Monthly Archives: September 2014

Make elephant ear cookies!

African bush elephant

Elephant Appreciation Day

Elephants are the largest land animals. There are Asian (or Indian) and African elephants – the two look slightly different. Can you find the differences? Younger children may enjoy reading books with elephants in the story such as the classic “Babar” series by Jean de Brunhoff or“But No Elephants” by Jerry Smath. Older children (ages 6 and older) would be interested in facts about elephants and learning about conservation of the endangered Indian elephant. Find out how the circus is trying to help at http://www.ringling.com/cec/.

Finish off the day with Elephant Ears, a sweet pastry available at many bakeries. If you like to bake you can try these at home. It would be safest for children to not participate in the deep frying, but they would enjoy mixing the ingredients and kneading the dough.

Elephant-Ear Cookies

  • 3 egg yolks
  • 1 egg white
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/2 teaspoon cardamom
  • About 3 cups sifted flour
  • Shortening or vegetable oil for deep-frying

Beat egg yolks and white and combine with water, milk and, cardamom. Gradually stir in enough flour to make a soft dough, turn dough out on a lightly floured board, and knead until firm, smooth, and glossy. Cover and let stand for 2 hours. Divide into balls the size of small walnuts. Then with a rolling pin roll each ball out as thin as possible, 3 inches in diameter and cut into rounds. With the fingers gather one side of the round and press dough together into a tiny handle 1/3 inch in length and thickness. The remainder of the circle should flare out like an elephant’s ear. Place the cookies on a cookie sheet and keep them covered with a towel to prevent them from drying. When all the dough is ready, heat oil, to a depth of about 1 inch in a shallow frying pan to 375 degrees. Fry the cookies a few at a time in the hot oil for about 30 seconds on one side, then turn and fry the other. They should not be allowed to brown much. Remove and drain on absorbent paper. While still warm, sprinkle generously with confectioners’ sugar. Store in a tightly closed container in a dry place.

It’s National Sewing Month!

Introduce your children to sewing. Children as young as two and a half would have fun stringing beads, cereal with holes in it or round pasta to make necklaces or bracelets. Take a piece of cardboard and punch holes for a three or four year old to sew with yarn. If there is no large plastic needle in the house, try dipping the end of the yarn in glue to make it stiff. Find special sewing projects for school age children and teens on this website: http://www.sewing.org/index.html.

It’s Grandparents Day!

National Grandparents Day

Take some time today to make a surprise for Grandparents Day, celebrated on the first Sunday after Labor Day. This is not a widely celebrated holiday, but most grandparents would still appreciate being remembered and would particularly enjoy a homemade gift or card. Work with your children to create a simple but special surprise. Use a photo of the child or the child and the grandparent to make it even more special.

It’s Classical Music Month

Classical Music Month

Children of any age will find classical music soothing. Try playing music at mealtimes, before nap, when children are playing quietly or drawing or even in the car. There is some classical music designed specifically for children like Peter and the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev. Listen to the music and read the story of Peter and the Wolf with illustrations. It is a wonderful introduction to symphony orchestra instruments.

Do you have a library card?

Library Card Sign-Up Month

Most libraries will give a child a card to borrow books as soon as the child can write his or her own name. What a thrill to check out books themselves! Be sure to keep track of the borrowed books and their due dates as this part of using the library is a grown-up responsibility.

Find out more about the local library at  http://www.librarypoint.org/

Feeling homesick?

heart hand by

Almost everyone experiences culture shock when they come to a completely new environment. Everything is different: the language, the food, and the people.

Here are my Top 5 Tips for Dealing with Homesickness

1. Make Friends – Don’t wait for other au pairs to reach out to you, reach out to them. There are other lots of new au pairs who are feeling the same way you are right now. Set a goal to reach out to a few of them each day. Some will respond and some will not. Don’t let that discourage you. No one will ever be mad at you for sending them a message to say hello or ask if they want to do something together. Make friends from various countries and you will also get a chance to practice your English skills together.

2. Stay in touch with your home country, but not too much. Skyping or talking on the phone every day with your family and/or friends back home normally makes homesickness worse. Try emailing instead and reduce the Skype and phone calls to once a week, until you feel stronger. It’s much harder seeing the faces and hearing the voices of those you miss.

3. Get out of the house (or your room specifically) – Go to cluster meetings, have coffee or movies with other au pairs, join a gym, go to the library, go for a walk, visit the mall, get a manicure, visit a museum. If someone invites you out, say “yes.” Also, don’t be afraid to do the inviting. If your host family invites you to do things with them, say “yes.” This will help you get to know each other and contribute to your overall happiness.

4. Realize that it definitely gets better – All au pairs experience homesickness and nearly all of them stay and have a successful year (some stay for two years.) So, it must get better, right? Once you get past the initial homesickness, most au pairs report how quickly the year goes by.

5. Make Plans – Create your own Au Pair Bucket List (places you want to go, new foods to try, new things to experience during your year in the U.S.) and start doing them now. Post on our cluster Facebook group to find others who may want to join you on your adventures.

Photo by:  Shimelle Laine (Flickr)

Do I work on holidays?

desenhocsThe public school children will be off several days in September and October. These are regular workdays for an au pair, unless your host parents tell you otherwise. As with any “school holiday” start making plans for activities with the kids now.

In addition to holiday in September (Labor Day & Rosh Hashanah,) many public schools are also out additional days for teacher development and the end of the grading period. As with any holiday, it is up to the host family’s schedule whether you will have the holiday off. Please check with your host families before you assume you have this day off. Do not make any travel plans until you have received confirmation that you will not work on this day.

Host parents, please check your schedule to make sure that you are factoring in these hours and make adjustments as needed to stay within the State Department regulations not exceeding 10 hours per day or 45 hours per week (or 30 hours her week for Educare.)