Being an au pair totally changed my career plans!

We interviewed our recruitment leader Susanna from Finland, who has been interviewing and coaching our applicants for over two years, and even before that she has started her "career" with Cultural Care Au Pair in Massachusetts! Susanna is currently studying to become a teacher, and now she tells how going as an au pair totally changed her career plans!

1. Why did you decide to work with children?
Actually, I swore from early age that I would be anything else except a primary school teacher, since my mother is a primary school teacher. But then, my little brother and sister were born and from that on I just started to work with children; as a nanny, a group leader in camps, an au pair! And then when it came time to apply to an university, I found myself applying to study to be a primary school teacher, and only that, since nothing else was closer to my heart. Before I started studying I spent a year as an au pair in Boston, MA, USA and that year made clear to me that I had made the right decision to study especially in Intercultural Teacher Education.

 2.  What would your advice be to someone thinking about a career working with children?
Get experience! It does not matter what the experience is, but just get to know children and their world and interact with them. When working with children, and especially teaching, you are never ready. You learn everyday about yourself and the children. And enjoy the company of children, they are so much more fun than adults are most of the time! 

 3.Having experience as a babysitter and then transitioning into working full-time with children, what would you say is the biggest difference in interacting with the children?As a babysitter I was there to take care of the children and have fun with them, and make sure their day went well, upbringing them in small situations and discussions. Now I am interacting all the time with 15 or more children and going through quite big discussions with them. I find myself now somehow being more on the background and giving the children more space to talk and ponder on those big questions and trying to help them to think for themselves rather than just telling them what to do. With over 10 years of experience from children I would strongly advice everyone to listen to them with your mind open. Usually children think outside of the box, and we adults have hard time understanding them!

 4.  What do you see as the benefit for kids in having an au pair?
There are plenty! First of all, from very young age onwards children get to experience closely someone from a different culture and practice interacting with that someone. Further in life we interact daily with people from different cultures, so I think it is very valuable for children to already notice that people are different depending from the culture and also with a culture. I think children also gain a lot of confidence from au pairs since they usually speak English as a second language and children get the chance to be "teachers" for the au pair. And of course, one close caring adult in a child's life is always great.

5.How can au pairs best help their host children prepare for school?
Listen to the children and make sure they feel good - school days are often full of different situations that  might be troubling children afterwards and they can have an effect to how the child feels about school. School is so much more than just doing exercises in class and learning from the teacher. Before the school day, make sure they have all they need for school and go through the day with them, this helps the child to be confident and if they forget something, this is when they usually remember it. After the school day, pay interest to the child's day: ask what they did, who did they play with and what do they have for homework, and what did they learn? This will help the children do way better in school and motivate them too!

 6. What do you think the benefits are for young kids in being exposed to different cultures early on?Chidlhood is the time to get educated for the upcoming life, so what could be a better practise to interact with people from different cultures than living with an au pair? Since in the modern day world we are required to be global and interculturally competetive, it is more than good to start from young to practise communication skills and also reflect on one's own culture. When children are exposed to different cultures from early on, I believe, that they become less judgemental when it comes to other cultures and learn from early on to appreciate the differences and richness of different cultures!

Tips for our au pairs from a teacher!

As an au pair you will find yourself with many different roles; sister, friend, confidant, disciplinarian, and teacher. Becoming a bit of a teacher might be new to many of you. To give you a brief glimpse into the role, we interviewed an elementary school teacher from Wellesley, Massachusetts. See her thoughts on working with kids, au pairs, and what you can do to help your future host kids succeed in school!

1. Why did you decide to work with children?I decided to work with children because I LOVE them...I love to get to know each child's unique personality and to watch them discover the world around them. I get such joy from being a big part of their development and growth. As a kindergarten teacher I am usually their first “real” teacher and someone that they have been really excited to meet for a long long time.

2. What would your advice be to someone thinking about a career working with children?My advice would be to get a lot of experience (babysitting or being a teacher's aide) and, of course, a good solid education. Make sure you are capable of extreme patience, creativity, and organization. These three values will take you really far in the world of teaching and are a good foundation to stand on. Actually these are great no matter what you end up working with!

3. You started as a babysitter in high school and then, after college, transitioned into working full-time with children. What would you say is the biggest difference in interacting with the children? There are a quite a few differences actually! But the biggest I would say is that as a teacher you need to require more respect than a babysitter-it’s really important that the children view you in a different light because you need respect in order to teach.  You should always be warm and approachable, but still respected. Set rules from the beginning and the right expectations and, of course, be consistent! When you teach they need to know to listen and take what you say seriously and give you their attention. Balancing respect and approachability is not the easiest, but it is really important in any sort of childcare work.

4.  What do you see as the benefit for kids in having an au pair?

I think that having another adult to look up to and learn from is important in any setting. A child can never have too many people who care about them and be their role  models. Another big benefit of an au pair is in learning how to establish relationships with other adults outside of the family. This is not something that everyone learns automatically and is an important life skill for anyone!

5. How can au pairs best help their host children prepare for school?

This will depend a lot on the ages of the children, but you can always help in teaching them time management, organization, and responsibility. This will vary, but you can adjust this to fit the children’s needs.  These three skills are all key in helping them learn to do things by themselves. It helps to have these skills as a base so it is not as frightening to take the first step. Au pairs might be a part of the children’s lives as they, for example, have their first day of school, first field trip, or even their first test. If the kids are little, like my kindergartener, involve them in packing their lunches, picking out their clothes for the next day, and setting good routines at home. All of this can help improve their self-esteem, which is such a help at school! 

6.What do you think the benefits are for young kids in being exposed to different cultures early on?

The benefits are endless. Different cultures are something that everyone in the USA experiences on a daily basis, but this usually starts in school. Your child will find him or herself in school surrounded by different backgrounds and cultures-this is life! So having already been initiated to the experience at home is worth its weight in gold. You can teach understanding, tolerance, and respect through simply telling the kids about where in the world you come from.

Do you have any general questions  for our kindergarten teacher? Email us at aupair.se@culturalcare.com and we will forward them along!