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For qualified childcarers.... meet our great APEX families
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Family
1
We are looking for a loving, responsible,
and creative person to help us take care of our children. We have two sons, the older one who will be 7 years old in August
and the younger one will be 2 years old in August. We are a healthy, happy family with no physical or mental disabilities.
Our youngest son is a very healthy,
alert, and friendly child. He is very friendly and outgoing, independent, laughs a lot, is easy to take care of, and is a
lot of fun to interact with. He plays independently but also enjoys playing simple games and being read to. He loves his older
brother and tries to do everything that his older brother does, like playing soccer. He is able to talk, and he can understand
complex sentences. He loves to help out with anything that he is able to, and wants to do everything by himself independently.
During the next year we hope to develop his physical and mental abilities further. Exposure to new languages will be welcomed
as it develops a child's language abilities.
Our older son is an intelligent,
fun, talkative 6-year old. He has a great imagination and loves science experiments. He has always loved having books read
to him and he also reads books to himself. He really loves his younger brother and
enjoys reading to him and playing with him. He has been in pre-primary from the age of 2 years and has had a lot of fun at
school. He likes picking rocks, flowers, etc. in the garden and going to the park. He is very creative and likes making games
and playing by the rules. He likes drawing. This last year he has been very interested in jellyfish, ladybugs, jet engines,
and radio signals. He likes learning the details of all these animals and machines and draws pictures of them, and likes to
read about them. He also like math and has been studying violin for the last 9 months and has been making great progress.
He is also playing soccer and learning swimming. We would like our au pair to encourage him in his interests, both academic
and non-academic.
We are a multicultural family
– the host mom is from India, whereas the host dad is American. We want to keep Our
sons in touch with their Indian heritage and to expose them to other cultures as well. Most important, we are looking for
an au pair who enjoys caring for children and can give our children a lot of attention, affection and a happy and safe environment.
We have had four au pairs live with us in the past, when our younger son was a baby: they came from Mexico,
South Africa, South Korea
and Germany. We had wonderful experiences
with all of them and were sorry to see them go. We still always stay in touch with them.
We live in New York, a unique and beautiful
college town that hosts both the internationally known Cornell University
as well as lthaca College,
a smaller school with areas of excellence such as music. Our town has been rated
"America's Top Small City in the East" by the Rating Guide to Life
in America's Small Cities. It has
tremendous diversity because of its international student population, and it has a vibrant cultural life including frequent
musical and dramatic performances as well as sporting events. Shopping in the area is surprisingly good; Ithaca has several malls including the downtown pedestrian mall that is a frequent host to
outdoor festivals. In addition, the Mall nearby, soon to be expanded into the largest mall in America, is only an hour's drive from our house. Local food shopping options are
excellent-the supermarket we shop at is the best we have seen anywhere; in fact, it won an award as one of the best in the
nation, and it does a good job of stocking international foods.
Our town is nestled in the valley around a lake, and the scenery in the area is stunningly beautiful, with deep gorges containing waterfalls
cutting through the hills above the lake and running down into the city center. There are many lovely hikes and nature walks
in the area, even within walking distance of our house. For some images of local scenery see the web links below.
After each receiving doctoral degrees at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the world's premier engineering university), we came
to Cornell to pursue research in computer science. We chose Cornell because we like its medley atmosphere and welcoming community.
The host dad and the host mom are both professors in the Cornell University Computer Science department. As academics committed
to education, we would encourage and support our au pair in any academic studies she would wish to pursue.
We enjoy biking and hiking in
the area, playing table tennis in our basement, attending musical and dramatic performances at Cornell and playing music ourselves
(piano and violin). Our four-bedroom house is located in a nice neighborhood ten minutes from downtown and near a lovely park.
The house is within walking distance of a shopping mall. We have always enjoyed sharing our house with others; in the past,
we have had family members stay with us for several months. Our au pair will have her own private room and will share the
guest bathroom.
As academics, we enjoy interacting with international
students on a daily basis. We are very much looking forward to hosting an international au pair who can enrich our lives.
Family
2
We
live in Brooklyn: a lively, family orientated neighborhood in New York City.
Our neighborhood is filled with old brownstone homes, small shops, cafes and bookstores, and is next to a beautiful big park.
People say our neighborhood feels like a small town in a very big city. There are many families with small children and neighbors
who really know and care about each other. Yet we have all the benefits of Manhattan and New York City at our doorstep.
