Au Pair: Heroljinda Beka from Germany
Host Family: Weight Family in Maryland
Heroljinda (Linda) has been our au pair for three months, but after only three days we knew that we had found exactly the kind of au pair that we had been looking for. We are a repeat family with Cultural Care and had been fortunate to have an excellent first au pair, so we were afraid we wouldn't find another who fit our family quite so well. However, with her ready smile, kindness, patience and easy-going nature, Linda immediately put our fears to rest. It only took about ten minutes for our young sons, aged 2 and 3, to take her into their club and they have been devoted to her ever since.
What has most impressed us about Linda is how she strives to be so much more than a babysitter. She consistently looks for opportunities to simulate the boys' imaginations and creativity and patiently teaches them age-appropriate life lessons, such as manners, safety, and sharing, as well as introducing them to academic concepts like math and reading. Working from my home office I have listened and watched as she and the boys have built castles, pirate ships, and forts out of cushions, blocks, and Lego's, crossed mountains and rivers in epic fashion in our living room, created masterpieces of painted artwork, saved the world a dozen times as superheroes, read thousands of books, run hundreds of miles around our house, and flat-out giggled themselves silly. Linda has a seemingly bottomless reserve of energy, keeping the boys occupied all day without the use of television, even in the cabin-fever winter months—something we, as parents, have struggled with when we have them for extended periods of time.
I never get the feeling that she is overwhelmed by the children and needs a break from them. In fact, when she is done working for the day she will often stay to play with them while I am cooking dinner and she appears to just genuinely enjoy spending time with them and with all of us as a family. We certainly enjoy having her with us. What we value most about her care, however, is that she obviously loves our children as though they were her own. We trust her implicitly with them, knowing that she would do anything in her power to keep them safe, healthy, and happy. And isn't that what every host family wants above all else? Her experience working with children in a German kindergarten before coming to the U.S. has prepared her well for caring for two small energetic children and I have come to realize that in spite of still being a teenager, she has much to teach me about teaching and nurturing children!
When I got the notice for nominations for "Au Pair of the Year", I immediately wanted to enter Linda because I can't imagine there is a better au pair out there. She is responsible, trustworthy, kind, intelligent, principled, consistent, hard-working, caring, and FUN! I would love to see her honored as "Au Pair of the Year" because I think she embodies the spirit of the Cultural Care program. Although she has been with us only a short time, we have already asked Linda to consider extending another year with us and you can be assured that we will be working hard to convince her to stay.
What has most impressed us about Linda is how she strives to be so much more than a babysitter. She consistently looks for opportunities to simulate the boys' imaginations and creativity and patiently teaches them age-appropriate life lessons, such as manners, safety, and sharing, as well as introducing them to academic concepts like math and reading. Working from my home office I have listened and watched as she and the boys have built castles, pirate ships, and forts out of cushions, blocks, and Lego's, crossed mountains and rivers in epic fashion in our living room, created masterpieces of painted artwork, saved the world a dozen times as superheroes, read thousands of books, run hundreds of miles around our house, and flat-out giggled themselves silly. Linda has a seemingly bottomless reserve of energy, keeping the boys occupied all day without the use of television, even in the cabin-fever winter months—something we, as parents, have struggled with when we have them for extended periods of time.
I never get the feeling that she is overwhelmed by the children and needs a break from them. In fact, when she is done working for the day she will often stay to play with them while I am cooking dinner and she appears to just genuinely enjoy spending time with them and with all of us as a family. We certainly enjoy having her with us. What we value most about her care, however, is that she obviously loves our children as though they were her own. We trust her implicitly with them, knowing that she would do anything in her power to keep them safe, healthy, and happy. And isn't that what every host family wants above all else? Her experience working with children in a German kindergarten before coming to the U.S. has prepared her well for caring for two small energetic children and I have come to realize that in spite of still being a teenager, she has much to teach me about teaching and nurturing children!
When I got the notice for nominations for "Au Pair of the Year", I immediately wanted to enter Linda because I can't imagine there is a better au pair out there. She is responsible, trustworthy, kind, intelligent, principled, consistent, hard-working, caring, and FUN! I would love to see her honored as "Au Pair of the Year" because I think she embodies the spirit of the Cultural Care program. Although she has been with us only a short time, we have already asked Linda to consider extending another year with us and you can be assured that we will be working hard to convince her to stay.