Au Pair in America Host Family Profiles

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Family 1

 

Our family has a Mom who is from England, a Dad who is from Chicago and four kids, aged 7, 4 and 3-year old twins.  It’s a busy household!!  We live in Old Greenwich, Connecticut.  Mum and Dad met in London, England and Mom comes from Yorkshire, in the north of England.  We moved to the US in 1996 as a transfer from work.  We both love to travel and took the opportunity pre-kids to travel to Asia, Australia, Europe and around the US.

 

Our eldest is 7-years old and has just finished 1st grade.  He is very athletic and plays soccer, ice hockey, baseball and tennis…and generally tries and loves every sport.  When we took him skiing this year, it wasn’t long at all before he was better than us!!  He is a very sociable easy going kid who gets on with everyone.  As a 7-year old I would say he is very responsible and always asks before eating everything.

 

Our second will be 5 in October.  He is starting Kindergarten this Fall so two of the kids will be off on the bus at 8:15am and home at 3:3pm.  He has a great sense of humor, is very engaging and most people think he is the cutest thing they ever met.  He also likes sports but is a bit more of a home body and likes to play with his younger siblings a lot too.  He’s a very relaxed child and will generally go with the flow. 

 

Our twins will be 3 in early September.  We say our twin son was born naughty.  He is more rambunctious than the other two boys but just as lovely.  He is a big kid for his age and loves to chase around after his big brother and is larger than life.  He likes to get into everything.  Our twin daughter is fairly quiet, very funny, plays nicely on her own and is not about to be ruled by her three brothers.  She holds her own and loves to chase around after her big brothers. 

 

I work full time at an investment bank.  I have worked there for 19 years, 9 in the UK and 10 in the US.  It’s a very demanding job and I have to work fairly long hours.  My office is based less than 10 minutes drive from home.  This is ideal for me as I am then only minutes from the schools, doctors etc. so that I can always be there if needed.  My husband has recently taken time off from his job (for a couple of years) to look after the kids full time.  He organizes the house and all the kids’ appointments and after school activities.  As you can probably already guess, due to the constantly changing demands of having four children in our household, we definitely need some help!  We felt having an au pair present in our house to share in the raising of a family of this size would be fun and a great way to teach the kids about other cultures!   

 

 

Family 2

 

We welcome this opportunity to tell you a little bit about our family.  We hope that after reading this letter you will want to come and spend a year becoming part of our family and our family history.

 

My husband and I were married in 1996 and lived in downtown Chicago for about 5 years.  In April 2003 our eldest son was born.  He is an energetic little boy who loves to play outside.  If we let him, he would love to live outside!  He likes to swim, ride his bicycle, play soccer and baseball.  He also likes to read, color, do puzzles, dance and play with his trains and trucks.  He adores his little brother and loves to play with him.  He’s looking forward to starting pre-school in the Fall.  Our youngest son was born in August 2004.  He’s a very tough little boy who loves to start trouble with his big brother.  He also loves to play soccer and baseball and is learning how to ride his tricycle.  He runs all over the place and loves his brother.  He wants to do everything that he does!

 

We are an easygoing family. Both my husband and I have very demanding careers but do our best to arrange our schedules so that we can spend as much time as possible with the children.  As a family, we garden, go for walks around our neighborhood with our dog and to the many local parks.  We enjoy going to the zoo and (as the children get older) to professional baseball and college football games.  Also, depending on the season, we like to go sledding, skiing (again as the children get older), swimming and play tennis.

 

Since my husband and I have such busy professional lives, you will often see us sitting down to work again after the children go to sleep during the week and on the weekend as well.  When the kids go to sleep and, when we can, we like to relax by watching movies, reading or playing cards or board games.  We both grew up in large families and will welcome you into our home as another member of our family.  As a family member, we will treat you with respect, we will be honest, with you and try to help you with problems you may have.  We will also include you in activities whenever we can and keep the type of foods you like in the house. 

 

You will be one of the most important members as the primary caregiver for the kids.  We look forward to meeting you!

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Family 3

 

Dear Au Pair,

 

Greetings from the family.  We have twin boys who will be turning 5-years old this September and starting Kindergarten this coming September.  We just learned that we are expecting a third child in early January 2007.

 

We live in Fairfax, Virginia, a suburb of the Washington DC metro area.  The school that the boys will be attending is within walking distance of our home.  There are many children in our neighborhood for the boys to play with.  Near the school and about 5 minutes from our home is the train station which connects to the metro subway system.  It’s really convenient for connecting travel within the DC metro region.  There are many shopping malls and points of interest in the area.  Washington DC has numerous museums, memorials and historical sites that are open to the public; many with no entrance fee.  There’s also many local colleges and universities.

