Cake for Mother’s day.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the amazing moms and especially the host moms who opened their homes and hearts for Au Pairs!

Dear host mothers, I hope you will be invited to special places, pampered and honored by your families and Au Pairs.

A “sweet” way to say thank you to your host mom is to make a cake project for Mother’s Day with host kids.

Here is a video recipe of Chocolate Zucotto cake with ice cream. It is a simple and an easy recipe and  Au Pairs may teach host children how to make this special cake for mommy.

I recommend to add fresh strawberries or any fruits and mix with ice cream, and also decorate the cake with fresh fruits. It will make this cake  healthier and taste better.

Au Pairs with kids can cook a delicious cake and desert and make Mother’s Day special. I hope all host moms will enjoy their special day.

I wish that every day be treated like Mother’s Day!

Au Pairs cook healthy food with kids.

Talking about  healthy eating and forming good habits, mentioned in the previous post, will take time and  also a lot of effort.

Let kids cook healthy food with Au Pairs.  Au Pairs may help in teaching  host families’  kids to cook healthy food and much more. They will teach kids healthy eating habits that will last a lifetime!

As a new project,  Au Pairs may plan healthy meals together with host kids and host parents, and find new recipes.  Healthy meals prepared from scratch usually contain more nutrients and fewer calories. Au Pairs may take kids shopping for the vegetables or maybe even use veggies from a vegetable garden.

It is important to keep the recipe simple. Au Pairs will teach kids to follow the directions and measure the ingredients.   Kids not only are being entertained while cooking , they will also learn a lot – reading, counting, fractions, budgeting, weighing, measuring, problem-solving, sharing, fine motor skills and much more – eating  fresh healthy food. Kids will be far more likely to eat vegetables if they helped cook them.

Au Pairs may also show the kids how to make a recipe from their home country. They can  teach kids about their culture through food.

Kids are much more likely to eat what they make. Is there anything more fun than eating your own art project?

Useful and harmful habits.

We all know that we can acquire bad habits very quickly, but is is not easy to get rid of them. Bad habits are acquired rapidly, whereas for the good habits it will take time.

Scientists have conducted studies and have proved that the acquisition of good habits should be a few months. As an example of this: in order to run in the morning with pleasure, you will need three months.

A special experiment was carried out. Volunteers, who took part in it, had to drink every morning fresh juice, and then make a run. Some volunteers drank the juice, but did not run. Others have continued with the whole experiment even though running daily was very hard. However, three months after they got used to it, they could not imagine a single day without  jogging.

Habits, resulting in the rapid increase of the hormone of pleasure are very difficult to get rid of. For example, eating junk food. 

Eating healthy food is very important, especially fresh cooked food prepared from fresh vegetables or vegetables from your garden.

Another Local Area Representative (LAR)  from Go Au Pair has a great idea to post recipes for Host Families and Au Pairs  that are quick and easy and focus on  consuming large amounts of vegetables.

Healthy eating makes you feel better and look better. You may want to follow this video How to choose healthy foods from Dr. Pamela Peeke, the author of “Fit to Live”.

You can start to eat healthy and maybe three months after you can not imagine a single day without eating healthy food.

Start a vegetable garden with an Au Pair.

Many of my host parents complain that their kids don’t eat vegetables and ask how to encourage kids to eat more vegetables.

If you have a space in your back yard, why not start a vegetable garden with an Au Pair?

The new project makes children spend quality time growing vegetables with an Au Pair. They will spend time in the fresh air and learn  firsthand about how to grow veggies and even some fruits, for example strawberries.

There are many other benefits to this project:

• educate children about how vegetables are grown,
• give kids the experience of growing a garden,
• help develop new skills and responsibility,
• bring a sense of accomplishment and contribution to the home,
• see the magic of watching something grow,
• promote healthy eating habits and nutritional food,
• cook and eat the vegetables they harvest.

Kids usually are very attached to the products of their own efforts.  They will eat almost any vegetable that they have grown or harvested themselves.

A host mom from Go Au Pair, who is a doctor and has three small kids,  posted a very interesting post about encouraging kids to eat more vegetables. She  said that, “Maybe, buying bowls and dishes with vegetable pictures on it will help vegetable consumption at home.”  Please read more at Getting Kids to Eat More Vegetables.

Things An Au Pair Can’t Live Without

New host families often ask me what they may provide to their Au Pairs in addition to board and stipend. They want to know if there is anything else they may offer to their Au Pair as an appreciation for her/his hard work.

Some host families may choose to provide to the Au Pair a computer and Internet access, a cell phone and use of a car for her/his spare time.  Some families may consider providing a personal computer  and TV in the Au Pair room, a membership to a sport club and a chance to travel with the family for free. It depends on the family’s resources and on what the Au Pair is interested in.

Here are 20 things Americans can’t live without

I asked Au Pairs from Go Au Pair cluster from the Philadelphia and NJ area to  name material things they can’t live without (doesn’t include family, friends, etc.)

Dear Au Pair,  What’s on your list?

What are you glad you have in your life or you really need to have as an Au Pair? I believe your host family will be glad to know that. Here is a long list of “an Au Pairs life necessities” I wrote collectively with Au Pairs from my cluster.

Please take your time and vote.

Related articles

• Go Au Pair or Nanny? (goaupairphiladelphia.wordpress.com)
• Celebration of Gratitude on Thanksgiving. (goaupairphiladelphia.wordpress.com)
• How Much Should You Pay Your Nanny at Bucks County? (goaupairphiladelphia.wordpress.com)

My busy but fun life as an Au Pair.

Hey everyone!

It’s been a while, I know… but I’ve had my hands full in the past month.

My life as an Au Pair is busy,  fun, challenging and special every day.

On March 17th we celebrated Joey’s birthday (everyone wearing something green, of course) and he had a blast!

Last week my host family returned from Montego Bay, Jamaica and I was surprised to see how much Joey missed me, he came in and jumped on me like a koala bear (it’s the only way I can describe the way he locked his legs around my waist and his arms around my neck, hahahah). I had spent the week here, going to school, Target and the mall.

I’ve been going to school for my German and Photoshop classes and received my certificates. Something extra to put on my resumé.

On my free time, the movies have been my hiding place. I watched Hunger Games, Mirror Mirror and I’m planning to watch The Three Stooges with Joey.

The kids and I get our daily dose of exercise when we go to the basement or in the backyard and play with our swords and throw sticks with the dogs for hours. Hey, it’s better than going to the gym.

Easter was AMAZING. We went to Allison’s parents’ house and I met a lot of great people. When we got home, all the kids wanted was the easter baskets the easter bunny had left them early.

Things were already going great and they got better yesterday when my mother said she’s coming to spend my birthday (May 9th) and mother’s day with me. I loved it!

Well, that’s it for now…but I’ll be back soon with more. So, what cool activities have you done?