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

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Family 1

 

Me and my husband met about 15 years ago while we both worked for the same company in the computer systems area. We have been married 11 years. My husband is an Information Technology consultant. I am an IT Senior Director and am heading the largest IT initiative in the marketing and sales IT area.

 

All of our children are very affectionate and loving. They like to hug and cuddle. They also love to read, dance, do art, and play outside. Our daughter is our oldest and was born in May 2000. She is gentle in nature. She is very loving and caring. She is also very curious. She likes to ask questions about how things work and why things are the way they are. She is observant and often asks questions about her surroundings. She is currently reading and doing math at school. She is very focused on her schoolwork.

 

Our younger daughter was born in August 2002. She and her sister are 27 months apart. She desires a lot of attention. She is strong in nature and very independent. She dresses herself and likes to do everything on her own. She likes to be the big sister to her sister and tries to help him as well. She seeks praise and wants us to be proud of her. She likes to play with baby dolls and her siblings. She is very outgoing.

 

Our youngest son was born in January 2004. He and the younger sister are 17 months apart. He is a typical 3-year-old right now. He can be pretty demanding at times. He loves to sit and play with trains and trucks. He is active and loves to play basketball and most sports. He can be shy at times.

 

Our current schedule consists of getting the children ready in the morning and taking them to a morning Montessori program-they love to go to school. Our current au pair and me usually get the children between up 7 and 7:30. The children will spend their day 8: 15 till noon. The youngest daughter will get dropped off by the bus around 3:45 and typically does homework when she gets home. Next year, our eldest daughter will continue to attend this school. The other two children will go to kindergarten.  My daughter attends a Music Workshop (piano), Ballet/Jazz and Tap. On Thursdays, our au pair takes the three of them swimming.  On other days, we try to come home, have dinner together, and spend the evening together.

 

Goals for our children include: wanting them to be happy, feeling loved, feeling safe and secure, being independent and strong, being loving and kind-hearted, caring, having good manners, being polite, trying their best, and doing well in school both in a social and academic sense.

 

The reason we looked into getting an aupair was to better handle the diversity of the children's schedules. Additionally, my husband and I both like to travel abroad so the cultural aspect is a plus and the diversity and learning opportunity in our home is welcomed.

 

 

Qualities of the host family/au pair relationship that are important to us are trust, honesty, and dependability, being an active part of our family, flexibility, and communication. We want someone who will provide our children with care and love similar to us.

 

 

 

Family 2

 

Dear Au Pair,

 

I'd like to tell you a bit about our family! We live in Maryland. We have had au pairs for 7 years now and have really enjoyed the experience. We had our house built 7 years ago and we live in a great neighborhood that has lots of kids and several au pair families. It is a beautiful part of the country with 4 seasons...spring, summer, fall and winter and we get to enjoy thermally as we are about 2 hours from snow skiing, and 3 hours from the beach.

Host mom and host dad have been married for 23 years and we have 3 great kids, a dog and a cat. Our oldest daughter is turning 14 in August and is in middle school.

Our middle daughter will be 12 in June and she is a sports/outdoors girl. She loves to play basketball, swim, rollerblade, ride her bike and play outside. She is also a very good artist and loves to do crafts and draw pictures. She is a very helpful girl and is always eager to please

 

Our youngest son is at age 9 and he is an all boy! He also plays basketball, swims and loves to ride his bike and play with his friends. He also loves science and math very much and sometimes surprises us with how smart he is!

 

As you can tell we love our kids very much and they are the center of our world. Even though they are all growing up much too quickly they are never too big to share a hug or kiss or try to crawl onto our laps to read a book   we are an affectionate family and are looking for an au pair that is willing to share a hug or hold a hand with our children. We also have a big lovable dog and an indoor cat.

 

We have a pool at our house so we hope you like to swim! In the summer time we many evenings out there. We like to entertain have often have friends over for a cookout and swim and encourage our au pairs to have their friend over as well. We also have another house at the beach and we go down there almost every weekend in the summer months. Our au pairs are always welcome to come down as well if they wish as they are part of our family.

 

We are looking for an au pair that is looking to come to America to be part of a family, loves children and is excited about exploring our country. We have an "au pair" vehicle for our au pairs to drive and we encourage them to explore nearby cities, tourist attractions, parks and recreation areas. There is a lot to do here both culturally and nature wise.

 

Since you are reading this letter there is a good chance we will be chatting with you soon about possibly coming to live with our family. Ask us all your questions and we look forward to getting to know you!

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Family 3

 

We are a large family living in a beautiful suburb of New York City. We have eight happy and energetic children, aged at 15, 13, 12, 8,7,4 years old and 9 months. Although the size of our family has its challenges, it also has its rewards. We are a loving, happy and busy family that welcomes an au pair into our home as a family member.

 

We are both attorneys. I work approximately 20 minutes away and my husband works 40 minutes south in New York City. Both of our jobs are flexible enough to allow us to attend family events and to avoid most late nights and weekends. Our family is our highest priority. Because of our large family, it is important for us to be organized. We have a full-time housekeeper. She will work with the au pair as a team while we are at work. In the mornings, when all the children except for the baby are at school, the au pair will help watch the baby so our housekeeper can clean and do laundry.

 

We like to stay active and therefore have many day trips on the weekends. The au pair is always free to come along, although she is not required to. Our town is wonderful, with its own beach and amusement park and there are many museums and historic sights in the area. The town is also located a convenient 35 minutes by train from New York city, which many of our former au pairs have used to see plays, shop or sightsee in the City. There are also many other au pairs or nannies in Rye, so it will not be difficult for the au pair to make new friends. The au pair will have many opportunities to enjoy her surroundings and to learn more about the United States during her stay here.

