I take great pleasure in providing daily, ongoing, local support to both Host Families and Au Pairs in Philadelphia and suburban, Montgomery, Bucks County and close NJ
Is changing caregivers every year bad for my children?
Children need constants in their life. Caring parents and the family environment provide such permanence. Most forms of childcare naturally expose children to changing caregivers often – in school, every year there is a new teacher; in an institutional daycare, every year, in a new age group, there is a new teacher.
Creating and maintaining relationships with many loving adults can be an enriching experience for children.
If a host family desires more continuity of care, they can match with an au pair who plans to extend her stay after the first year. Au pair program offers options of extension for 6, 9 or 12 months; so it is possible to host the same au pair for up to two years. Another way to provide more continuity for children is to host au pairs from the same country, exposing them to the same culture and second language.
I have found that there are advantages to having a new au pair every year. As children grow, their needs change, and so do my requirements of a caregiver. When my children are young, I need someone loving and affectionate, and driving skills are not very important. With school aged children, I need a caregiver who is more authoritative, organized, whose English and education are good enough to help them with homework, and an experienced driver. Au pair program provides a natural way to select the best kind of au pair for the stage of your children’s growth.
An important and unique facet of the au pair program, is that it creates lasting relationships for your children around the world. When an au pair leaves, she doesn’t really leave your family – your family gains another member in a different country. With each new au pair, the children are exposed to a different culture. They can travel to visit their au pairs in their home countries, and their lives become enriched in a myriad of ways.
Will I be able to relax and enjoy myself at home with another adult hanging around all the time?
Different families have different needs for privacy, and different needs of socialization in their own home. Au pairs also have different expectations of living with an american family during their time here – some look forward to nightly family dinners, some look forward to daily study sessions in their own room, outings to the gym or coffee shop in their free time, and everything in between.
When just starting out with the au pair program, sometimes it is difficult for a family to decide what kind of time they want to commit to spending with their au pair in her free time. Often there is a level of flexibility – I easily adjust to different needs of our different au pairs, I enjoy chatting up a storm at times, as well as I understand their need for “me” time outside the home or inside their rooms. The only type I found hard to live with was a girl who disappeared into her room the second her shift was over, and never came out on weekends, even when she was home. But this is an extreme, and those kinds of personalities don’t usually work well with the au pair program.
When a family has an idea of their ideal relationship with an au pair, they can look for a candidate that shares those expectations during the matching process. Sometimes the level of interaction between the family and an au pair depends on the personalities involved, and in a great personality match between the family and an au pair, everything just works out.
From my experience, au pairs never made me feel like I was giving up privacy in order to host them. I enjoyed having them around, and they were not around too much during their free time.
Most au pairs are excited to explore America; they make new friends quickly, and don’t spend most of their free time hanging out at home. The structure of the au pair program, with local au pair clusters and regular mandated meetings, is perfect for creating an instant social circle and support network for a new au pair.
Matching with a good driver and giving an au pair access to a car during her free time gives her the necessary freedom of movement in most suburban areas, so she doesn’t depend on her friends or host family to for transportation. Selecting an au pair who is not timid, curious about the world, and an extravert is not only good for her adjustment to the USA, but also makes her less dependent on her host family for her life outside work.
Sometimes a layout of the home allows to have the au pair’s bedroom in a separate area.
It is also important to make the au pair feel at home in her room, and give her everything she might need, such as a computer with a fast internet connection to talk to her family at home, a phone, a TV set.
And finally, good communication helps solve most problems in the au pair and host family relationship, including understanding the balance of togetherness comfortable for both the family and the au pair. If inviting an au pair to the family function on her day off, it is important to communicate that her presence is truly welcome. If an au pair wants to come along when the family would rather spend the time just together, it is important to explain this need to her.
We are going to volunteer again for adoptive families on July 16 at 10:30 A.M. at the FRUA picnic, at Limerick Community Park, Limerick, PA.
Why volunteering is so important?
Volunteering is a great way to help the community around us. It also has many positive benefits for Au Pairs!
Gain Experience. Whatever an Au Pair wants to do in her life, there are volunteer opportunities that will allow her to begin gaining experience in that field and to add to your resume.
Become a part of the community. An Au Pair will meet a wide range of fellow volunteers and contribute to helping the community you now call home.