There
are many families with au pairs in our neighborhood and it will be easy to meet your friends for coffee or dinner after work.
Manhattan is so close and you don't need a car to get there,
so many of the au pairs take the subway into the "city" for dinner, a movie, or to go dancing in the evening. As you probably
know, New York is an amazing city, with museums, restaurants,
shops, theatre, dance and just about everything else you might want to see. You will also find that there are many, many schools
nearby where you can take classes in almost every subject!
Our
family is made up of five people: myself, my husband and our three children: our oldest son (seven and a half) and our middle
son (five) and our youngest daughter (two and a half.)
A little bit about our children: our oldest son is a very bright, verbal child who loves sports-especially soccer
and music. His favorite bands are James Taylor, Pink Floyd, and the Beatles. He also loves to read. He is (generally speaking)
a very good boy who likes to please adults and play by the rules.
Our
middle son is our five year old. He has dimples and a big smile. He is an extremely happy, easy, mellow kid. He is very shy
with new people, but once he knows someone, he is the sweetest boy in the world. Our middle son loves to draw and has a big
imagination.
Our
youngest daughter is two and a half and definitely the princess of the house! Her siblings love her and take good care of
her. She is a very strong little girl who knows exactly what she wants. She talks a LOT and loves to play with dolls and to
read books.
Most
days, you just take care of our youngest daughter until the boys get home from school at 3 pm. She loves to go to the playground
and the bookstore.
Because
I work at home, I am always available to help you out with the children if you need it or if you have a question.
My
husband and I are documentary filmmakers, and we have a film production company on the ground floor of our home. We make documentaries
on many different subjects that are broadcast on national television.
Our
house is about 100 years old and has four stories. We live on the upper three floors, and our office is on the bottom floor.
You have a television set in your room, and you share a large bathroom with the children. We also have a small backyard.
Our
goals for our children are simple: we want them to be loved, and when we can’t be with them, we want them to be cared
for by someone who truly loves children. We have had three au pairs live with us, and the experience has helped us
be very clear about what is most important in an au pair. The answer is simple: love for children.
People
tell us we have a "laid-back" parenting style. Here, that means we are relaxed about our children. We don't have an overwhelming
number of rules for them but we do want them to have the things that are most important: security, consistency, predictability,
and affection.
As
for the host family/au pair relationship, we have found that it is very important to talk honestly, especially at the beginning.
Everything takes time, and open communication is essential. Living together in the same home for a year or more means we also
must respect one another's privacy. We will welcome you with open arms into our home and family, but we also will respect
your need to have time to yourself, and we hope you will do the same for us.
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Family 3
Our family consists of five members: the host parent, and three children, aged 5 years, 3 years, and 8 months.
Also, there are three cats. The host dad is a police officer in the residing county and the host mom is a stay-at-home
mom.
The oldest son is a very easygoing child, but shy at first. He will be starting kindergarten in September at Highland
School (private school next town over). He is very artistic and loves
to draw, pretend cook, and roll play.
The middle son is more rambunctious; he loves to play with his cars and action figures. He’ll be attending Little
Elves Preschool, which he is currently enrolled, for three days a week next year. Both boys get along very well; they love
to wrestle, play together, and especially will not go anywhere without the other.
The youngest daughter is 8 months old; she is the only girl. She will probably start Toddling Time in September; this
is where young children can tumble around and play games in an inside setting for an hour once a week.
For the past nineteen years we have hosted exchange students from all over Europe.
We are used to sharing a house with others and accepts different cultures with openness. The host dad is of Chinese heritage
and speaks a little Cantonese. The family partakes in some Chinese cultural traditions such as the Chinese New Year. With
these experiences in so many different cultures, it has prepared us to accept an au pair as a new member of the household.
We live in a single family home in the suburbs of Washington DC. All places of interest, malls, monuments, museums, parks, etc. are easily accessible
by the nearby interstate. DC is about a 4 minute drive from our house. In the DC area there are many different cultural and
social opportunities for the au pair to experience. There are two guestrooms for the au pair to chose from, one upstairs next
to the children's room and the other in the basement. Both rooms have a private bath and are equipped with a television. A
personal car will be provided to the au pair to use during her leisure time and/or to help drive the children somewhere.