 

Our twin boys are loving, fun, musically inclined and very active.  The boys need to play outside at least one and a half hours a day.  The boys get along well, share well with others, and have different personalities.  We limit the amount of television that they can watch, and encourage activities the involve the entire family.  The oldest twin loves to sing and draw and makes friends easily. He wants to be around people all of the time and has a great sense of humor.  The youngest twin loves to sing, create new stories at bedtime and is interested in the mechanical workings of everything around him. Both boys enjoy periods of quiet time to look at books, color or play on their own.  We are looking for an au pair that can contribute to their love of learning.

 

We are interested in finding an au pair who is willing to drive them to activities, do physical activities with them and has a sincere interest in children.  Our au pair should be responsible, dependable, physically active and enjoy outdoor activities.  We read to the boys every night and are interested in an au pair who also embraces the importance for education.  We will need our au pair to work 40 – 45 hours a week.  The typical schedule from August until March would involve getting the boys ready for school, making them breakfast and driving or walking them to school.  In March when the baby is 3 months old, I plan to return to work so the au pair would also have the baby in the morning and afternoons.  Our hope is that I will be allowed to work part time in order to arrive home earlier in the afternoon.

 

We look forward to talking with you and eventually meeting you.

 

 

Family 4

 

We know that whoever joins our family as an au pair will be happy! We are a very loving, in tact family who enjoy being together.  My husband and I have been married for almost 7 years now.  We are both 35 years old and have a zest for life that is infectious.  We are hardworking professionals, both of us currently work and live in Manhattan but, after the birth of our daughter 3 months ago have decided to move to the suburbs so our family can have more space and great public school education.  My goal will be to work from home 2 days per week and to be in Manhattan for 2 days per week for work.  I am off on Fridays.  My husband will typically be commuting into the city 4 days per week and working from home 1 day per week.

 

We are looking for an au pair who has similar educational background, someone is considering continuing their education in the future in a child related field would be appealing to us.  Our son is now 4-years old and is an absolute joy to be with. He always has a smile on his face and adjusts well to new situations and people.  He is the kind of kid who can “go with the flow”.  He recently became a big brother to our daughter and is very proud of this!  He’s very interested in her, loves to kiss her and try to make her laugh. 

 

Our vision of a good au pair is someone who is loving, caring and gentle with our children.  An au pair who is fun loving and easy to be around is crucial to us since this person will be a part of our family.

 

As my husband and I both work, we need someone  who can help us with day to day responsibilities such as help with dressing the children in the morning, preparing the children’s breakfast, help with the drop off and pick up from school, helping to prepare lunch and dinner for children, reading and playing games, crafts etc.  Swimming would also be helpful during the summer months and for family vacations.

 

We hope to be able to develop a warm, loving and respectful relationship with her, as we’re hoping that this relationship will be one of the most important for our children, our au pairs and ourselves.

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Family 5

 

Hello to our future au pair.  We are very excited to meet you, and for you to meet our new baby.

 

We are two professionals, who married last September and we are expecting out new baby boy any day now.  The baby will be 3 months old when I return to work, so an au pair who is experienced and comfortable with infants is an absolute necessity.  Our future au pair must be kind, loving, compassionate, trustworthy and well educated.  We are looking forward to welcoming you into our family and we think it will be a great place to be!

 

My husband and I both work varied hours so need live in help to care for our child.  My work schedule tends to vary, but our au pair will have her work schedule well in advance to plan her outside activities.  She will also only work about one weekend a month, so her weekends will be free to enjoy and experience the cultural opportunities of the area.  We live in an exclusive country setting around 48 miles west of New York City.  Our au pair will have a car available for her use and will be free to explore the area and New York City during her free time.

 

We live in a four bedroom, three bathroom home on 3 acres of land with a large inground swimming pool.  Our au pair will be free to use the pool at her leisure during her non working hours.  We are also close to many different shopping malls, movie theatres and restaurants.  In addition, we also own a beach home on Long Island beach and make frequent trips there.  We love the beach house and our au pair will be spending some time there with us as well, so a love of the ocean is a definite plus.  My husband and myself both have loving extended families and our au pair will always be welcome to join us in large family outings and get togethers.  Our home would not be complete without our pets – two dogs and two cats.  It would therefore be great if our au pair loved animals.  Our dogs are both big and loving and can’t wait to meet the newest members of our household.  Our cats are very friendly and tend to stay out of the way except for lots of petting now and then.

 

We look forward to meeting our new au pair and welcoming you to the USA and our family.