| After you match with your new
au pair and arrange her travel from orientation to your community,
it’s very important to keep in touch with her prior to her
arrival. Please keep in mind that you have opened your home to someone
else’s daughter. There are many things you can do that will
help her to feel welcome in your home. An email to check in every
so often is reassuring and builds the bonds you started to form
when you offered her a home for a year. Sending photos of the children
or pictures they have drawn is also a welcome form of connection.
Once your au pair arrives at orientation, please call her to welcome
her. It makes the Au Pair feel much more comfortable to hear from
you while she is at orientation. The number at the hotel is 203-358-8400.
The best time to call is between 7 and 7:30 AM. You can leave a
message for her to call you collect if you can’t reach her
directly. An alternative is to call her the night before she leaves
home.
Some families send flowers or small packages with personalized
stationery or homemade cookies. Ask your counselor for other suggestions
if you want to send something, but keep in mind that your au pair
will have to transport whatever it is to your house. Faxes can be
received by the hotel and are also a nice way to say hello.
Before she travels to your home, prepare a welcome sign made by
the children. You can display it at home or use it at the airport
or train station. Make sure her room is clean and ready for her.
Mark the au pair’s birthday on the family calendar.
When she arrives at your home, she will be tired, excited and probably
anxious. Keep in mind the fatigue that being in a new culture causes,
particularly if your au pair is not a native English speaker. The
au pair needs time to recover from jet lag.
It’s important to give her a few days to unpack, rest and
become acclimated to the host family’s home, family and neighborhood
before expecting her to assume full child care responsibilities.
She should be allowed to find ways to make her space her own; mounting
a bulletin board on the wall is one easy way to do this.
According to Department of State regulations, au pairs are not allowed
to assume sole responsibility for the children until after she has
been in the home three days. Giving her the opportunity to bond
with the children one at a time is helpful in building relationships.
Those first few days can be used to complete the child care questionnaire
for each of your children, to conduct a tour of the neighborhood,
to go to the grocery store to determine her food preferences and for
her to see the variety of foods available in the US, and to share
information about the house and her chores. Many families also use
this time to have the au pair drive for the first time.
The Community Counselor will call and/or visit within the first
forty-eight hours after the au pair’s arrival.
Some other adjustment issues to keep in mind:
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