Meet a new people & make friends. An Au Pair will get to know American life through volunteering.
Learn things and develop new talents.Volunteering can help an Au Pair learn a variety of new skills, face new challenges.
Bring personal satisfaction. Volunteering with other Au Pairs makes an Au Pair happy and able to feel a reward for helping others.
If you think about volunteering in your free time, here the web site where you can find it http://www.volunteermatch.org/ You should enjoy your volunteer experience, so before you sign up for any position make sure that you fully understand the commitment. Remember your childcare duties always come first! Volunteer schedules can not conflict with your job as an Au Pair.
Small acts make a big difference!
Please join us at Limerick Community Park on July 16 at 10:30 am.
Chinese Au Pairs have become the most popular choice among host families. Here are the top ten reasons to consider an Au Pair from China.
Expose kids to the Mandarin language. With a Chinese au pair, families are giving their children the opportunity to be immersed in the language and culture. Mandarin is one of the fastest growing languages taught at public schools in the United States.
Highly educated. All of Go Au Pair’s Au Pairs from China currently placed in the U.S. were either enrolled in college or already held a degree prior to their arrival. 77% have graduated from college, and 20% have had some college education.
Great with infants. Most of Chinese Au Pairs are infant qualified.
Willing to work with the group of kids and have experience working with multiple from China.
Have strong English skills. Fluency in English is a highly prized skill in the Chinese job market and that is one of the reasons Chinese Au Pairs chose to come to the USA.
Have teaching experience. Working as a teacher is a very typical career choice before becoming an Au Pair.
Willing to help with house chores, they usually eager to cook a delicious and healthy meals.
Mature. Almost all (93%) of Go Au Pair’s au pairs are over the age of 21, and come to USA to improve their English skills.
Good role models. Chinese Au Pairs are sporty, well mannered and respectful of host parents and elders.
Bright and willing to work and study hard. They are looking forward to taking college credits at American universities improve their job potential and career possibilities when they return home.
Mother’s Day is right around the corner.
Mothers Day Heart Cake is a “sweet” way to say thank you to your host mom and to teach your host children how to make this special cake.
What is the current pay rate for nannies near Philadelphia area?
According to the Philadelphia Nanny Network average salaries for nannies in Philadelphia are $12,5-20 per hour and mostly depend on the nanny’s level of education, child care experience and numbers of children.
While the salaries of nannies in Philadelphia can vary greatly, according to the International Nanny Association’s 2010 Nanny Salary and Benefits Survey nannies in Philadelphia earn on average $15.55 per hour.
The cost of an Au Pair is approximately $7.58 per hour regardless of how many children parents have. 65% of Au Pairs from Go Au Pair agency have completed some college or are college graduates.
Most Au Pairs have specialty skills such as infant qualified with at least 200 hours of documented experience caring for children under the age of 2 and CPR and First Aid certified. Some of Au Pairs have experience caring for children with special needs, post-secondary education in a child care related field, professional or technical training in a child care, educational or medical related field and prior Au Pair experience either in the U.S. or abroad.
Au Pairs are screened, personally interviewed and meet regulatory requirements that include background checks, verified child care references and more. Go Au Pair is providing to Host Families affordable childcare more than 20 years from qualified Au Pairs and Au Pairs from our agency have been internationally recognized through this award in 2009, 2005 and 2004. Our Flexible Choice Program offers families a variety of options regarding payments to allow the program to be more accessible and affordable to all host families, including a customized payment plan.
At a cost that is two times less than a nanny cost, parents can have reliable and flexible childcare while exposing the kids to another language and culture.
The most precious gift we can offer anyone is our attention. ~Thich Nhat Han.
One of the keys to a successful year for a host family and an Au Pair is good communication. The host parents may not feel that they have the time to explain every little detail to the Au Pair. They may love their Au Pair as if she was a member of your family, and not always feel comfortable to direct the Au Pair, but she deserves of the same courtesies that a nanny or any employee. Those courtesies include a lot of communication and directions. Here are some advises:
Host Parents:
Provide Au Pair with a written schedule and job description .
If performing the job task is mandatory, don’t make it sound optional. For example, if you want your Au Pair to do the children’s laundry today, don’t tell them to do it “if you have time”.
