Au Pair Child Care for military families

By hosting an Au Pair, military families benefit from having extra helping hand while one parent is away. Having another adult at home  helps military families a lot. An Au Pair takes care of the kids, prepares food, assists around the house, drives kids to and from appointments and is available when family needs it most.

Military families benefit greatly from the schedule flexibility that the Au Pair program provides. Also Au Pair program gives the host family an opportunity having the same caregiver if there is a necessity to move frequently in a short period of time. That helps family and kids settle down easily in a new place with their Au Pair.

When military families experience the deployment of the family member, kids may be affected and its can be a source of anxiety for kids. The Au Pair can help since she becomes a family member, a big sister and friend to the kids. The Au Pair will help children to stay connected with deployed parent through video conferencing, taking and sending photos, and doing craft projects.

Go Au Pair greatly values the services provided by our armed forces. Military families who sign up with Go Au Pair receive a $250.00 discount from our standard price.

Why consider an Au Pair?

By a single father, Gregory L.

Why consider an Au Pair for childcare?  Well, I never did.  My wife was from China and stayed home with the children.  Then, in early April 2012, she was diagnosed with gallbladder cancer.  Sadly, she passed away three weeks later after surgery to try to remove the cancer.

Now I found myself in charge of two half-American, half-Chinese children and no childcare.  While no one is going to replace their mother, having someone like a big sister, someone who could bridge both cultures, seemed like a viable alternative.

The more I thought about it, the more sense it made.  So, I signed up with Go Au Pair to become a host family.

The alternative was giving up on the children’s Chinese language and heritage.  That would mean giving up on half of who they are and that’s not right.  They were raised in a bilingual family, although admittedly, my Chinese is laughable.  Even the children complain about my “American accent” when I try to say the most basic of Chinese words.

But, having an Au Pair from China would help them preserve part of the life they had before.  As I’ve searched, I found out that some single American fathers do indeed hire Au Pairs and it works out well for everyone.  In this particular cluster, Go Au Pair in Philadelphia, Bucks County and NJ, I learned that there were two similar cases in the past few years.

In addition, when I posted my information online, another Au Pair contacted me, expressing interest.  Her sister had just completed her Au Pair year, working for a single father of school-aged children where sadly, the mother had passed away from cancer.  Perhaps my situation is not that unusual after all. Many single dads hire Au Pairs and I hope it will work for me too.

Why consider an Au Pair?   It is obvious – I am looking to find a trusted caregiver  for my kids, and my kids -to find an older, loving and caring sister,  an Au Pair, who becomes a part of our family life.

Read my next post  Looking forward to having a Chinese Au Pair.

Related articles

• Go Au Pair or Nanny? (goaupairphiladelphia.wordpress.com)
• 30,000 views on Go Au Pair blog. (goaupairphiladelphia.wordpress.com)
• 200 posts on Go Au Pair blog. (goaupairphiladelphia.wordpress.com)
• Celebration of Gratitude on Thanksgiving. (goaupairphiladelphia.wordpress.com)

Go Au Pair Au Pair saved a baby from a distracted truck driver.

On May 13th, Sharon Lizcano Tellez, an Au Pair from Colombia, performed a truly heroic act. She saved the life of an 8-month-old she has been caring for, from a distracted truck driver, while crossing a street at a cross walk. Realizing that the accident was unavoidable, Sharon protected the baby by shifting her body and absorbing the impact of the crash to her left side, away from the child.

I have been working with the Au Pair program in Philadelphia for the past 3 years and have never heard of such a courageous story. As a Local Area Representative for Go Au Pair in Philadelphia, upon meeting Sharon for the first time, I immediately noticed that she is an outstanding Au Pair, mature and responsible with a warm and caring personality. I was impressed when she showed up  at our meeting on the second day after she arrived.

Sharon is a 26 year old Au Pair from Colombia.  She has a lot of experience with kids and worked as an Au Pair in Holland before coming to the USA. Sharon is a very giving person. She loves children from her heart and cares for them as if they were her own.

Her friend, a 20 year old Au Pair Maria from El Salvador, was walking with the second baby in a stroller. Maria was  hit by a distracted driver of a van too, and  was slightly injured. Fortunately the baby escaped unharmed. You can see Maria on the video, volunteering for FRUA Holiday party.

We are proud of our Au Pairs who are experienced, reliable, and responsive, provide the highest level of childcare and become a part of the family and the local community as well. 

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.

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?

Au Pairs becoming lifelong friends.

The friendship between Host Families and their Au Pairs are so meaningful and lasting.

From my  experiences working with Host Families and Au Pairs for several years, I see how incredibly powerful Au Pair program is!  Au Pairs become a part of the families, a big sisters/brothers to host family kids.

Au Pairs often develop a life-long friendship with the parents and, especially, with the kids. They become an extended family members. Small kids from a Host Family that came from India called their Au Pair “anty”.

Au Pair program offers what other forms of childcare can’t:  the  benefit of giving the family exposure to other languages, lifestyles, customs and making friends around the world!  The Au Pair program also opens minds and hearts to other cultures and makes kids responsible citizens of the world!

One of  host families from Go Au Pair in Philadelphia had five Au Pairs from South Africa over the years. They continue stay in touch with them. The parents together with their five children are planning to visit South Africa and meet all their five Aupairs.

Luckily, we have facebook and SKYPE  now that brings Au Pairs and Host Family close to each other when the time to leave comes.