Be patient the cold will end and Spring will come

This time of year is difficult for all of us, especially if you live in the Northern States where the cold seems to never end and I am sure in Atlanta and the Southern States that never see the white stuff! This has been a long and cold Winter and for some of our Warm weather Aupairs this is particularly difficult. So we as host parents need to be aware of our aupairs moods and understand that the weather may play a big role in their sadness, homesickness or otherwise moodiness. Often aupairs are not allowed to drive when it is snowing or icy outside (we should not be out either) so they may be feeling trapped in the house not being able to see their friends, or maybe the kids have had snow days that never seem to end. Be understanding of your aupair and talk with her/him about how they are feeling is very important. It will be warm again and then in Mid August when it is 100 F outside you will long for these cool days.

Expectations

We all have expectations going into our au pair/ host family relationship and the key to a successful year is communicating these expectations. We cannot assume that either party knows what we are thinking, feeling or wanting. We spend a few weeks or months communicating over Skype and email so we should have a fairly good idea of each others personalities but meeting in person and living under the same roof brings up many new things and if we do not communicate with each other small things become enormous and hard to deal with. We has a host family need to provide good guidelines in a written format to the au pair of what the hours are and what we expect of the au pair. When they have time off and when they are expected to work for us, what kind of chores we would like them to do around the house and no this does not include cleaning your whole house, au pairs are not a maid service. But they can help around the house, kids laundry, clean up dishes, light vacuuming, pick up kids rooms, etc
Au pairs need to ask questions and communicate back to the host family what their expectations are, can they use the car for social purposes, will the family provide a gym membership, who pays for the gas in the car, extra vacation time, all these things are perks but we all need to talk to each other and understand where each side is coming from.

When we had our first au pair ten years ago we were very green! I made a lot of mistakes, i did not have a schedule written out for her, I did not have all the essentials in her room, radio, CD player, TV I just thought I would wing it, it would all be okay. I quickly learned she was unhappy and she wanted to leave, not because she did not like us but because we were not prepared. Thankfully our area director then helped out and made us communicate and see things from both sides. We ended up having a wonderful year together. So I cannot stress how important COMMUNICATING is

What to do in case of a Tornado

Now that we are in the midst of Tornado season and we saw the devastation a tornado can do in Joplin, MO. We need to discuss with our Au Pairs what to do in case the sirens go off and there is a tornado watch. Tornados are really a Midwest phenomenon, it is what put Kansas on the map with the story of the Wizard of Oz. Have a plan for your family as to what you do in case of a tornado warning, make sure your Au pair understands what is expected of her and tell her what to do if you the host parents are not home. Tornados can strike at any time of day, but luckily they give us a little time to prepare so it is important to go over your families procedures before the storm hits. If you do not have a basement to go to then explain what is the safest place in your house, Usually a bathroom away from windows. Make sure your au pair always has her cell phone within reach. Stay safe
Tornado safty
http://www.tornadoproject.com/safety/safety.htm

How to find the great Au Pair

   I am currently searching for my ninth Au pair. You would think after having done the process so many times you get better at it and it becomes easy. I am always overwhelmed at the process. But I have developed a system that seems to work pretty well for me, 7 out of 8  of my au pairs have been great! I start the process by looking at pictures, if the profile photo appeals to me I save it in my favorites. I skim what they have to say but really the photo is what determines whether you end up in my favorite box or not. After looking through photos for a few days going back over them many times i determine who to interview. I read through the essay and get a feel for the persons family life and their enthusiasm for kids. With my current Aupair I only interviewed her and no one else. I was sold on her photos and our first Skype conversation. You can tell a lot by talking via Skype.

    I remember when I started with the aupair care service the process was not on the internet, you recieved three profiles by fed ex , that the office in San Francisco picked for you. You would read through terrible hand writing and horrible second generation copied photos. If you did not like what they sent you would have to wait another week to get the next batch. Thinking back on it I can't believe how easy it has become now. The fact that you can view over 100 profiles and narrow down at your own will who you like and save them so you remember who you liked  is amazing!

   So back to my current search, I have used my same process of photo elimination and only one person stood out. We are in the process of interviewing and she seems like a winner. Let's see if the photo process worked this time too. Stay tuned.

Our wonderful Au Pair Sabrina one of the best!

Our Au pair Experience (Part 1)

Having an au pair has been a great experience for us.  I grew up with au pairs starting when I was born until I was a teenager. We had 11 different girls  as I was growing up. Now that I am an adult I have also had many au pairs, we have had 8 girls to date. The difference between the au pairs  I grew up with and the au pairs my daughters are growing up with is that all of the au pairs I had as a child were all Norwegian. Back then there was no agency and there were no strict visa regulations. We brought Norwegian girls with us to be au pairs for a year. My family is from Norway and we lived in many places around the world and we hired au pairs in Norway and brought them with us to the country we were living in, Moscow, Washington DC and Vienna were our three main places where we lived. The greatest difference between having au pairs then and now is that there was no agency and no support for either the aupair or the family. I remember as a child some of the girls we had were not so good, they were homesick, or drank on the job or brought their boyfriends over while they were working and once we brought them to our family we were in a sense stuck with each other. We also had great girls during those years that I remember fondly and some of whom I am still in touch with.

So when my daughter was born I knew that having an au pair was the natural choice for us. It is flexible, enriching and an affordable option for childcare. I also wanted to bring an aupair over from Norway and carry on the tradition of my childhood. But I quickly found out that we live in a different world now with far more regulations and you cannot just hire someone in another country and bring them to America. My mother contacted an Au pair agency in Norway  (because I still had my heart set on a Norwegian girl)  and she found the partner company to Aupaircare. So when my daughter was born I contacted the San Fransisco office and the process of finding an aupair started. I met with my area director and she did our home interview and got us started on the process of finding an au pair. She was a wonderful area director and made me feel so comfortable with the whole process and I knew she would be there to help us through the year. So this is how our family came about hiring an aupair and adding to our new and extended family from around the world. And our first au pair was not Norwegian but we got a wonderful Danish girl.