Family 1

We are pleased to welcome you into our family.  We want you to feel comfortable in our home and in your role.  Our jobs keep us busy and you will play an integral and important role in taking care of our two daughters.  We see ourselves – parents and Au Pair – as a team.  We are both very committed to our family.

We live in a town in Illinois, which is approximately a 30-minute train ride from Chicago.  We live in a three-bedroom house on a tree-lined street.  Our town has an active downtown with shops, restaurants and several museums.  Downtown Chicago is accessible by train and there are lots of other au pairs nearby for you to meet up and go out with.  Chicago has lots of interesting and fun places to go including Navy Pier, the Art Institute of Chicago and Millennium Park.  It has a beautiful lakefront on Lake Michigan where the city provides incredible activities throughout the year.  Chicago is also one of the friendliest cities in America.

Many of our neighbors are families with young children and there are a few other families in the area who host au pairs.  We are both attorneys and, through our jobs, we encounter a variety of personalities and we have learned to be open to new experiences and have enjoyed sharing our experiences with others.  We know you will have places you want to go with your friends so we will schedule this with you as we need you.  This is our fifth year in the Au Pair Program.  We are excited to have you join our family.  We like having someone live in our home to care for and play with our children during the day while we are at work.  We hope we can provide you with an understanding of America and our customs.  We hope you will enjoy playing with our children and that you are excited about joining our family.  We have learned that mutual respect and communication are important in maintaining a successful relationship with an au pair.

Our family activities typically involve going to the zoo (there are 2 great zoos in the Chicago area), museums, local parks or swimming pool.  We also enjoy playing outside with our girls and other children in our neighbourhood.  Our daughters are 5 and 7 years old and their weekly activities include artwork, playing outside, singing songs and reading stories.  We would expect the person who comes to live with us to continue these activities.  We expect our au pair to interact with our kids to make sure they feel loved and cared for.  We would enjoy having you join us for dinner and we will either cook dinner or eat from a restaurant most nights during the week.  We eat a wide variety of foods including meat, fish and chicken and try to eat mostly healthy foods.

We have three cars so that we have an extra car for you to use for school and your activities.  You will have your own bedroom with a television and computer with Internet access.  We are looking forward to having you join our family!

Family 2

We are very excited to participate again in the Au Pair in America program, as we know it will be a rewarding cultural exchange and valuable educational experience for our children, the au pair and us.  My husband and I have been married for 6 years and we have 3 boys aged 4, 3 and 1.  We feel having an au pair join our family will provide us with a rewarding cultural exchange while being able to augment and improve the level of care that can be provided to our children.  We think our children will get a rewarding cultural exchange by being able to interact daily with an international au pair who will bring a different background and perspective to our family.

Both of us have professional jobs.  My husband is a partner in a small consulting firm and his company’s office is based in Miami, so he has a home-based office.  He also travels on occasion both within and outside of the U.S.  I work in an office that is located 5 minutes from our home, and I typically work less than 45 hours a week.  We live in the metro Atlanta area in a part of town that is close to city life but feels more suburban.  We have a four bedroom, two bath house with full basement.  Our au pair would have her own private room and bathroom.  We have joined a swim and tennis community in our neighbourhood, which provides us with access to tennis courts and a swimming pool.  We would provide our au pair with a membership so she could use the workout facilities and take classes on her own time.

We’d expect the au pair to drive the children to and from their day care center four days a week.  On these days she would be responsible for getting them up, preparing their dinner and getting them bathed and ready for bed.  On the remaining one day when the au pair was home with the children, we would help her schedule the day to include fun outings like going to the neighborhood parks and the zoo.  We want to provide a diverse childhood experience for our children in traditional educational, travel, sports and cultural pursuits, although we do not expect the au pair to share all of these interests.  We would also value the input of the au pair and welcome any suggestions she may have.  Since this is our second experience with an au pair, we feel we are prepared to provide her with what she needs to have a successful and rewarding experience during her stay. 

Family 3

Where do I begin?  My first thoughts are to tell you about our beautiful daughters.  Our eldest little girl will be 8 years old in May.  She’s your typically highly energetic little know-it-all.  She has lots of interests, but most importantly she loves to be with people – always.  She loves to play with her friends anytime, anywhere.  She loves to read and has been a cheerleader for the past two years.  She’s also a ‘brownie’ in the Girl Scouts program.  Every year we try different activities.  She will be entering 3^rd grade in September, but at the moment the school bus picks her up at 8:30am and returns at 4pm.

Our youngest is a very happy toddler, full of bounce and laughter.  She has only just this month turned 3 years old.  She talks a lot and pretty well, and she is also good at understanding what’s happening around her.  She obviously will have crying bouts but really doesn’t have many tantrums.  I’d definitely like our au pair to truly love this age group.  It takes plenty of energy and patience from a loving person, especially with a 3 year old whom she will be with for most of the day.  But rest assured, she still naps, and Pre School starts for 2 days per week in September.

