Family 1

Here’s a little bit about us:

When you can get her head out of her book our daughter is silly, light-headed and bouncy! She loves reading and science experiments and playing with her sister and brother. She enjoys playing, learning games on the computer, playing the piano and helping Daddy in the kitchen. She loves nature walks and picking flowers, skiing and is about to start ice skating lessons. Six minutes older than her is her twin sister! Although she loves reading anything she can get her hands on her current favourites are the Harry Potter books. When asked what she wants our new au pair to know about her she said that she loves milk and oven fried potatoes (but not mixed together!) and her favorite color is green.

Our youngest is an enthusiastic pre-schooler – he’s always determined and usually knows what he wants. He’ll always tell you what he wants, but you won’t necessarily always understand him! He enjoys ‘reading’ books and having them read to him, playing with balls, going to the park and making ‘boy noises’ such as ‘vroooooom’ and ‘tooooot tooooot!’ when playing with his toy trains. He enjoys going to school, playing on the computer and riding his two-wheel bike with training wheels, dancing, singing and watching TV when Mommy and Daddy let him. Above all he’ll play for hours with his train set, creating all sorts of stories for the engines.

My goal is to be the best Mom on the planet. The kids are the most important thing in my life and I’m determined that they be raised in an incredibly loving and nurturing environment. In the past I’ve been a teacher and a consultant. Now I work from home so I’m home a lot to spend time with the kids. We’re usually out of the door early on weekdays. The kids are up and awake at about 7:15 and get ready for school. They get out at 3:15 in the afternoon and will sometimes have an activity to go to after that. My husband gets home and usually makes dinner, which we generally eat around 6:30. The kids are usually in bed by 9:30pm. We often take a walk to the farmers’ market on Saturday mornings, or go to a puppet show or the zoo, or some other activity with the kids. Sundays we usually do shopping with the kids and play in the park.

Washington DC is a great place both to live and to visit. It’s one of the most beautiful cities in the world – it really looks like it does in the pictures! The museums are superb and most of them are free. There are members of just about every culture in the world living here – you can be sure that wherever you’re from there will be lots of fellow countrymen around. There’s also lots of Universities here. We’re 20 minutes from two big airports, from which there are flights every half hour to New York City and many other places (we go there a lot). To sum it up you’ll be in a great city with a fun family and lots of new friends nearby. We’ve had au pairs since the twins were 4 months old and we look forward to welcoming a new au pair into our home.

Family 2

Our family consists of my husband, our three children and myself – they’re the coolest sons anyone could ask for in their own special ways. While they are all loving, kind, sensitive and active children, they each are unique in their own different ways.

Let’s start with the oldest – ironically he’s the biggest baby in the house but on the other hand is very sensitive and thoughtful. He’s also very social, outgoing, and athletic and loves to talk. He really has a good heart. His favourite activities are playing football and baseball. Our middle son is an interesting little guy. He’s the most gentle of the three boys and is very nurturing of everyone and everything around him. He’s just started Kindergarten this year and appears to be adjusting very well to full time school! Our youngest is the biggest character of them all. Of the three boys he is the most gregarious and aggressive. He’s hysterically funny – he’ll keep you laughing all day long. He really is like a comedian in training. There’s never a day that goes by that he doesn’t do or say something new to surprise us. He loves sports and anything that is extremely active.

During a normal weekday in our house everyone is up by 7:30am and in full gear. When the boys get home from school or camp they have a snack, do homework, take baths and get ready for Mom and Dad to come home and have dinner with them. Our au pair takes care of preparing all of the children’s meals and she washes their clothes. Our family has had wonderful opportunities to learn about other cultures. From our past au pairs we’ve learned a great deal about their hometowns and their beliefs. Both of our families have lived in the United States for many generations but we believe that it is important to raise our children to appreciate all of their cultural heritage. We would like an au pair with the same ideals.

We’ve lived in New Jersey for the past 9 years. It’s a great suburban community that sits just 1 hour away from New York City. There’s lots and lots of exciting things to do here and in the surrounding areas. We should also point out that the community is very diverse and our neighborhood is comprised of people from many different cultures – this makes for a rich cultural experience.

Our home is a single family house with three bedrooms and two bedrooms on the upper level. The main level has an office, living room, dining room and bathroom, kitchen and family room. The lower level has a private space for our au pair where she can enjoy a private bedroom with a walk in closet, a full size bed and full private bathroom. She also has her own telephone line.

I’d like our new au pair to know that for all of her hard work with our boys she’ll be rewarded with three children who fall in love with her, a host of wonderful experiences in the U.S. and the support of a host family that she can always count on! Her year or more with our family will leave a lasting imprint on the hearts of each and every one of our children and hopefully our family will leave imprints on her heart as well.

Family 3

Dear Au Pair in America

My family is seeking childcare for our two children. The family members include my husband, our 2-year-old daughter, our 4-year-old son and myself. My husband works in real estate and I work for an investment bank. My work schedule involves working from home on Mondays and Fridays.

