In honor of LCC Appreciation Week, here’s my video about the role of your Local Childcare Coordinator, an invaluable resource, advisor, mediator and support. She or he will check in regularly, hold monthly meetings for au pairs, and offer support and advice throughout the year. Thank you to all our wonderful, caring and dedicated LCCs!
1 week ago
by Susan RobinsonWhy is it important to schedule regular family meetings? Family meetings are an important communication tool in creating a successful au pair experience. They are regularly scheduled meetings where all members of the family, including the au pair, touch base and talk about what is going well and what can be improved. The family meeting facilitates open communication and helps to ensure that everyone is on the same page. Learn more by watching this video.
1 month ago by Susan RobinsonWhat do au pairs learn at the Au Pair Training School?
All Cultural Care Au Pairs attend an intensive training program in child safey and child development when they first arrive in the U.S. at our exclusive Au Pair Training School. To learn more about our rigorous curriculum, watch the video.
1 month ago by Susan RobinsonWhat kind of support can I expect from my local coordinator during my au pair year?
Your Local Childcare Coordinator (or LCC) will be an invaluable resource to both you and your au pair during your year. Not only does your LCC act as a liaison between you, your au pair and your Program Director, she or he will also provide advice as well as support throughout the year on practical issues. Watch the video for more details.
1 month ago by Susan RobinsonWhat does a host family interview entail?
Just as we interview au pair candidates to ensure they have the right experience and motivation to be part of our program, Cultural Care Au Pair also conducts an interview with each host family to make sure they are aware of the program guidelines and have a suitable home to welcome an au pair. This interview takes place in the family’s home. To learn more, watch my video!
2 months ago by Susan RobinsonHow much does it really cost to host an au pair?
It’s a common myth that hosting an au pair is only for wealthy families. That is simply not true! Our average weekly cost is just $340—and that’s per family, not per child. And Cultural Care has kept their prices the same again for 2010—they have not changed since 2008. Here’s an honest look at the financial implications of hosting an au pair. For information on our new SUMMER Savings Discount, visit our website.
3 months ago by Susan Robinson
The Mama Bee is a blog that offers tips, news and commentary for mothers working in the corporate world. Recenlty, host mom and Cultural Care Development Director, Sierra Rix, offered tips on “Working and Making it Work with Four Kids” on the Mama Bee:
“Today, on Mommy’s Holding it Together with Scotch (Tape), we see the Rix family doing the morning dash …”
Sometimes I feel like my life could be a sit-com of working mommy miss-haps involving cute but bouncing off the walls kids. The supporting cast would consist of our Swiss Au Pair, a Jack Russell, a sleeping cat and co-star Ed, my rare-book collecting, Seinfeld watching, semi-obsessed football fan husband.
Oh wait, there are half a dozen out there already. Darn. Guess I’ll have to keep the day job.
Fortunately, I love my “day-job.” There has to be that love to make the craziness of raising four kids 7, 5, 4 and 7 months, while working full-time not only bearable, but an enjoyable adventure. Everyday, I mesh being a mom, wife and professional into one person.
Here’s a snapshot of my reality:
The alarm, aka the baby, goes off around 6 am indicating it is time for my husband to get in the shower and her to indulge in breakfast in bed. She nurses on one side, while my once hated, now loved, pump takes care of the other. The feeding frenzy has just subsided when the three stooges pile in, effectively turning our king size bed into a playpen and guaranteeing someone will end up whining that they have “no room.” After about 15 minutes of what they call snuggling and I call Pee-Wee WWF, Nicole, our au pair is on the clock and I have the bathroom to myself and 20 minutes to pull myself and the baby together while she get the big kids dressed and to the table. My husband herds the stragglers downstairs as he zips out to work and Nicole gets breakfast started.
Nicole and I take turns running the older two to school. Let me rephrase, she walks them to school when it’s her turn, on my days, I drive like a woman crazed in the mini-van and make quick stops at the grocery store, dry cleaners or hardware store before screeching to a halt in the driveway to be back in the home office by 8:50 am. A quick nurse for the baby and I’m returning emails by 9 am.
