Au Pair in America Host Families
Home
Au Pair in America Host Families
APEX Host Families

Introducing........Au Pair in America host families!

Block

Family 1

 

Hi!  We’re happy to welcome you into our home.  You would be our fourth au pair taking care of four daughters.  We’ve had au pairs from Australia, Thailand and the Ukraine.

 

Now let’s talk about the children.  Our eldest daughter is 12 years old and in the seventh grade.  She enjoys playing soccer, basketball and wants to try volleyball this year.  She can be shy and quiet but also loud and excited like a teenager.  She also tries to make everyone happy around her.  She manages to do everything herself and likes her independence.

 

Our second is 10 and is in the fifth grade.  She loves to read and do whatever her big sister is doing.  She also sings, plays the piano and plays soccer and basketball.  She’s very outgoing, loves to talk and would be classified as a typical girl.  She loves fashion and dressing up.  She’s a very charming girl with big blue eyes.

 

Our third child is 6 years old and in the first grade.  She loves to talk – oh, does she love to talk about anything!  She also loves to read and do homework, just like her older sisters at the kitchen table.  There isn’t anything she won’t try; tell stories, play, dress up, try to sing you a made up song, dance or draw you a picture.  She is very loveable and has the craziest stories.  She loves to jump on the trampoline, have a tea part, shoot hoops outside, dance and sing songs in a circle.  She’s a charmer.

 

Last but not least is our 3 year old.  She is the only one home when her sisters are off at school and she loves it.  She gets all your attention and clings onto it.  She loves to be read to over and over again.  She also likes to play tea party and play with her stuffed animals.  This one you have to watch very closely as she is very curious and wants to know where are at all times.  This one has her Mom wrapped around her finger.

 

Now, let’s talk about Mom and Dad.  We both enjoy doing everything with the kids.  We try to rotate who gets to go to what games since their sports can overlap.  We like to camp, swim and travel, attend parties and go to amusement parks with the kids.  We live in a four – bedroom, comfortable and very busy household.  We love sharing our family experiences with anyone who wants to join.  We live in the country on 16 acres with a pool and trails for walking.  It may seem like we live away from the rest of the world but the nearest town is two miles away and the area has shopping malls and movie theaters aren’t more than 20 minutes away.  We also have two colleges that are convenient to our location.  Your duties would consist of helping the children with breakfast and make sure they brush their hair and teeth.  You would also help make their lunches.  We eat out about two times a week so not every day would there be dinner to make – and don’t worry, the dinners are very simple.  When we get home we all, or some of us, eat together and then you’re free to do what you want.  You will have your own bedroom.
 


Family 2

 

As you prepare for your year abroad in the United States, we are sure one of the key questions you have is “who is this family with whom I will be living?”  We hope this letter gives you a bit of information on us and puts your mind at ease!  We’re an active family full of love and joy!  We live in Ohio, in a neighborhood of about 900 families, 15 miles outside of Cincinnati.  We have had the good fortune of having 4 au pairs whom we have loved getting to know.  We look forward to meeting you!

 

Our youngest is a bright, athletic loving boy.  He loves school, friends, animals and sports of all kinds.  This past year he played soccer in the spring, swam on the competitive swim team in the summer and played American football this Fall.  This Winter he is planning to play basketball and is involved in Boy Scouts. 

 

Our daughter is a strong student and enjoys sports and friends.  She is sometimes with new people or places until she gets to know them.  Once she does she’s talkative and funny.  She is very reliable and is a good friend.  She also loves to stay active and plays sports year round.  She loves to do girl things too!  Both of the children go to school in our neighborhood school just 5 blocks away.  On warm, sunny days they walk or ride bikes but on rainy cold days, you would drive them.

 

I work at a global company based in Cincinnati and am a Director of Marketing.  I grew up in Kentucky, where my parents still live.  It’s only 3 hours away so we see them often.  My husband is a partner in an architectural firm.  He grew up in New York. 

