Au Pair in America Host Family Profiles

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For qualified childcarers.... meet our great APEX families

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Family 1

 

Welcome to your new home!  We hope you will enjoy living with us.  We have three great boys.  The only one who lives at home though is our 11-year old (the other two are a lot older and in college).  In September he will enter the sixth grade.  This year we have a German au pair and we have had a wonderful year together.  Last year, we had a Polish au pair.  This is our sixteenth year of our family having au pairs live with us!

 

Here is what a typical weekday morning during the school year is like in our house.  At around 7:00am our son wakes up, gets dressed and comes downstairs to get breakfast around 7:20am.  He leaves the house at around 7:45, when one parent or the au pair drives him to school.  His school is about 10 minutes away by car.  The au pairs helps get his snack ready and puts it in his backpack, and after he leaves, she puts the breakfast dishes in the dishwasher, straightens up the kitchen and, twice a week, does the laundry. 

 

The school day ends at 3:00pm.  The au pair picks up our son and may take him to some after school activities, such as sports teams. He enjoys running around, throwing a football and playing with friends.  He also loves video games and playing on the computer.  I work about one or two days a week in Boston and commute by bus for about one hour.  The other days I travel or I work at home. 

 

We live in a cul-de-sac, which is protected from traffic.  There is a park nearby.  There is an ice cream store nearby for a nice walk. Our house is an English style Tudor home.  It has four floors.  The ground floor has a large kitchen, where we cook and sit to eat most of our meals.  We have a television / family room on the first floor, along with a bigger room where we entertain friends. The au pair’s room has a television and an extra bed so that the au pair can have an extra friend sleep over. 

 

We love to visit with other families and to have other families visit with us.  Most of our friends have children and we enjoy getting together.  We celebrate holidays with our friends and we enjoy sharing those times with our au pairs.  We really enjoy sharing our excitement about learning with our au pair.  We love to compare cultures, attitudes, ideas, language and food.  As a family we have traveled a lot.  We are proud of our country and hope to make the year a worthwhile experience for the au pair who chooses to live with us.  We feel that the most important part of a successful relationship is communication.  We look forward to meeting you and we hope that you will enjoy living with us and we welcome you into our family.

 

Family 2

 

First, let me tell you about our family.  My daughter is 8-years old.  She will be starting third grade this fall.  She is a deputy black belt in tae kwon do (along with her father) and her other activities include stage performing, piano and girl scouts.  My first son is 6-years old.  He will be starting first grade this fall.  He is a blue belt in tae kwon do (along with myself) and his other activities include playing with his big brother and sister and having fun.  He will be starting preschool this fall.  Our children are very loving and they have told each and every au pair that they love them repeatedly!  They always say that our family is made up of their parents, the three children and the au pair.  My husband and I have been married for 8-years.  My husband is a surgeon and I am a paediatrician.  In addition to participating in tae kwon do with our children we also enjoy jogging and spending plenty of our free time with our children.

 

We have enjoyed having au pairs in our home for 5-years now.  We have had two Israeli au pairs, a German au pair and a Brazilian au pair.  We need an au pair to provide childcare while we are working, and also to watch the children while I do errands or while my husband and I go on an evening out.

 

We live in a wonderful suburb about 40 miles north of Chicago.  Our community is very young, new and child-friendly.  The other au pair cluster is large in our community, usually comprising about 30 girls.  There are at least three other host families within a mile of our house.  The children’s activities and schools are all very close to our home.  Our au pairs usually take the train into the city because it’s safer and easier than driving.

 

We live in a 5-bedroom house with a nice backyard.  There are also several nearby playgrounds.  There are many young children in our neighbourhood.  All of the children have their own rooms.  The au pair has her own room, private bathroom, television, DVD/VCR player, room phone, cell phone, car and unlimited access to the computer.

 

We have always considered the au pair a part of our family and we can’t wait to meet you!

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Family 3

 

This wonderful family consists of myself, the father of two wonderful daughters – a 33-month old, an 11-month old and my wife, the mother.  Our eldest is a character, to say the least.  She loves to dance, sing and play hide and seek.  She has two blankets that she can’t go to bed without and carries around the house.  She loves horses and puppies as well as pretty much any animal that she sees.  Our youngest will brighten your day with her smile and chubby cheeks.  She walks and chatters away with her index finger waggling in front of her like she’s telling you what to do!  She’s very funny in the way she handles things.  We both love our kids more than life itself!

 

Both my wife and myself are professionals with large American organizations.  My position entails a bit of travel.  We both also have degrees from well established Universities. 

 

In addition to a college education, we want our children to be leaders not followers.  Both should be able to hold their own in their future endeavors.  This comes with confidence and perseverance that will be developed throughout their young lives.  We want them to be unafraid to voice their opinions and to be free thinkers.  Most importantly, we want them to know that their family is the most important organization that they could ever be involved in, whether it be with us, or with their extended family.  We look after eachother!