A blur of calls, email, presentations and pumping with a brief pause when I head downstairs for a quick meal with the 4 year old and Nicole, who keep me company as I eat a quick lunch while nursing. Then I’m back at my desk! The afternoons fly as I work my way down the To-Do list, pump and close out by planning the following day.
Blissfully, the day ends more quietly than it began. A family dinner, one of us cleans up while the other starts tubs for the kids and then story time. All of us sprawled on the rug in the boys’ room: our eldest daughter holding her baby sister; the boys cuddled up in a blanket next to me while Ed reads. Bedtime is one of those “just right” moments.
Being a working mom means I do wacky things with my kids, like science experiments with water and the candles on the dinner table and roast marshmallows over the stove; all the while, balancing our schedules as carefully as our checkbook. We’ve made certain things priorities like families dinners and family time, childcare that feels like family, and living a simple life so we can enjoy the life we have. Like every other mom, working or not, I just try to do this parenting gig as well as I can.
3 months ago by Susan RobinsonHow can current families earn a free program year?
Cultural Care Au Pair host families have an opportunity to win a free program year by participating in our Host Family Video Contest and also by referring families through our Host Family Referral Program. Watch to learn how!
3 months ago by Susan Robinson by Susan Robinson
Parents often ask me what it’s like to say goodbye to an au pair. Host father, Chris Duckworth, posted this beautiful farewell on his blog last week:
Today is the last legal working day for our current au pair, Ann, a wonderful young woman from Thailand who for two years has lived with our family and taken care of our children. When she arrived to our family our youngest was not quite five months old, and hardly able to sit on his own. Our middle child was in diapers. Our oldest was in preschool. I was on internship, and my wife was teaching with the informal title ABD - All But Dissertation.
In the two years that she cared for us - and I say for us, for her caring, her work, and her support was more than just for our children - our youngest has learned to crawl, then walk and talk. Our 3 year-old child is reading letters thanks to Ann, and eager to learn so much more. Our oldest is about to complete first grade. I’ve been ordained and began to work in a new church, Jessicah defended her doctoral dissertation, and we moved to a new home and new community.
And then there are the little things - her willingness to work a few extra hours when an emergency came up, her wonderful jewelry-repair skills, the smell of Thai food that filled the house regularly, and the way that she would somehow always know when I forgot something and text me or come running outside with the forgotten item (as she did on Sunday when I nearly left home without my alb and stole for an afternoon service).
All this is to say that Ann has been there with us, at times carrying more than any wage-earning caregiver should be asked to carry, helping us through some amazing transitions. She has been an amazing blessing and support to us. We will miss her incredibly.
With tears in our eyes, we say Goodbye, Miss Ann. We love you.
3 months agoThe Household Handbook — A Key to Success with Your Au Pair
One key to a successful year with an au pair is honest open communication and the sharing of all of your very important family details. The Household Handbook is meant to encourage open dialogue and serve as a reference guide for your au pair while she is in your home. It is a tool to help host families document important details that you want your au pair to know about your family and the care of your children. Learn more about the Household Handbook by watching my video.
4 months ago by Susan Robinson
Cultural Care Au Pair provides flexible, affordable childcare to thousands of families across the country. Learn more about our childcare program.
Susan Robinson is Au Pair Answer Mom, host mom to 9 au pairs and Cultural Care Au Pair staff member for 13 years. She is excited to share her expertise with parents considering the program as well as families already hosting au pairs.
Natalie Jordan is author of Nat Chat; a column that provides our LCCs with words of advice and suggestions on topics ranging from meeting ideas to communication techniques and general tricks of the customer service trade.
Stephanie Rueter Stephanie Rueter is our Creative Director. She started with Cultural Care Au Pair in 2000 and has been our resource for program news, au pair and host family stories and event updates since then. Stephanie is also very involved with the Kids First program.
Kids First is Cultural Care’s outreach program that supports children in need. Read about our partners and projects and hear from members of the Cultural Care community who share what they are doing to help children worldwide.
Cultural Care Au Pair has two Program Counselors on staff to provide direct support and assessment to au pairs in need. Each counselor works with a specific area of the U.S. and have been a part of the Cultural Care team for several years. In addition to au pair support, the Program Counselor team also provides regular information, tips, and insight through the On Call section of The Buzz.