 

So, what is our typical family week?  Monday through Friday we are on a very tight schedule.  Parents are up by 6:00am and the kids by 7:00am.  The kids are at school from 8:30am to 3:20pm.  After school they need a snack and need to do their homework.  Somewhere around 6:15pm we get home and throw dinner together quickly.  We try to eat around 6:45pm.  Typically Friday night we order in pizza or we go out to dinner.  Saturday morning can be hectic or leisurely, depending on the weekend sport schedules.  One or two Saturday evenings a mo nth my husband and I have social plans with others.  Sometimes we hire a babysitter and sometimes we would ask you to babysit (provided it’s within your 45 hour a week work limit).  The other Saturdays we rent a movie and have a family movie night. We try to eat dinner together as a family as many evenings as we can.

 

We think we have a wonderful, loving home with a lot to offer someone wanting to know more about America and we also have the desire to learn more from you.  We look forward to this new adventure!

Block

Family 3

 

We are a family of five – myself and my husband and the three children aged 19, 16 and 13.  Our eldest attends University in Toronto.  His younger brother will also move to Toronto University in September 2007.

 

My husband and I hold full time executive jobs, which require us to travel and the two younger children are in local public schools.  There are no special needs for them except that of an active, engaged adult to be with them for after school activities and to help keep the home operating smoothly in the evening before we get home from work.

 

We have had au pairs for the past 6 years, three from Germany, one from South Africa, one from Romania and one from Poland.  Our relationship with our au pairs is one of mutual respect and friendship.  We have always treated them as family members and have found the au pair experience to be fun and rewarding.  We would like our future au pair to participate in family activities, but also to take advantage of the au pair network and to take advantage of the area’s attractions in order to continue or to build new interests.  Over the past couple of years we’ve had three of our previous au pairs return to the US to stay with us for a few weeks’ visit, which was fun for our family and for them.

 

We’re an active family and enjoy local activities, as well as visiting the many historic and educational attractions in the area between New York and Washington.  Our au pairs have made many trips to New York with us and on their own.  The family takes part in golf, tennis and swimming in the summer and our daughter takes piano lessons throughout the school year.  The au pair’s duties will include taking her to her after school activities during the week or picking her up or taking her to school.  We have a large house with many living areas including a finished lower floor with a private bedroom and bathroom for the au pair and live in a semi-rural residential area about 15 minutes from Wilmington, Delaware and 45 minutes from Philadelphia.  We have a car set aside for personal to help the au pair get around.

 

The kids are academically bright but do need a little help with homework or with staying on track with studying.  We try to limit the Internet and TV access in the evenings after school.  We have high-speed access to the Internet and find that our au pairs like to keep up with email with their friends from home and this is encouraged in their time off and in the evenings.  Our au pairs have also invited family and friends from their home country to visit for a week or so, on.

 

Our au pair has weekends off, from Friday night to Monday morning.  General weekly responsibilities include taking the children to their activities, preparing the evening meal, general help in the morning and some housekeeping chores.  We are very much looking forward to meeting our new au pair.  We will make every effort to ensure that we provide an educational and fun stay in the United States!

 


Family 4

 

We have three children, ranging in age from almost 4 to 9 years old.  Our older child will turn 10 during the summer.  She is a super helper with her younger brothers and is interested in art, dance and animals.  Our eldest son is 7 years old and enjoys sports, reading and playing.  Our youngest will be 4 years old in March and tries to keep up with his big brother and sister.  He likes to play with legos, trucks and blocks and to help with cooking and the play outdoors.

 

We live about 30 minutes outside of New York City in a suburb called Mamaroneck, New York.  My husband works for a bank in NYC and works relatively long hours with lots of travel.  He is British so we consider the au pair program a great way to help our children understand other cultures and to learn about other languages, foods and customs.  My children have enjoyed learning about Austria, Germany, Canada and South Africa and even learned a few words of German.  Our previous au pairs enjoyed the easy access to NYC, as well as the east coast of the U.S. including Boston and Philadelphia.  The museums, shopping, travel and Broadway seem to fill the weekends.  We consider the au pair to be part of the family and include her in travel and other activities.

