.

You may have seen the boxes of Valentine’s cards in Target or Cub recently. They are inexpensive and easy, and they are what almost everyone will give out. Some of the kids will tape a mini-candy bar to the envelope to add that special touch. But if you have time, or if you don’t need 32 cards by Friday, think about handmade valentines. They can be so much more meaningful. You could work with your kids to make a card that represents your own culture. If you feel like doing something personal but not for dozens of kids, think about making something special for the teacher.

Our Pinterest Valentine’s Day page http://www.pinterest.com/aupairinamerica/valentine-s-day/ has a TON of ideas on how to make this a truly special day.

Some background about Valentine’s Day: Valentine was a 3rd century Roman saint who died on February 14th. That is all that we know for sure. There have been many legends built up supporting him as the saint of courtly love, but none of them appear to be in any way factual. Feb. 14th is a feast day for Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans, and Eastern Orthodox religions. However, in the US Valentine’s Day has very little to do with religion. It is a day for giving flowers and chocolate, and going out to a fancy dinner with the one you love. Lots of people get engaged on this day. But for kids, it’s usually about giving and getting cards and maybe some candy.

Try to inject the spirit of love and kindness into everything you do, every day, but particularly on Valentine’s Day!

Winter Olympics

The Olympics are almost here! When they changed it so the Winter Olympics and Summer Olympics would be staggered, so there would be one every two years instead of both every four, I didn’t like it, but now I really do. And with so many Minnesotans participating in the Sochi Olympics, it’s going to more exciting than ever.

My au pairs always go to a Gopher Women’s Hockey game every year, so they should recognize some of the names.

My aupairs at a U of M hockey game

My aupairs at a U of M hockey game

If you are looking for ways to make the Olympics more meaningful for your kids, Activity Village has some cool ideas: http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/winter-olympics

One of the reasons people get au pairs is to introduce their kids to other cultures, and this is a ready-made way to expand on that. Do they ice skate in Brazil? Ski in South Africa? Play hockey in Thailand? Now is the time to find out. You can have an atlas or a globe handy so you can show kids where the different countries are. You can devise your own ‘games’ and have each kid pick a country to represent (the au pair should probably represent her own country to avoid conflict.) Or you could explore Russian culture and cuisine, in keeping with the host country.

Whatever you do, you won’t be able to escape the Olympics this month, so you may as well enjoy it!

Super Bowl Sunday

The Super Bowl is the annual American Football championship and a popular time for friends to gather in front of the TV. Each year millions of people watch the game, the half-time show – or just the commercials! People will be talking about the commercials for days. To learn more about football visit the “Life in the US” section of the Au Pair in America website http://aupairinamerica.com/resources/life_in_the_us/football.asp
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Camp Au Pair

We have a great set of ideas for au pair ‘day camp’ suitable for all ages. They are organized around various themes, such as “Under the Sea,” “Cars and Trucks,” and “Dinosaurs.” The most current one is “London Olympics,” which is a great way for families to use the cultural exchange aspect of the au pair program to see the Olympics in a whole new way. Go to http://pinterest.com/aupairinamerica to see all of the great ideas! You don’t need to be a member of Pinterest to use this link.

Halloween

Halloween is a great time to share the United States culture with your au pair. Even preschoolers can paint a pumpkin (use washable tempera paint and clean up quickly) and older kids can carve pumpkins with guidance. Costumes provide lots of topics or conversation. And of course Trick-or-Treating is fun for everyone! Talk to your au pair about similar customs in her home country. She may have some great ideas – Mexican au pairs can share traditions around the Dia de los Muertos, for example.