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For qualified childcarers.... meet our great APEX families
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Family 1
Dear Future Au Pair,
I'd first like to say
welcome to the United States and our home. We have been married for 15 years and have been blessed with a beautiful
4-year old son. I work from home and travel occasionally. My husband works locally and does some businesses travel
as well. We have welcomed au pairs into our family for the past four years and look forward to doing so again.
We know that coming
into someone else's home can be a challenging experience. The only advice we can offer is that you try to be a member of our
family and participate in activities with us whenever your schedule allows. This can be as simple as having dinner with the
family or going with us to local cultural events such as parades, concerts, etc.
We live in southern
California on the Pacific Coast, about half way between Los Angeles and San Diego (about a one hour drive to each). San Juan
is a small town of 33,000 people that is surrounded by large towns and cities, so we have the advantage of the quiet, relaxed
atmosphere of a small town, but we are very close to many shopping malls and movie theaters, as well as recreational and cultural
activities such as historic missions, museums, parks, the beach, zoos, and, of course, Disneyland!
My son is a very smart and energetic 4 year old. He is very affectionate and loves to ride bikes, scooters,
peddle cars, and play with anything with wheels. He also likes playing soccer, golf, reading books, and playing board games.
He loves to swim and play at the beach and local parks. He goes to Pre-School three full days per week. Since you'll be driving him around every day, it is very important
that you be very comfortable driving a car on highways and in heavy traffic. He also has several food allergies including Dairy, Wheat products,
and Eggs, which makes it very important that we all monitor closely what he eats. We would hope that you would be able to
cook or at least want to learn to cook when you arrive. Part of your responsibility will be to help bake cookies, make pancakes,
and other items that are safe for him to eat. We found that works best is to always bring food from home for him just to be on the safe side.
We are looking for a
friendly, outgoing Au Pair with a lot of energy, who would like to become part of our family and be a "big sister" him.
You must be detail-oriented and extremely responsible. Perhaps you are that person! We look forward to welcoming you to
the United States and to our family!
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Family 2
We live in a single-family home in a suburb of Washington, DC - the United States Capital. We
are only about 7 miles away from Washington, DC - there is a metro near our house, which is the easiest
way to get into DC. It has a small-town feel and most the people who live in the community are families - we
have many child-centered activities and some of the best schools in the country. There are many families in the community
who have au pairs, so it should be a good place to make friends and socialize. Nearby Washington DC has so much to offer with
free art museums at the Smithsonian, free concerts at the Kennedy Center, cultural activities at the various foreign embassies,
and many other sights to see.
Currently
our family consists of just us. our dog and cat. We are eagerly awaiting the birth of our first children, twins -
a boy and a girl - in June. We have been trying to start a family for quite some time and are extremely excited
to finally be blessed with Our favorite pass-times are outdoor activities and leisure travel. We enjoy taking our
dog on hikes and sometimes even camping. We love to swim and loves to fish so in the summertime, we try to hike somewhere near a lake or the ocean
. We also enjoy traveling both throughout the United States and abroad. We have visited Canada, Mexico, and many spots in the Bahamas, Caribbean
(US Virgin Islands, Barbados, Curacao, Bonaire, Puerto Rico, etc.) and in Europe (Ireland, England, France, Germany, Austria,
Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Malta).
Our home is comfortable
and roomy but not ostentatious. I work from home on the days when my wife is not away on business travel. She has an office in our home, just off of the living room. Our bedroom, the babies' room, and our bathroom are on the second floor. The au pair's bedroom and bathroom is on the main floor near the kitchen. It is a nice bright room with windows facing the side-yard and back-yard. We have wireless internet access throughout our house, so the au pair
could easily have a computer in her privacy.
room
to help her keep in touch with her family and friends while she is in America. We
My wife will be home with the
babies and the au pair for the first few months. During this time we will help the au pair to settle-in; become
familiar with our household and family; and together settle into establishing child care routines with the new babies. After the babies are 3 months old, I’ll return to work and we will look to the au
pair to serve as the primary caregiver on weekdays return. When he isn't traveling, he works out of
the house, so he will be available in emergency and office is only about 15 miles away, so she too can get home
in just a few minutes in case of an emergency. One of us will always plan to take the babies to doctor's appointments, but we will look
to the au pair to
accompany us.
We
have a big open basement
where our laundry machine is - someday this will be a great indoor play area for the kids when they are old enough. We have a good sized
front yard that is shaded by two big maple trees and a small dogwood tree that has beautiful blossoms in the springtime. Our
back yard is also quite spacious. It is fenced in which will be nice for children and is nice for the dog. We enjoy barbequing
out there in the summertime. We also enjoy planting flowers and plants and seem to be constantly trying some new landscaping
idea in the yard.
We
are looking for an au pair who will enjoy taking the babies on walks and getting them involved in developmental activities at
the local community center, which is only a few blocks from our house. They offer story-times and music, baby yoga, etc. in which we would like our
babies to participate.
We
are out-going, active and social, have advanced degrees and do work in the education industry. Even before starting our own
family, we have both shared a dedication toward improving the lives and education of children and have been dedicated to vocations
and volunteer activities where we could make a positive influence on children and childhood education. An individual who is also out-going,
active, social, and demonstrates a similar passion and vocation toward education and childhood development would probably
be most comfortable joining our family as an au pair.