 

We have had very good relations with our prior au pairs. We have used the au pair program five times before our most recent au pair has been terrific. She became a real member of our family in an I8-month stay and we all miss her. One of the au pairs is in England and we still keep up with letters and she has visited us since she left. Another au pair is from South Africa is now working in London, England and stays in touch. One another from South Africa, returned to South Africa but just came for a month long visit. The other au pair who is also from England, She married a policeman in Rye after she left us and had a baby. We see her often. We also continue to have a good relation with a number of out nannies who did not come to use through the au pair program.

 

We hope to find an energetic au pair with a love of children and of learning. She will become a welcome addition to our family during her time at our home.

 

 

Family 4

 

We have been married for almost 18 years. Our son will be 10 years old on July 4, 2003. Our daughter is 6 years old. Our children have brought a great deal of joy to our lives. We have also enjoyed and benefited from our nine Au Pairs. We have found that our Au Pairs are a very nice extension to our family.

 

We now spend much of our spare time at home. As a family, we visit friends or family in the area, go to community events, and visit local parks, museums, zoos, etc. During the summers we enjoy water sports at nearby lakes. In the winter we enjoy Nordic Skiing and some other outdoor activities. We also take one or two family vacations during the year. Both of our families live very near so we try to get together regularly with the grand parents are frequent visitors. Weekend trips to see the family are common.

 

We are both engineers. Most of the hours that our au pair works are during the hours of 7:00 am - 7:00 pm on Mondays through Fridays. The children are in school from approximately 8:30 am - 3:00 pm during most of the year. Our son has always done physical things well and is very active. He enjoys being outdoors and loves to go to the park or the local swimming center (indoors). He loves to build and create things.

 

Our daughter is very healthy and is a sweet, active, laughing little girl. She loves going to the park. She likes to play in the sand and go swimming. She enjoys playing with her brother. She loves to draw and paint and make all sorts of crafts. She also likes to help cook and help around the house. She is just starting to read and enjoys practicing her writing or "playing school". She plays soccer and takes dance lessons. She needs to be driven to and from school each day.

 

Our home is located in Michigan. Much of the land around us is private farms and some woods. The property has a small pond, many trees, and backs to vacant land and a wooded area. Our home was built in 1989 and is a 2nd floor colonial farmhouse style. Our au pair has a private bedroom and shares a bathroom with only the children.  We live very close to market, schools, and stores, so driving the car is a must in most all our outings. There is a nice town square area with many shops, restaurants, a theater, museum, library, frequent social events, etc. Several families that are hosts to Au Pairs live near by. There are many community parks and a large state owned park nearby.

 

Living in the area offers nearly any attractions and services one might imagine. We have all major professional sports, regular and varied concert series, theaters, museums, etc. Canada borders Detroit and many attractions are just across the river in Windsor, Ontario.  The University has students from all over the world.  There are numerous other colleges and universities within easy driving distance.

 

Within easy driving distances for weekend trips to cultural centers of North America are Canada, Chicago and Illinois. All have major sports facilities, theaters, music centers, museums, and historical sites. For longer holidays, Washington DC, Boston/New, and even Florida make reasonable driving trips.

 

Foremost, we want an Au Pair who is responsible and reliable and will care for the children in a manner that is consistent with our guidelines. She must have the energy and imagination to care for and entertain two children. You will be the tenth Au Pair in our family. Our previous Au Pairs are from all over the world. All are still wonderful friends. Many of our Au Pairs have come back to the United States to visit us since leaving, often for many weeks. We have had the pleasure of traveling to Europe as a family on three separate occasions and have been able to visit with many of the au pairs and their families. We have even been able to attend the wedding of one of our au pairs and got the pleasure of meeting one of our au pairs and her family in person at her home BEFORE she came to stay with us.

While we have decided to maintain our jobs and the financial security they bring, our feelings are equally strong that a child should be raised with great affection in our own home. We reply on our au pair to provide a loving environment with rules and activities that is consistent with our wishes. We will encourage an active lifestyle, both on and off working hours. We believe the stimulus of varied activities and interaction with others is beneficial to a child’s development.

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Family 5

A brief look at the our family: We have 4 members, Mom Dad and two boys . My husband works as a school counselor at a local high school. I work at a nearby bank. We both hold master’s degrees and value education. With quality education a priority we moved to our current neighborhood so that our children could attend this neighborhood school.

Our son are in 4th grade and 1st grade. Both boys seem to love school including the learning and social parts. It is important to us that our boys are happy and doing things that are stimulating and that they enjoy. After school currently takes guitar classes and plays baseball. One of our son take swimming lessons and plays baseball. In the fall we plan to continue with guitar and religious school each one day a week. The other son will play soccer and possibly swim again in the fall. It is our goal that the boys complete their homework immediately after school. While on some days that is not possible, homework is completed as soon as they can before bedtime.

 

This will be the first year that the boys will be not only at the same school but have the same school hours. Typically the au pair will leave the house at 8:00 to walk the boys to school, which begins at 8:15. School ends at 2:45 and the au pair will meet the boys at school to walk them home. Flexibility is very important for our family. This childcare help and flexibility will enable us to work and take care of other household activities. Our children are very energetic and fun loving kids. They love to play and interact with adults and other children.

 

This past year was our first experience with an au pair and we loved it. She really became part of our family. We exchanged so much about each other's cultures and customs. For us, it was refreshing to see our city, culture and experiences through her eyes. We learned new things about each other every day.

 

We hope to find an au pair who is energetic and enthusiastic but also understands that taking care of children is a big responsibility. The right person is someone who can get down on her hands knees to play a game with the kids but can also help the kids to manage their time so they get their homework and other chores done.