Provide details. For example, if you want the clothes handled in a certain way, specify what that way is.
It is never acceptable to yell at your Au Pair, talk to them as an adult with respect
Help your Au Pair feel truly part of your family.
Host Parents and Au Pair:
Communicate in writing where possible. For example, many families use a daily book in which parents and Au Pair record information (parental instructions and Au Pair observations)
Meet once weekly to review the past week’s activities and discuss the coming week’s activities. Weekly meetings are wonderful ways for both parties to follow-up, ask questions, or share concerns.
Show appreciation to each other. Say “thank you” all the time.
Au Pair:
If you are unclear about what is expected of you, ask. You may think that you will appear unintelligent, that you may annoy your Host Parents, or they may concern about your limited English. Your questions will be appreciated because they will prevent problems in the future.
Good communication is the key to a great year!Sometimes host parents may feel awkward about redirecting the behavior of someone who they feel is more a member of the family than an employee, but communication between host parents and Au Pair is essential.
I have noticed some people making an index of the blog from time to time. I think that it is especially beneficial for new readers and host families. Here are the pages that have received over 40 hits during my first six months blogging on Go Au Pair blog. These are not 100% accurate since some people read everything from the home page, but I hope you find this interesting.
I would like to find more interesting topics for my blog and find out what people are most interested in reading. I would appreciate it if you would leave comments with suggestions about what you want me to write about in the future.
It is essential for parents to teach children to treat themselves and others with respect.
Being respectful helps a child succeed in life. If children don’t have respect for peers, authority, or themselves, it’s almost impossible for them to succeed. A respectful child takes care of belongings and responsibilities, and gets along with peers. Schools teach children about respect, but parents have the most influence on how respectful children become.It is essential for parents to teach children to treat themselves and others with respect. Read the whole article Best way of Teaching Manners and Respect for Children
How can parents teach children to respect themselves and others? There are a number of methods that parents should use in order to teach respect to children. The key to success is to show respect.
If you are respectful in your interactions with others (including your children), then your children will learn how to treat others with respect. They will learn how it feels to be respected, and they will develop the self-confidence to be comfortable giving and receiving respectful treatment.
The primary method is by modeling respectful behavior. It has been proven that children copy 95% of their family’s expressions and actions. An Au Pair can be a role model for children because she is treated as a family member and becomes a ‘big sister’. Host children look up to her and imitate her attitude and behavior.
The Au Pair is living with the host family, bonding with the children and enriching their lives with her love, unlike a nanny who considers her childcare responsibilities a job and leaves at the end of a work day. As a big sister, the Au Pair teaches children respect and appreciation to the parents every moment when she is working or having fun with the family.
Teach your children to respect themselves and others, the older and youngest, the family members and friends, their country and the world with the Au Pair’s help.
As a work at home parents, it’s very easy to get irritated with the kids because they’re taking up valuable work time, distracting and keeping parents from meeting deadlines. Children need a lot of attention and work keeps the parents busy and it can be a struggle to balance everything.
An Au Pair may stay with the kids and give the parents an opportunity to focus on their work. She can play with kids, take care of children’s meals, laundry, and cleaning their rooms. Many of the Au Pairs drive and can take the children to and from school, karate, ballet or play dates. If parents prefer to have child(ren) in their home rather than in a day care, an Au Pair will provide flexible in-home care and personalized child supervision. The Au Pair enjoy doing many things with a host family’s children, teaching them and keeping them busy with useful things, and having fun together.
Not only children, but also parents get many benefits. For example, parents can have lunch with their children and play with the kids when they take a break. Parents can arrange weekly working hours to fit their needs. If parents has a phone conference at night or need to work on weekends, having an Au Pair allows flexibility in their work day and hours.
Working hard at home and being very busy, parents still know what their children are doing. Children don’t need to call 911 for help with a math problem when the Au Pair is around
A real call of a four year old girl to 911. She needed help with her math.
An Au Pair not only may help with math problem, but also help children to learn a new language for free with a native speaker!
Go Au Pair recruits Au Pairs from over 60 different countries throughout the world that provides families with the opportunity to match with the best Au Pairs for their family’s needs.
If you are looking for a high quality care provider consider Go Au Pair. I will help your family have a flexible, live-in childcare for less than the cost of a nanny that will also expose your children to new cultures.