 

Having spoken to a few of our friends that have worked with Au Pair in America we have found that the level of attention and education as well as the cultural diversity that they bring is exactly what we’re looking to include in our children’s lives as well as our own.  To be able to bring a different part of the world to us is an opportunity that we feel we cannot pass up.  We plan to bring the au pair into our family as a member.  We will treat her with the respect that she deserves and plan to treat her as well as if she were one of our own daughters.  We hope that when she finishes her year we would keep in touch and she would come visit if she wanted to.  An au pair coming into our family will not only be teaching our children but hopefully teach us some skills.  We’re all very excited to have this type of opportunity in front of us.  We hope the au pair that we choose feels the same.

 

 

Family 4

 

Dear future Au Pair,

 

This is going to be our ninth year in the Au Pair in America program and we look forward to you joining us.  Here is a brief description of our family.  Nearly 8 years ago we moved from Germany where I lived for 7 years, although I grew up in the US.  I am 38-years old and am a Vice President of a company.  I don’t really have much spare time but when I have the chance I like to read and rock climb. 

 

I have two children, the oldest is 11 (my son) and the youngest is nearly 9 (my daughter).  Both go to school in Bronxville, New York.  My son is a very curious boy who has a silly sense of humor and loves to rock climb, ski and play with his friends.  My daughter is a very sweet girl.  She likes to listen to music and dance and play with her friends.  Despite their different interests and ages they play together very well.  They are both bilingual in English and German.

 

We live in Bronxville, which is a small and very exclusive suburb of New York City.  It is very close to the city – it takes either half an hour by train or by car.  Bronxville itself is very green and very safe.  We live on a quiet street just behind the school.  Most of our neighbors have small children and there are many Au Pairs in the area.  The playground is close by and you can reach all the shops and cafes and train station by foot.  We’re very happy there.

 

What will your day be like?  I leave early in the morning for my job before anyone else is awake.  Both of the children go to school in the morning at 8:00am.  Once a week the children finish school at 2:00pm and the other days at 2:40pm.  After school the children like to play with their friends.   I come home around 6:00pm on most days.  After that you would be free to do your own thing, but we hope that you will eat dinner with us – after all we are looking forward to welcoming you as a member of our family!  You will give the kids breakfast and make their lunches to take with them to school.  You will have your own bedroom and bathroom.  You will also have the use of our car, which is VW Golf.  You will have your own TV, VCR and mobile phone.  There are a range of courses available in our area to help you fulfil your educational requirements.  The cluster in our area is quite strong and our au pairs have quickly found friends with whom to go into the city or to the movies or just spend time at the local café.

 

Leaving your home country and family to join a new one and take care of small children is a big step!  I will do my best to help you adapt quickly and find your feet here.  I have also moved from country to country several times in my life, so I know how difficult such a move can sometimes be.  I look forward to talking with you soon!

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Family 5

 

At the heart we are a very close knit loving family that values education, family and friendships.  We love the outdoors and have spent many family vacations skiing in Lake Tahoe and scuba diving in Hawaii.  We also like to take advantage of the cultural benefits of living in the New York City area.  However, most nights are spent at home listening to music, watching movies and enjoying time as a family.

 

My husband is 35 years old and works in New York City.  He commutes to work by car each day from our suburban neighborhood.  Although I enjoyed my career in business, I left the workplace following the birth of our first son 4 years ago.  We now have three children (a 21 month old and 3 week old baby) and they are all the joy of our lives.  Our eldest is a fun loving and outgoing little boy.  He loves riding his bicycle, playing outdoors and getting together with friends.  Our little girl is a delightful child with a happy disposition.  She too loves riding her bicycle and playing outdoors. 

 

Our home is three storeys high and has a good amount of inside and outside space for our family.  The au pair’s room includes a television, phone and computer with a high speed internet connection.  While we live a fairly casual, relaxed lifestyle, our household rules do include no smoking and no overnight guests.  Ridgewood, NJ is 15 miles from New York City.  There is a train station within walking distance from our house and there is a bus service to New York City as well.  Travel time to New York City is under an hour by public transportation.  Our town has a number of stores, restaurants, coffee houses and a movie theatre.  We have three cars – one of which is used by the au pair for driving the children and personal use.

 

Our family is very accepting of different cultures.  My husband and I are of different ethnic and religious backgrounds.  Despite these differences we have a similar values and have a wonderful marriage.  We want our children to be open-minded about and accepting of other cultures.  The Au Pair in America program is especially appealing to us because of the opportunity for all family members to learn about a different culture as well as share ours.  For the past year we have hosted an au pair from Austria.  She has enjoyed weekend trips to New York City and is looking forward to trips to California, Florida and Niagra Falls.