Host Family Webinar Series

The heart of the Au Pair in America program is cultural exchange, with families and au pairs sharing their customs and cultures in a truly one-of-a-kind, mutually enriching experience.

The safety and welfare of our program participants is always our priority. This year due to the Coronavirus we will offer a virtual host family webinar series in place of the traditional in person events hosted by your community counselor. We are excited to introduce 12 cross-cultural education webinars available during the month of October. These webinars are designed for host families to get the most from the hosting experience and increase cultural awareness with a focus on our current environment. They are for APIA host families only and each webinar fulfills the Department of State requirement for attending a cross-cultural educational event.

What is the Department of State Requirement?

Department of State Requires all program sponsors to: Advise all selected host families of their obligation to attend at least one family day conference to be sponsored by the au pair organization during the course of the placement year. Host family attendance at such a gathering is a condition of program participation, and failure to attend will be grounds for possible termination of their continued or future program participation.

Please take a few moments to read about the webinars we are offering. All host families should register and attend at least one webinar. Please feel free to register for additional sessions and attend all 4 if you would like to.

Host Family Webinar Topics

How to Have Productive, Painless Conversations with Your Au Pair during a Pandemic…and Anytime
Are you hesitant to bring something up or are finding it increasingly difficult to communicate with your au pair?  Are the issues new or are they old ones that have been magnified by the Pandemic?  Good relationships require communication.  We will discuss how to have those difficult conversations with your au pair – now and anytime.

Culture Based Coping
What cultural aspects come to light when we navigate through a global pandemic?  Let’s take a look at cultural differences, where we find unity as humans and how we might use empathy to best help each other to cope emotionally. We may just discover that 2020 is the year we co-create the world that we all wish to have.

Partnering with your Au Pair during Remote Learning
APIA Orientation Trainer and Educator Sandee Plescia will lead a discussion about changes in US schools and educational systems due to Covid 19 and what this means for Host Parents and Au Pairs. Strategies for creating a successful host family/au pair partnership to provide a supportive learning environment for the children will be discussed.

Understanding Generation Au Pair
Can’t tell your TikTok from your Whatsapp? This webinar is for you! We’ll talk about our modern au pair generation – what makes them tick and how we can better connect with one another.

The 30-minute webinars are  available by signing into your Au Pair in America account. Sign in, register and you will receive reminders about the date and time you have selected.

Au Pair Webinars

Au Pair in America offers free online webinars for au pairs several times a month throughout the year. The webinars are filled with valuable information to help au pairs get the most out of their au pair experience. There are over 20 topics offered in all.

Sessions include:

• Homework: Finding the Right Strategy for Your Child
• Activity Time: Infants & Toddlers
• Homesickness: What Is It and What Can You Do?
• No Time for Boredom: Activities to do with Preschoolers
• Temper Tantrums: Helping Your Child When They Feel Out of Control
• Talk Talk Talk – Speech and Language Activities for Young Children
• Reading: The Pleasure and Importance of Reading with Children
• Successfully Communicating with Your Host Family

Visit our Au Pair Webinar page.