I travel to different places around New Jersey, New York and Philadelphia with work, but my main office is at home.  So sometimes I’m here; sometimes I’m not.  It changes everyday, but at least one of us, usually both, is home in the evenings.  We’ve had au pairs live with us for the past 5 years now.  We’ve always enjoyed having them here and it’s our hope that our au pair feels comfortable in our home.  Personally, I think she would thoroughly enjoy being with our children.  They’re always laughing and affectionate. 

Our au pair will have an upstairs bedroom with large windows and a peaceful country view.  The kids’ bathroom will be shared with the au pair.  An au pair that likes the country lifestyle would be a better fit that a girl that enjoys the city type lifestyle.  We enjoy a spacious four-bedroom home, with a large backyard, deck and built-in heated pool.  The au pair is also welcome to invite friends over, respecting reasonable weeknight hours and enjoy weekend gatherings.  I feel that once we’ve chosen our au pair and she’s in our home, she’s part of our family and we will do our best to make her welcomed.  She will be encouraged to talk with us about anything that is on her mind.  We feel it’s important to have as much communication as possible to keep things running smoothly.  Thank you for taking the time to learn about us.  We wish you success in whatever choice you make with your future.

Family 4

Greetings from the United States!  I know you must be very excited about your upcoming experience in America.  Let me tell you a few things about our family.  My husband and I are both professionals.  We have 2 daughters; one is 12 and the other, 8 years old.  Our eldest is in the 7^th grade and loves school.  She is very smart, outgoing and loves to swim, play tennis and play the piano.  She also loves to listen to popular music and write stories, and wants to be a journalist when she grows up.  She is an avid reader of all kinds of books, from 17^th Century English literature to Harry Potter.  Our youngest daughter is completing the 3^rd grade.  She, like her sister, enjoys piano and tennis.  She is quieter than her older sister, but loves to do puzzles, work in workbooks and play board games.  The two sisters are very close, and play very well together.  We have had Au Pairs live with us for 8 years so the girls are always excited about meeting new girls and learning about new cultures.  We have had au pairs from France, Germany, Latvia and Thailand.

We currently live in Scarsdale, New York, which is 30 minutes outside of New York City.  We moved here in June 2005 due to a job change for me.  It’s a beautiful community with lots of trees, large homes, great shopping and great restaurants.  There is a train that takes you into Manhattan, and we are also very close to Connecticut and New Jersey.  Our home is a 5 bedroom house, and the au pair room is on the first floor with it’s own bathroom, TV and DVD.  We have a large back yard and there are many parks in the area.  But the biggest advantage we have is being so close to Manhattan with all of the theatres, restaurants, musical and dance events and great shopping.  As you can imagine, our family life is very busy.  We absolutely adore our children and want the very best for them.  Education is extremely important and exposing them to different cultures, places and activities is also important.  We love to spend our weekends in the city enjoying the restaurants, museums and shopping.  We also use the bike paths around our home and the local swimming pool and tennis courts.  We take a few vacations a year, usually someplace warm with a beach or pool and lots of sightseeing activities.

Family 5

Hi!  I live in Easton, Massachusetts, which is a suburb about 30 miles south of Boston with my husband and our four children.  My husband is an engineer and works for a company in Boston. I am a Real Estate Attorney and have an office in the same town as our home.  Our town has a local college and several surrounding towns have smaller colleges. 

Our children are involved in many school and related activities.  Our eldest is 10 years old and attends school full time.  She is in the 5^th grade and also participates in after school activities of dance, swimming, gymnastics, skiing, cheerleading and softball.  Our 7-year-old twins attend the 1^st grade.  During the summertime they attend camp 5 days a week. 

The children’s other favorite activities include riding their bicycles and playing on the swings.  In the town where we live there is a place called the “sheep pastures” that has miles of hiking trails, but the best part for the kids are all the animals that are outside all year long.  I take them there a lot for picnics and to say hello to the sheep, pigs and cows.  On weekends we have a second home.  During the summertime we enjoy spending time there, where we go boating, water tubing and swimming.  In the winter we spend a lot of time skiing and ice skating.  We also travel to New York City about 4 times a year to visit other members of the family. 

We have been very lucky to have 4 four wonderful au pairs come to stay with our family in the past 4 years.  The girls have enjoyed keeping in touch via phone and email with our former au pair.  Three of our previous au pairs have been from South Africa so they have enjoyed seeing their first ‘snow’.  Our hope for an au pair is to bring a responsible, fun loving person into our family, who can handle a happy but sometimes hectic atmosphere, and at the same time take the opportunity to learn more about life in the United States.

I look forward to speaking with you soon.