Family 1

Hi!

Our family lives in New Jersey, in a cul de sac that leads onto a large park with a pool, tennis courts, baseball fields, basketball court, playground and sledding hill! The main floor of our home has an eat-in kitchen, dining room, living room and office. The next floor has our bedroom and bathroom and our daughters' bedrooms and bathroom. The top storey has our au pair’s bedroom and bathroom. The finished basement includes our son’s bedroom and bathroom, as well as an entertainment area and laundry room. Outside we have a big deck with barbeque, cooking and eating area, plus a lawn and garden.

We are an intercultural couple. My husband is of Mexican-American descent and I’m of Irish-Scottish. We kind of compliment eachother, with my husband being more reserved and me being slightly more direct. We’re also career people. I work in marketing and my husband is a lawyer at a major firm. The loves of our lives though are our children.

Our eldest is 18 and is finishing up high school in the summer. At the moment he’s waiting to find out where he will be going to College/University. He’s bright, energetic, outgoing, friendly and easy to get along with. He’s a great sportsman and plays the guitar.

Our eldest daughter, who is 15, is still tomboy and little lady, equally pleased by rolling down a grassy hill and dressing up for special events. She’s really sharp and incredibly curious with a great sense of humor. She too is good at sports. She’s also really into her books and reading. She loves people and talking with them.

Our second eldest daughter is 10 years old with boundless energy and is interested in everything, particularly maths and science. She has a plan for everything; she's very helpful, eager to please and get things accomplished.

Our youngest is 9 years old. She’s a great runner and climber. When she’s not active her nose is usually buried in a book. She also does well at school. She has great comic timing, is open, relaxed and gets along well with everyone.

We have had au pairs in our home for over 14 years. They have been wonderful, brining new worlds to our children and to us. We make them part of our family and us part of theirs. We and our children have gained a better understanding of our world, benefiting from exposure to different languages, cultural approaches and cooking! Our au pairs have had an enriching American experience, being involved not only in our family life, but also the many educational opportunities this area offers and the easy access to New York City’s many offerings. We look forward to our next ‘au pair year’ with great aniticipation!

Family 2

We are a happy, busy family with two healthy, joyful boys. Our eldest is 4 and our youngest is 2 years old. We’re very family-oriented and enjoy spending time with our sons and extended families. We’re lucky to have immediate family near us. My husbands mom, dad and sisters all live nearby. My parents and brother don’t live too far away and we visit them often.

Our family enjoys swimming at our community pool, hiking in the nearby parks and biking. We visit museums now and then and we occasionally go to the theatre. The Entertainment and Sports Arena is just a few minutes from our house and we enjoy hockey games and concerts there often. We also enjoy spending time with our friends and neighbors either at their homes or ours.

Our eldest son is very bright, articulate and fun. He loves preschool and it’s the highlight of his week. He loves to read books, take walks outside, play with cars, trains and airplanes and do art projects. He’s very independent, he likes to do things for himself and he loves to learn. Our youngest likes to have fun playing with different toys or with his big brother. He loves to laugh. He’s content, but will also let you know when he’s not happy about something. He has really started to talk a lot and it’s so much fun to watch him learn. When he doesn’t want to do something he says “no thank you”. It’s very cute!

I usually start the day with breakfast and some playtime. Our current au pair then takes over by doing activities with them in the morning. Sometimes they go for adventures, which might be going to the bakery for a treat or to the park for some fun. While the boys are at school the au pair can do laundry or other activities related to the children. Around 5pm I take over and the au pair is free for the day.

We think having an au pair as part of our family will provide us not only with the quality in-home childcare we’re looking for but the additional opportunity for our family to be exposed to a new culture while sharing our own culture with a young person. As our children grow, exposure to new cultures is key to their understanding the world. This unique situation has helped us learn about other cultures in depth. We’re looking forward to that experience with our new au pair. Our home is in a suburb of the North Carolina state capitol, Raleigh. We have two major malls nearby and many restaurants, museums and theaters. There are also several parks where you can hike, bike, horseback ride or picnic.

