Au Pair Travel, Arrival & Support

Au Pair Travel

EurAupair's Au Pair Workshop

While au pairs are not child care professionals, they are well prepared for their EurAupair program year. Each EurAupair au pair attends a 5-day EurAupair "Au Pair Workshop" in New York City when she first arrives in the United States. She will attend these workshop sessions with other newly arrived au pairs, and receive a minimum of 24 hours of basic child development instruction, and 8 hours of child safety instruction prior to arrival in your home.

The child safety workshop sessions, conducted by instructors who are American Red Cross certified, include common safety hazards and injury prevention, as well as rudimentary first aid for childhood injuries. EurAupair's child development instructors discuss the various developmental stages of early childhood with emphasis on techniques for "getting off to a good start," building the foundation for success with the au pair and children of any age.

Your au pair will be instructed on how to engage your children in age appropriate activities, like playing pat-a-cake with a baby, or make-believe and puzzles with a preschooler, or art projects with a school-aged child. This child safety and development program also gives your au pair a chance to recover from her long journey before continuing on to her new "home away from home," while the instruction she receives, along with the textbook and handbook she'll take with her, will help prepare her to get to know and love her new family.

Au Pair Arrival

Within the first few days of the au pair's arrival at your home, your EurAupair Community Counselor will contact you to advise you of the date of the EurAupair Au Pair Orientation meeting. This required orientation meeting, conducted by your local EurAupair Community Counselor, will include other recently arrived au pairs in your area. The orientation will provide everyone attending with the essential practical information about such things as cultural differences, program guidelines, insurance claims processing, community resources and educational opportunities in the area. Just as importantly, it will give your au pair a chance to meet and make friends with other au pairs in your community.

On-Going Support

During your year together, your in home child care provider will benefit from the on-going availability and support of your local EurAupair Community Counselor and our regional staff. Your au pair will be included in periodic get-togethers - pot-luck dinners, ball games, shopping trips - and your EurAupair Community Counselor will organize cultural events twice a year, such as museum visits, concerts or even an authentic western rodeo for your au pair. These EurAupair-organized activities give your au pair a chance to make friends with other au pair exchange participants, friends who share and understand the au pair experience, and to socialize with peers while seeing more of what America has to offer.

You and your au pair receive additional support with regular phone calls from your EurAupair Community Counselor. The EurAupair Community Counselor is available to answer your questions and offer guidance throughout the year.

EurAupair Newsletter

The EurAupair Gazette®, EurAupair's quarterly newsletter, is an entertaining and informative "newspaper" that connects everyone in the EurAupair community, from the staff in America and Europe to the host family children. It's a great way to get to know the world-wide members of the EurAupair family. We publish news from host families and au pairs around the USA, profiles of EurAupair Community Counselors and a special "Message Board" for au pairs to help them hook up with friends, find travel companions or just share ideas and experiences with each other. You'll find activities for children, as well as a wealth of cross-cultural and international information for the whole family.

Au Pair Education

U.S. government regulations require that au pairs be provided with opportunities for cultural and educational enrichment. As part of this educational and cultural requirement, the host family is asked to ensure that the au pair enrolls in and satisfactorily completes substantive academic coursework relating to the study of American culture, values, history, geology, politics or the arts. Host families are also required to cover any necessary fees (up to $500 over the year). Au pairs must successfully complete six credit hours of continuing education coursework during the program year (equivalent of 3 hours class time per week).

A Year of Growth and Caring

ust as your au pair will be learning about life in the United States, your family will be acquiring new knowledge about your au pair's native country and language. And as you share your culture with one another, you and your family gain new perspectives on and appreciation for your own way of life. Not only will you watch the growth of your children as they learn from your au pair, you'll share in the excitement as your au pair discovers unique aspects of your own country and culture. As your children learn from your au pair over the year, they most likely will grow to love and admire her as well. You will be able to relax, feeling confident that your children are responsibly cared for and knowing that you have chosen the best and most enriching child care and cultural exchange experience imaginable.

The time for your au pair to return to her home country will come all too quickly. At the end of the program year, saying good-bye may be difficult, but you and your children have gained a life-long friend and 'pen pal' from overseas, and an extended family abroad to visit some day! After all, this is what cultural exchange is all about: sharing cultural traditions, making friends from other countries, and gaining a greater understanding of our ever-changing world. You can feel good that your children, your au pair and you have all benefited tremendously from this enriching experience.

Program Continuation

The vast majority of EurAupair host families choose to repeat their program participation over the years and with each new year their overseas family grows. You may choose to experience a new culture or prefer to extend your family's exposure to the culture you've come to appreciate. Either way, arranging for a new au pair through EurAupair gives you continuity in care, so your family life can keep running smoothly. And you have the on-going security and support of your local EurAupair Community Counselor.

The EurAupair program also benefits from the continued support of its returning families who have successfully hosted for a year or more, and shows its appreciation by offering a $500 reduction in program fees for our special "repeat families".

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