Develop A “Stuff Strategy”

We often find that au pairs will come to the end of the year having amassed a significant number of items they’ve purchased and collected throughout the course of their year. As airlines are imposing higher fees for baggage in general as well as for overweight bags, please encourage your au pairs to think strategically about how they will get all of their belongings home at the end of their year. One idea would be to think about their visitors that may come throughout the year and have them send items back with them to avoid these fees and the stressful challenge regarding what they will do with all this stuff! It also may be cheaper to send some things home via mail in so long as these items are not sent via priority overnight service. Lastly, while it may be difficult to part with some things, it can also be helpful to do some spring cleaning and weed out the items that they may be better off throwing out or giving away. Whatever the best solution is for each au pair, it’s important that these questions are explored so that they don’t end up having to make last-minute and very expensive decisions. Thinking ahead about these things can save them time, anxiety, and money. 

Regional Meetings: Take Pride In Your Participation

Each year Cultural Care Au Pair hosts a series of regional meetings across the country and 2010 is no exception.  We’ve been so excited to meet with all of you to share our program updates and to provide professional development opportunities for every Local Childcare Coordinator.  Most importantly the senior management and staff of Cultural Care is able to spend time with all of you answering questions and hearing about all of the wonderful things you are doing and successes you’ve had over the past year.  We hope that you are as motivated as we are by these meetings and it’s important to share the fact that you’ve participated with the families and au pairs in your region.  Your attendance shows your continued commitment to your LCC role and your dedication to being the best local representative for them.  Thank you all so much for being a part of these meetings and if we haven’t seen you yet, we look forward to seeing you at one of our upcoming meetings in March! 

Thoughts from a Kids First-traveler

Katja Richter from our office in Berlin, Germany just returned from the Kids First trip to South Africa and sent us some thoughts.

“Our children are our greatest treasure. They are our future” Nelson Mandela

I was honored to be part of the wonderful team that was fortunate to visit South Africa. I was truly amazed by meeting and getting to know everyone we met on our trip. At one point, it made me sad seeing the poverty, the illness and the poor circumstances the people have to deal with every day. On the other hand, it made me happy and thankful to see smiling faces that greeted us, people waving at us while passing their homes or talking with them. Those people have more in life than we ever can think about – they have joy, hope and love for each other.

They care about their neighbors and help each other when help is needed. They are thankful and use every day taking the best out of it. We saw amazing women who don’t have much material luxuries in their life but still give so much and love the children in need. They have their own sadness in life but want to give those children a better future.

This trip showed us the beauty of South Africa but also how much there is still to do. The people we talked to, like Mama Pumla, Rosemary and Hazel, told us their stories and intensions why they are doing all this, and it made me feel very grateful and thankful to get to know these special women. They have shown us that everybody can make a change and help other people in need.

It is very hard to express all of my feelings I had during our trip but it will be a lifetime memory and made me think in a different way about my own life. Things that we complain about are nothing compared to things and situations people have to deal with in South Africa.

I truly remember one little boy, he was called the future president because he looks like the one! He was so eager to get in my arms to get held and to get my sunglasses on his face even not knowing who I was. He was one of Mama Rosemarie’s boys and even though we did not stay very long he remembered me and jumped right into my arms when we came back to hand out the gifts. It was a very special moment.

Thanks for those moments! We need more people like Mama Pumla, Mama Rosemary, Hazel and all the other great people that work for CHOSA and give their support and help everyday. Let me finish with Nelson Mandela’s words, that I found on a postcard in Cape Town;

“Our children are our greatest treasure. They are our future”!

Thank you from Katja Richter Regional Manager at Cultural Care Au Pair, Berlin, Germany

Date Night

While many families use the full 45 hours per week with their au pair, there are many other families who don’t. While many families think about the au pair hours in relation to when they are at work, one way that we’ve found host parents have also benefited from the help an au pair provides is by establishing a date night once a week. Those couple of hours where the parents can go out to dinner and reconnect allows them to come back to the house as a stronger team and more on the same page and that has benefits for the whole family. So, if your families have some hours to spare, encourage them to put them to great use and invest in date night.

Introduction to Kids First

Through Cultural Care Au Pair’s Kids First program, host families, au pairs, local coordinators and Cultural Care staff worldwide make a difference in the lives of children in the U.S. and overseas. Kids First provides children’s organizations with monetary contributions, necessary supplies and educational grants to benefit children in need worldwide.

Funds are raised through local events across the U.S., activities in many of our au pair recruitment countries, and through national campaigns organized by Cultural Care staff. 100% of all donations and funds raised go directly to children in need and are matched by Cultural Care.

Our partners include: Orphanage #63, a Russian orphanage outside Moscow that is home to 56 children with little hope for adoption; Ubuhle Babantwana is a daycare center that cares for over 150 of the neediest children in a poverty-stricken township outside Cape Town, South Africa; Casa do Zezinho, in an area known as “the death triangle” in Sao Paolo, Brazil, is an after-school center that offers arts and culture programs to 1,200 at-risk children and teenagers; St. Mary’s Academy, located in the heart of New Orleans, opened its doors after Hurricane Katrina to children of all ages and means and is working on building an elementary collection for their school library.

Baby It’s Cold Outside

As the weather continues to be chilly across much of the U.S., now is a great time for host families and au pairs to get on the same page regarding appropriate outdoor attire for the kids. Sometimes kids can have their own ideas about what counts as a “winter coat” and they may or may not think that a hat and gloves are a necessity when they head out in a snow storm. However, if the au pair is responsible for helping to get everyone together in the morning and especially during inclement weather, it’s important that they know what the expectations are of the parents in this regard. In your next monthly call, email update, or even on your website, encourage your families and au pairs to discuss this important seasonal issue.