AuPairCare: June 2012

Welcome to Au Pair Care!

Welcome to AuPairCare!

AuPairCare understands that each family is unique. That's why our programs are customized to fit your childcare needs, budget, lifestyle, and timing. Our carefully screened au pairs provide the highest quality of in-home care to ensure that your children will be safe, happy, and healthy. AuPairCare offers you a dependable, flexible childcare solution. You'll have childcare that fits you.

Did you know that AuPairCare has an A+ Better Business Bureau rating! If you're looking for an au pair agency, this is an important consideration. Ask other agencies their rating.

Meet Our Au Pairs

AuPairCare has hundreds of carefully screened au pairs from around the world available for placement. When you welcome an au pair to your home, you gain superior childcare at a surprisingly affordable price. Meet some of our amazing au pairs at http://www.aupaircare.com/

AuPairCare's Infant Specialized Care Program for Au Pairs in Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Suffolk, Williamsburg, Hampton, Newport News, & Yorktown

My husband and I went out on a date night the other night! Alas not having family in the same state, or even a list of childcare back-ups (we don’t get out much!), we needed to locate a babysitter ASAP. As I imagine being the case with all new parents, our requirement was not only a good babysitter, but also someone who had solid experience with the peculiar breed that is babies!

This got me to thinking about how cool it is that AuPairCare has addressed this particular parenting concern and I believe are the only au pair agency to do so. The Infant Specialized Care Program dictates than at an au pair must have at least 200 documented hours working with children under two years of age, also these au pairs have expressed an interest in caring for infants. Infant Specialized designated au pairs complete a week long training designed by childcare specialists at AuPairCare’s Training Academy in New York. The classroom is set up as a nursery and each au pair is given a baby (doll obviously!) to care for during the week. Au pairs are given training in the following areas of baby care in the “American Way” (especially cool, I think, is the training in infant massage, baby sign language and the American heart Association certification in Infant First Aid and CPR):

General household safety and hygiene
Communicating with parents about infant care (including the use of a Daily Diary)
Infant care basics (feeding, bathing, changing, transportation)
What to do in an emergency
Creating and monitoring baby's daily routine
Infant stages of development
Games and activities to stimulate infant mental development
Caring for multiples
American parenting techniques
Coping techniques to handle stress as an infant caregiver
Baby massage and infant soothing techniques
Infant sign language
Certification in Infant First Aid and CPR

For more information on AuPairCare’s unique Infant Specialized Care Program, please visit and also check out the following YouTube Video: AuPairCare's Infant Specialized Program

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A Little Too Early or a Little Too Late for foreign language inVirginia, Chesapeake, Virginia Beach, Suffolk, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Hampton, Newport News, Poquoson, & Williamsburg?

This summer, I'm spending three weeks in France. One (and maybe two) and at a French immersion school in the Loire Valley. I started learning French last year, and am excited for the chance to use it in real life instead of just a classroom.

It was a logistical work of art to set the family stage for me to take this trip. As a working mom with three kids, escaping anywhere by myself is a treat, but three weeks in Europe is monumental. I'm not under any illusions that it will happen again soon.
Since I've always wished that someone had spoken a language besides English to me, I asked my French teacher how old French children are when they begin another language in school. She said, around 10, and that it was too late. They should start earlier.

So I did a little research and discovered that actually, 90% of children in Europe have taken another language by the time they are 10. The latest children begin a second language is 13, which is about the time American public schools begin to offer classes more than once a week. Over two-thirds of the European population can read, write, and speak functional English.

In Japan, English is required from sixth grade on, and in China, children are systematically introduced to English in third grade, about age 8 or 9. In most cases, this is not the twice a week elective offered to American students in middle or high school, but a daily class that's at least an hour long.

A second or third language really is a gift that can last a lifetime. What language do you want your child/children to learn? And if you're an au pair, when did you begin to learn another language?

June Promotion--Save $900 for an au pair in Hampton Roads, Tidewater, Virginia, Chesapeake, Virginia Beach, Suffolk, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Hampton, Newport News, Poquoson, & Williamsburg

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Brilliant Baby Buys for families in Hampton Roads, Tidewater, Virginia, Chesapeake, Virginia Beach, Suffolk, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Hampton, Newport News, Poquoson, & Williamsburg

I don’t like to just write a product list for you as a general rule. After all, there are SO many baby products on the market, it is sometimes hard to know what you will really need and will be especially useful, versus what might be a waste of money.
Of course a list such as this is always going to be personal - we all like to make our own discoveries and mistakes along the way, but I know that I would have appreciated some objective guidance when I was scouring the internet and scratching my head at 7 months pregnant. (Please note I have steered away from stating the obvious baby needs such as stroller, car seat, crib, high chair, playpen, well stocked diaper bag etc.). Here then, is my list of best baby related buys…

The practical:

· Baby play mat

· Baby chair

· Baby walker

· Humidifier for the Nursery

· A comfortable and quiet chair for feeding baby

· If breastfeeding, a breast pump (I like to have an electric one for easy convenience

and a manual one for on the go). Also breast milk storage bags

· A Boppy (even if you aren’t breastfeeding these are great for propping up baby)

· Ice cube trays (and a blender!) for storing homemade baby food

· Hand sanitizer (in every room and diaper bag)

· Costco membership for stocking up on diapers and wipes

· An engaged partner!

Toys & books:

· Lamaze stroller toy, like Kerry the fairy (they have others if you want to be gender neutral)

· Baby Einstein Sing Along (portable and not too annoying!)

· Baby Einstein DVDs

· Good baby music like Baby Beluga and all the Putamayo cds

· Good touchy feely book. (I have a great one called Fairies)

· Good Nursery Rhyme book

Clothes:

· Plain white onesies (good for any season, day or night)

· Crib shoes like Robeez or cheaper Bobux from Target. These help keep socks on and look cute!)

· Extra-large blanket for swaddling baby.

· Sunhat and sunglasses. I love my Flap Happy hat with large brim and tie and Baby Banz glasses with Velcro wrap around

I would love to hear anyone else’s personal suggestions on great and not so great buys for baby...

Geocaching--Go on a Real Treasure Hunt This Summer with your au pair in Hampton Roads, Tidewater, Virginia, Chesapeake, Virginia Beach, Suffolk, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Hampton, Newport News, Poquoson, & Williamsburg

An amazing constant in children is their ability to find treasures wherever they are and at whatever age. On a beach, it is seashells and body parts of sea creatures. In the woods it is bird feathers, stones, and leaves. In the backyard it is pebbles, flowers, and sticks.

As we begin summer, I am always on the lookout for activities that taps into my kids inner-self. Something that is simple, creative, gets them moving, and is outdoors. This year, a host family told me about geocaching. I have heard of it, but didn’t know the details. The host family explained how much fun they have with their daughter and I thought I would look into it. As a part of our AuPairCare family, you get to share in what I discovered. Maybe it will be a new adventure for your children, au pair, and you.

According to dictionary.com, geocaching is the outdoor sport or game of searching for hidden objects by using Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates posted on the internet. In simple terms; someone hides a cache of trinkets, posts the coordinates online, you find it, swap a trinket with a trinket, then re-hide the cache for another geocacher to find. The video on YouTube is a good summary that explains it well.

Because it uses GPS (which most smart phones have), the internet, and the outdoors, the game is fun for every personality in your group. At Human Kinetics, you can learn all the advantages of geocaching which include physical, social, and educational benefits.

Curiously, I entered my zipcode on the most popular site for geocaching, www.geocaching.com and found 12 caches in a park near my house. There are over a million caches hidden all over the world just waiting to be found, so this activity can be shared on vacation or at home.