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!