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Family 3
The
family consists of five members with 3 children aged 2, 8 and 10. The parents are graduates with degrees in business.
The Father is a successful works in downtown Chicago. The mother is a stay-at-home mom, but has worked in and out of the home
doing advertising, marketing and sales. We have been married for 14 years. The children attend local elementary and middle
schools. The children are in 6th, 4th and 2nd grades.
We
are an active and child-centered family that enjoys spending our free-time playing sports like baseball, football, basketball
and tennis. Indoors we like to relax watch TV, play video games, board games, cook, and play on the computer.
Our
goal is to raise happy and well-adjusted children by maintaining a happy and loving home. Specific goals for the children
include: 1) Maintaining good health/hygiene by getting enough rest, eating right, and participating in sports and outdoor
activities. 2) Using free time constructively to play with friends and siblings. 3) Finish homework and chores before watching
TV, playing video games or playing on the computer. 4) Find alternative activities to do instead of watching TV, playing on
the computer and playing video games.
We
are applying for our 7th aupair for the year 2006/07. our current aupair has filled the role as parent helper. We maintain our family/childrearing goals during the daily schedule and tasks of raising
a family.
For the au pair/ host relationship
to be successful, both parties must be upfront with their expectations.
We
live in a new six-bedroom French provincial home with four full baths. We moved in October 2001. We have a large family room,
living room, dining room, library, finished basement, kitchen and mudroom. The aupair has her own bedroom and bathroom. Our
home is a warm and friendly home with a backyard that is shaded with beautiful trees. We have a computer with Internet access.
Our home is walking distance to parks, transportation, town, schools, and shopping.
The neighborhood is lined with beautiful trees and lovely homes. We have a mix of different families - young, empty nesters
and retirees. Lots of au pairs are located in this area.
The
primary duties that we are required of the aupair include: Some driving to camps/school/activities. Helping with the preparation
and clean-up of meals, straightening up of the house (keep bathroom, bedrooms, play areas and kitchen tidy. We have a cleaning
service once a week. Playing with the children while my wife and I our out or preparing meals/doing other things in the house.
Children's laundry, help with the morning, afternoon and evening routines. Morning: Getting kids dressed, fed, teeth brushed,
lunches made and off to school or camp. Afternoon: Getting kids fed for lunch, change clothes for pool or beach in the summer.
Help watch/play with kids at beach/pool etc. Evening: Baths, teeth brushed pajamas and books read homework completed.
We
are looking forward to another year of having an aupair live with our family.
Family 4
The family consists of a son, a daughter and their son baby born in September 2006. They live in the heart of Washington
DC, very close to the D.S. Capitol in very nice area located near museum, libraries, parks, and public transport (metro, buses).
They live in a large historic row house with private yard. Au pair residence is a furnished English basement - with separate
entrance, bathroom, kitchen, TV and internet.
The family is very outgoing and sociality active. They are very passionate about their quality of life and balance
work and pleasure in a healthy way. Their number one passion of course is the health and well being of their SOD. Raising
them in a consistent and engaging manner is the priority as can be imagined and as such, they would want an au pair totally
focused on this priority. This would include reading to him; taking him on walks to parks; playing with him indoors and outdoors;
and of course, giving him consistent feedings.
As a family, they make it a point to cook and eat together every night without any television. Evenings are spent
getting the children to bed at the same time, typically by 7:30 pm, then cooking, talking and reading. They also enjoy watching
DVDs on weekend nights. Their professional lives are quite active as well sometimes requiring weekday travel and evening events
although never both at a time given their profession in sales. Weekends are spent taking
out to parks and restaurants and spending time outdoors hiking, going to the pool, or traveling to visit family and
mends. They also have a yellow Labrador who is very friendly and sometimes goes along as well.
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Family 5
To the prospective au pair:
We are so excited to host an au pair in the family! We are very outgoing and informal, I am (mother)
Brazilian and my husband is American. We have been in the US for 8 years. . We lived in Luxembourg in Europe prior to returning
to the US. My husband grew up in the area and almost all of his family lives in our town.
Our eldest son is 3 years
old, and our youngest son is 4 months old. Our elder son is an adorable little boy, with a great personality. He is very charming,
talkative, active and stubborn! He does not stop the whole day, except for his midday nap. He goes to pre-school a few mornings
a week. He speaks both English and Portuguese.
Our baby is one of the happiest babies I have even seen. Everything makes him smile. He is very
easygoing and loves taking a bath. He loves to be held and to have company. He is sleeping pretty well at night already. He
has a lot of hair!
Finally our 3rd and 4th "kids" are our dogs, one of them is 3,5 years old and the other will be
3 in September. They are very gentle with the kids. They are used to being walked 2-3 times a day and are very active.
We are looking for someone who has experience with little kids, ideally someone who has already
taken care of more than one child. Someone that is organized, methodic but flexible, that can keep them in a nice routine.
We would like someone who is social and outgoing. We would like to build a relationship that will last a lifetime. The days
are long at our house but there is never a boring minute and we always have fun. We like to travel too and would love to take
you with us.
We look forward to meeting you!
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