Dear Au Pair

As you prepare for your year abroad in the United States, we are sure one of the key questions you have is “who is this family with whom I will be living?”  We hope this letter gives you a bit of information on us and puts your mind at ease!  We’re an active family full of love and joy!  We live in Ohio, in a neighborhood of about 900 families, 15 miles outside of Cincinnati.  We have had the good fortune of having 4 au pairs whom we have loved getting to know.  We look forward to meeting you!

Our youngest is a bright, athletic loving boy.  He loves school, friends, animals and sports of all kinds.  This past year he played soccer in the spring, swam on the competitive swim team in the summer and played American football this Fall.  This Winter he is planning to play basketball and is involved in Boy Scouts. 

Our daughter is a strong student and enjoys sports and friends.  She is sometimes with new people or places until she gets to know them.  Once she does she’s talkative and funny.  She is very reliable and is a good friend.  She also loves to stay active and plays sports year round.  She loves to do girl things too!  Both of the children go to school in our neighborhood school just 5 blocks away.  On warm, sunny days they walk or ride bikes but on rainy cold days, you would drive them.

I work at a global company based in Cincinnati and am a Director of Marketing.  I grew up in Kentucky, where my parents still live.  It’s only 3 hours away so we see them often.  My husband is a partner in an architectural firm.  He grew up in New York. 

So, what is our typical family week?  Monday through Friday we are on a very tight schedule.  Parents are up by 6:00am and the kids by 7:00am.  The kids are at school from 8:30am to 3:20pm.  After school they need a snack and need to do their homework.  Somewhere around 6:15pm we get home and throw dinner together quickly.  We try to eat around 6:45pm.  Typically Friday night we order in pizza or we go out to dinner.  Saturday morning can be hectic or leisurely, depending on the weekend sport schedules.  One or two Saturday evenings a mo nth my husband and I have social plans with others.  Sometimes we hire a babysitter and sometimes we would ask you to babysit (provided it’s within your 45 hour a week work limit).  The other Saturdays we rent a movie and have a family movie night. We try to eat dinner together as a family as many evenings as we can.

We think we have a wonderful, loving home with a lot to offer someone wanting to know more about America and we also have the desire to learn more from you.  We look forward to this new adventure!