 

All three children will attend school during the school year and summer day camp at our nearby beach club.  The au pair’s responsibilities include helping out with the driving to and from classes and school, supervising play dates, organizing arts and crafts and game playing, reading to the children, helping with dinner, the children’s laundry, packing lunches for school, baking cookies and other simple errands for the kids.  We need an au pair who is comfortable cooking because we do eat dinner together as a family almost every evening.  I will ask the au pair to prepare salads, cut up vegetables, help clean up after dinner and other tasks associated with meals.  We have a big playroom, a swimming pool, a big swing set and lots of books, games, puzzles and toys for the kids.  The au pair has her own bedroom with attached bath.

 

The most important qualities for us in an au pair are kindness, patience and tidiness.  We are looking for someone to nurture and play with the children.  I am a stay-at-home Mom so I am generally around and really just need an extra pair of hands so that each child gets a lot of love and attention.  Having an au pair allows me to pick kids up at school or do other errands while the other kids are at home playing or involved in their various activities.  It’s also important that the au pair understands that she does need to be able to drive every day with up to three kids in the car.

 

Block

Family 5

 

We are a young family with a 7-year-old son and 4-year-old daughter.  We come from close, caring families and hope that you will help us create a loving environment for our children, contribute to our family in other ways and learn about life in America.  First let me explain a little about who we are, our home and community, and then what we expect of our au pair.  Hopefully this will help you understand what it will be like to live in our home for a year.

 

Our children are the stars of the show in our household.  Our son is a very happy, energetic curious boy who charms everyone he meets.  We would like him to grow up to be courageous yet sensitive.  So far he is doing well.  He’s extremely affectionate and loves peoples.  He also loves science, computer games, music, reading stories, swimming and playing soccer.  He speaks and reads English very well for his age.  As we’ve had French, Spanish, German, Swedish and Portugese speaking au pairs he also enjoys learning songs and games in new languages. 

 

Our daughter was born in 2002 and is busy discovering the world at high speed.  She is creative and loves to dance and play at the park.  At times she can be quite girly, wanting to wear only pink but at other times she is quite a tomboy.  She is used to playing with 7 year old boys so is quite happy to wrestle, jump and play lego with the intensity of her older brother.  Both she and her brother love creative things – whether its painting and art projects, cooking or forts and construction projects.

 

In addition to spending time with the kids we enjoy family, friends, sports, music and cooking.  You would be welcome to join us on family trips to Vancouver where my parents live.  We’ve both traveled extensively and treasure our memories and our friends around the world. We have a 75-year old house in a beautiful neighborhood.  The house is two stories tall and has a view that overlooks the ocean and mountains.  The top floor contains our bedroom, one for the children and a bathroom.  Seattle is an amazing city.  It’s on the ocean, close to mountains, large enough to have big city events but still small enough to be civil and safe.  It also has a large selection of colleges, schools and adult education programs that will make it easy for you to fulfil your educational requirements.  We’re fortunate to live in on of the world’s most beautiful places.  We can be hiking or skiing in the mountains in 1 hour, or sea kayaking with whales.  All of this means you will have access to most cultural, sporting and recreational activities that you wish. 

 

We expect you to have high integrity, be very responsible and most of all, love and care for the children.  In exchange, we welcome you into our family and will share with you our customs, experiences and life.  Integrity is very important to us.  We expect you to be completely honest and respectful of our home and possessions, as we will be honest with you and respect your privacy and possessions.  This also means sharing your feelings if you disagree with us or feel homesick.  We offer you a place in a family and a city you are sure to enjoy.  As a family, we enjoy summer barbecues overlooking the ocean, traditional holidays like thanksgiving and Christmas and local trips to visit friends and family.  We hope you will enjoy your new year in your new home!