In our household, since the children are so young the rules that are mostly enforced are manners and tidiness; the
au pair is expected to follow these rules. They're usually enforced with the kids through "time outs" or the removal of a
toy.
In November, the family has planned a trip to Disney World for ten days, for which the au pair is expected to come
We are is looking forward to hosting an au pair this coming year and anticipates a wonderful experience.
Family 4
Our children are embarking on a new adventure and we seek YOU (an energetic, fun, loving,
non-smoking, easy going au pair) to join us for family time. We are city people (most recently from New
York city) and are fortunate to have found a home in a wonderful community with easy access to the big city of
Boston.
We are welcoming a new baby in late June and that will be the new adventure for our family
for this year. We are very excited. We will hire a part time nanny to care for our infant while Madeline is in school so that
our au pair will have ample time to herself.
Our daughter is a very verbal almost 4 year old who loves playing outdoors in the park, swimming,
and making crafts. She is an easygoing delightful child with no special needs. Our daughter has had a wonderful au pair for
the past year and has blossomed because of the personal attention of her wonderful caregiver. She loves her daily routine
which usually includes a lot of outdoor time with other children. She awakes around 8 AM, goes to school from 8-12 each day,
and naps from 1 :30-2:30. Her bed time is usually around 8:30. Her best friend and constant companion is her well worn stuffed
toy, Maddie Bear.
The host dad and the host mom have been married almost 6 years, and love to spend family
time with Our daughter and travel to new places. As parents we try to be attentive and easy going while still establishing
boundaries, routine, and reasonable expectations for our daughter. Because we both work long hours we are very concerned about
making the most of our precious family time.
The host dad is a physician/scientist who works for the pharmaceutical company Merck. The
host mom is a congregational rabbi in our town. Because of
the many evening and weekend hours required by our jobs, we are seeking a live in caregiver for our children As stated above,
our daughter will be in pre-school 5 days a week and our other child will be cared for by a part time nanny during that time.
As a result our au pair would enjoy, ample free time to take classes or enjoy personal time. Our au pair also has her own
bedroom suite complete with private bathroom on the upper floor of our home. Car will be provided for local travel in Newton and may be used as appropriate for free time activities.
Family 5
We have two daughters, aged 5 1/2 and 3 1/2. They will turn six and four in July 2007. We
have a third child due in October 2007. My husband is President of a Sales Engineering firm. I work as Director of a telecommunications
company.
We live in a suburb of NY.
It is a beautiful community and constantly growing. It has a population of about 25,000 and is 20 minutes from our suburb, NY - a community of 800,000 people. We live on the lake so summer
is a wonderful time of year. We also enjoy spring, fall and winter and try to spend as much time outside as possible. We have
a ski resort, Bristol Mountain
that is about 15 minutes from us. We also do a lot of hiking, biking, boating and sailing so we lead a very active lifestyle
with our children. It is important that we find an au pair that is also very active and enjoys doing some of these things.
Our older daughter participates in ballet, gymnastics, swimming, tennis, soccer and skiing
- depending on the time of year. Our younger daughter will be in pre-K next year and will have school for 2 1/2 hours either
in the morning or in afternoon. Our older daughter also participates in gymnastics, swimming, and ballet so she is busy as
well. The au pair will spend a fair amount of time picking up and dropping off at these activities. Our goal for our children
is that they grow to become well-rounded, polite, well behaved children. They are compassionate and have empathy towards others.
They enjoy learning at school and outside of school. We want to make sure that this eagerness and desire for learning continues.
We are quite proud of our children and feel that they are two very special little girls. We would like to have an au pair
that helps highlight these attributes and helps them continue to grow in all areas.
Our interest in finding an au pair results from speaking with friends that have had an au
pair. We feel that it would be a good child care solution and would enrich the lives of our family and the au pair greatly.
We have a large house and have room to have an additional person live with us. It will provide greater flexibility with both
the girls and our schedules.
We have had the same nanny for 4 years and she has been wonderful for us and truly a part
of the family. However, we have reached a point where she has a small child and her schedule is not as flexible as it once
was. We also think that it would be wonderful for our children to learn about another culture from an au pair, opening their
eyes to a larger world. We feel that we could create an environment where the au pair feels a part of our family but also
feels that she has her own time and space. We really would like to find a good match of someone who is very good with children
but also is active and can participate in the various things that we do with our family. We look forward to making this a
good experience for everyone!
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