Our family activities include going to the town pool in the summer, spending time with other family members, going to the park and occasionally entertaining. Our children are the most important part of our lives. We want the au pair who joins us to love and care for them as if they were part of the family. We’d need you to get them ready in the morning (dressed, fed, teeth brushed etc.) The duties also include doing the children’s laundry, bathing Jack, cleaning the children’s bedrooms and play area. The kids have very little experience with other cultures other than being cared for by their Argentinean au pair. Both my husband and I have some experience with various cultures through our professions and relationships.

We live in upstate New York. We have a separate family room and play area in the finished basement, along with the laundry area. The bathroom used by the au pair is shared with the children. There are two bedrooms upstairs where the children sleep. There are three bedrooms on the main level. The au pair will sleep on the main level. Cable TV will also be provided, as well as computer access. The town we live in is very quiet and quaint. It is a couple of miles to the Metro North train station and about a 45-minute train ride to New York City. The community has a wonderful Arts Film Center and there are other movie theaters within a few miles. There are many restaurants and several shopping centers in the town and neighboring towns. The town also has a library, video stores, fitness centers etc. There are various activities offered in the town for fitness, arts and crafts, dancing, tennis etc. There are also several colleges in the area.

We believe an au pair will have a wonderful experience joining our family. We hope you enjoy the next few months as you talk with many families and choose the one that is best for you.

All the best.

Family 4

Hi! We are Dad, Mom and little girl! We would love to tell you about our family and our home. We live in Maryland, just outside of Washington DC, our nation’s capitol. Our house is on the end of a quiet street, next to a small park with a playground, tennis courts and a soccer field. It is a short walk to the subway station for a 35-minute ride to downtown Washington. Our house is in the suburbs, but is a short subway ride (or drive) to downtown DC, which is full of museums, theaters and things to do. There are also several universities within a short drive from our house.

I’m a chemist and work a regular schedule, leaving the house at 7am and getting home around 6pm. In my spare time I like playing cards and other games. My wife is a doctor in a nearby Emergency Room. She works about 35 hours a week but her schedule varies. She sometimes works day, nights or weekends, but usually only four shifts per week. In her free time she likes running, swimming and knitting.

Our daughter is our only child. She is 4 and a half and is a terrific kid. She is very shy, but once you get to know her she is silly, smart and fun. She loves drawing and painting and making up silly songs. She dresses up like a princess to dance around the house or crawls around pretending to be different animals. She loves playing at the park and in the summer we swim at the local pool. She goes to preschool Monday through Friday from 9am to 3:20pm, except holidays and summer.

Our au pair’s responsibilities would include getting our daughter ready for school and driving her there, picking her up after school and playing with her until I get home. On the days my wife doesn’t work the au pair will do less than that. Her weekend responsibilities will vary but would probably include 4 hours one day and then one day off. About once a month I go out of town for 3 to 4 days so the au pair may be home alone with our daughter at night if my wife is at work. Our schedules are complicated and change a lot, which is one of the reasons we want to have an au pair. Because our daughter goes to school, the total work hours would probably be about 30 hours per week (closer to 40 in the summer). Our au pair must be a good driver. She will use our car to take our daughter places as well as for some of her own free time. She must be a non-smoker.

Our family is warm and loving, and our home has lots of space, including a separate downstairs bedroom and bathroom for the au pair. We are very open to other cultures and look forward to learning about the au pair’s home country and life.

We are looking for an au pair to join our family that is kind, responsible, loving and has lots of energy to play!

Family 5

Dear Au Pair in America

Please allow us to introduce ourselves – my husband is a doctor and has a bit of a demanding schedule, which often involves working in the evenings and most weekends. I’m an attorney specializing in personal injury. I have a more flexible schedule, working from home 3 to 4 days a week, with the remaining 1 to 2 days traveling to court appearances or on other matters. I do anticipate returning to work full time in the near future.

We have three children, two sons and a baby daughter. Our eldest is 15 years and is in the 10^th grade. He enjoys soccer and cross-country running. He goes to High School Monday through Friday. His school is about 1 mile from our home. He goes to a tutor three times a week in the evening after school (from about 7:30 to 8:30pm). We’re part of a car pool that takes our eldest and two other high school kids who live in our neighborhood to school each day. He’s generally self sufficient and our au pair may only need to occasionally help us with taking him to or from school or the tutor.

Our second son is nearly 2 and a half years old. He’s active, fun and has a great disposition. He goes to childcare/school 4 hours a day. He gets up around 7:15 each morning, gets dresses, eats breakfast and goes to school until 12:30pm. He then comes home and takes a nap from 12:30 to 3:30pm. In the afternoon our current au pair either takes him swimming, to the park, to the library, on a bike ride or for a walk. We would like to continue this level of activity with a new au pair. He eats dinner by 6:30pm and is in bed by 7:30. Our youngest is a little girl. She is now 9 weeks old. We plan to start her on some solid food in a few months.

We have a second home in Northern Michigan (a 4 hour drive away) that we travel to when our schedules permit and we travel every November for the Thanksgiving holiday. It’s imperative that we have an au pair who is comfortable and relaxed traveling with small children. We’re looking for an au pair who’s mature, responsible, patient, active, easy going and a good driver. Most importantly, someone who loves children and babies!