Family 3

Our family can be described as typically Californian. We live in a suburban community about 20 minutes east of San Francisco Bay. Our community is quiet and reserved, which provides a nice environment for a new family with easy access to the interests of San Francisco. As a family we enjoy taking advantage of the sites and events that a major city like San Francisco provides as well as skiing and other outdoor activities that are available in California.

We are recently married and are enjoying the new experience of raising our 9-month-old son. We’d like to provide him with all of the experiences and diverse opportunities that are possible in this area. As he’s very young the most important responsibility of the au pair will be to nurture, care for and provide a safe environment for him. She’s not just a babysitter – for a full year she will be his second mom and she’ll have a significant impact on his life and development. We’d like the au pair to entertain and help our son by reading, playing music, playing games and taking him for walks and outings to the park, to the library and to think up new and creative activities (these will be important towards his development).

The most important job is to take care of him. This allows him to play and learn in familiar surroundings of our own home and neighbourhood. He will have the security of a new family member who can devote full attention to him – someone who enjoys participating in his daily growth and development. We are hoping to eliminate hectic weekday mornings getting everyone ready for the day. In addition we would like the au pair to help when an unexpected event (e.g. a late meeting) comes up.

It will be great if the au pair can enrich our son’s life by sharing knowledge of her home country’s language and traditions.

Family 4

We have been a host family to eight au pairs from around the world. We started the program in 1999. The program has been very successful for us and we plan to continue in that success. Our current au pair is in her second year with us and we adore her. We live in Long Island in a modest home with four bedrooms and two bathrooms. Both my husband and I work in New York City. We have a very busy lifestyle in the office and at home. Our children, aged 16, 13 and 7, have many friends in the neighbourhood. Our eldest doesn’t really need supervision. We also have three dogs.

We have a fairly large backyard with a large pool. The children enjoy swimming very much in the warm weather. Our son takes part in soccer and our daughter in gymnastics. They each go to a different school and leave at different times. When they get home the first thing they do is homework. We put a great deal of emphasis on education and reading. We enjoy friends and entertaining on the weekends. Regarding your responsibilities, help with the laundry and loading and unloading the dishwasher is primary. The girls will help keep their room clean but need guidance or a push.

Our daughter is very sweet and very headstrong. She does try hard at her studies. She’s very easygoing and as a multiple year host family have learned a lot about including our au pairs into all aspects of our family. We also respect your privacy and independence. We welcome an independent person and someone who is strong minded and flexible.

I hope you have learned a little about our family through this letter. Hope to see you soon.

Family 5

In 2003 we saw the birth of our first child. He’ll be 4 years old when our new au pair arrives. He’s bright-eyed and generous, with a strong vocabulary. We’re very lucky to now have a second son, who is 1 and a half. He’s a very happy child – quick to smile and laugh. My husband and I are both 40 years old.

Our extended family of brothers and sisters is fairly small so we have always included people who would otherwise be ‘friends’ as our family as well. It’s typical for us to have people over for dinners on the weekends. We hope to be more inclusive, welcoming and open. The idea of an au pair was introduced to us by friends that have had wonderful experiences over the past several years. They described the opportunity to build a relationship with the au pair, include her in family activities and help her to enjoy the experience. We’ve also met every one of their au pairs and saw first hand how positively the experience affected everyone involved. We genuinely believe that the au pair program represents an approach that would both fit with our lifestyle and would allow us to contribute to the experiences of our au pair.

Our experience with our current au pair has been wonderful. She has grown a great deal while she has been with us and you can tell that a healthy bond has developed with the children. We really enjoy her company too.

On the weekends we like to put our jobs aside and enjoy time with the family. We’re both fairly even-keeled, happy and jokey. We’ve just finished renovating our home, in which the au pair will have her own bedroom and separate full bathroom. Our neighbourhood offers many shops, cafes, restaurants and galleries. Our family rarely watches TV and prefers to do other activities. We have friends in Washington, D.C.and Michigan who we visit often. The au pair will always be welcome to come with us. We don’t look to the au pair as a babysitter and separate from ourselves. Rather, we hope to help the au pair have a great year here in the U.S as a member of our family. We expect that she will be scheduled Monday to Friday from 7:30 to 16:30. She will have evenings and weekends off. Very rarely may we have to change the schedule.