Family 1
Greetings
and welcome, we hope to introduce ourselves and to give you a picture of what a year with us might be like. We are a busy and happy family of a father, mother and 2 girls. We
are hard working and informal in how we relate to others. Our eldest will be
14 in July and she will start high school (9th grade) this fall at a new school.
Our youngest will be 11 in May and she will start middle school (6th grade) in the fall. Both girls are even tempered, get along well and love to dance, swim, stay active and make friends. They are hard-working students who get good grades.
My husband is a salesman and I am an executive for a bank.
We
are a long term Au Pair family – if you come live with us, you will be our fourteenth au pair. We have been very pleased with the au pairs that have helped us raise and look after our kids. We value having someone who can make the kids feel welcome and secure at home, and the kids love having
a friend they can relate to (and who they can stay in touch with after spending a year with us). We also ask that you exercise adult responsibility and draw boundaries for the kids if they push the limits! Our childcare requirements are easy – both girls are in school most of
the day and both are good about taking care of their schoolwork. For the past
year though we have not had an au pair, and everyone in the family misses the closeness and comfort of having someone around
the house to help out and keep things moving.
We
live in a hilly town 20 miles east of San Francisco. Our town is very quiet and
rural, but there is good train service just a mile away, making it easy to get to San Francisco and other popular areas in
the evenings and weekends. It takes about 25 minutes to get to San Francisco.
Over
the past 2 years my husband has taken some time off work to improve our property – we now have a vegetable garden, hot
tub and small pool, a small volleyball / basketball court and lovely hillside yard with lawns and great views. We enjoy being outside and being active. A typical weekday
begins for the children at 6:45am. We (the parents) are usually up and dressed
by then, and usually leave between 6:30 and 7:30. The children might have breakfast
with us, but more often our au pair wakes them up and makes their breakfast. She
also packs a snack every day. The girls will get home between 3 and 4pm but sometimes
the au pair will need to drive them to and from school and any after school activities.
As our au pair you’ll provide childcare just a few hours a day, but you will also be responsible during the week
for washing the girls’ sheets and towels and overseeing that they keep their rooms tidy.
You will also need to see that the girls do their chores and share the household cooking. We like to spend the weekends with the children so you will usually have the weekend off.
We
like all kinds of music and we like encouraging our girls to be creative and aware of other people and cultures. One of the reasons we have enjoyed having an au pair over the years is that we like having a broad perspective
on the world and we think exposing our girls to other cultures is a fun way to do that.
We very much want someone who is friendly, easygoing and especially likes to laugh, but also understands that Americans
work hard. We really need someone who can take responsibility and make sure the
household runs smoothly. We look forward to a fun year and making a new friend!
Family 2
You might say our family
was formed from a series of cross-cultural exchanges, so it’s only natural that we continue the trend with an au pair. When my husband and I met he hardly spoke any English.
We have now been married for 5 years and have a beautiful 2 year old daughter and another daughter who is due in May. We want to provide them with the opportunity to experience at least two languages
and cultures. My husband speaks to her in French and I speak to her in English
and we sing and read to her in both languages – an au pair will enrich that experience.
We live in a suburb of New York City. It is a safe, family-oriented neighborhood with several young children and a big community of au pairs. We live within walking distance of the train station – it takes 29 minutes to
get to New York City. Right now I work in New York and am happy to loan our au
pair my train pass so she can go into New York on the weekends for free. We have
renovated our basement so it is perfectly set up for the comfort of our au pair. There
is a separate entrance and a separate bathroom for her private use. She also
has her own TV (with cable) and her own living room. Of course, she is free to
use any part of the house, but we understand that sometimes she will want privacy and her own space. As a family we enjoy walking, going to the beach, going to the movies and eating good meals.
Our daughter is the light of our lives. She is two years old (she will be three in December) and is extremely smart, completely adorable and very
loving. But, like any two year old she can be stubborn and has just discovered
the word ‘no’ – which she is happy to use! She loves to sing
and dance, loves animals and loves to give big hugs and kisses to the people she loves.
Naturally, that includes our au pair! I don’t think she understands
that she will become a ‘big sister’ in a few weeks. The most
important thing we are looking for is someone who loves babies and has experience in caring for infants and toddlers, and
who will be eager to give our daughters all the love and attention that we would give them if we didn’t have to go to
work. We are looking for someone who is mature and responsible, and can handle
the often-challenging task of caring for two children. This person is extremely
important to our family. She must be patient and kind and sweet to our children,
and she must be level-headed enough to be able to deal with any type of emergency that may arise.
As two people who have lived in other countries we understand
what it is like to be far away from home and will make every effort to make our au pair’s stay here fun, comfortable
and not lonely. We have hosted two au pairs and many international guests
in the past, and we will be happy to show her around. We will treat her as part
of the family, not as an employee and we would respect her privacy and cultural differences.
In short, I think we would be a great host family and I hope that we can find a great au pair.