Hosting An Au Pair: Teaching Multiculturalism To Your Children

This post is also available in: Deutsch (German)

The Au Pair program is meant to help the Au Pair learn a language while you as a host family have someone at home who helps you with the kids. But having an Au Pair is also a great opportunity to raise your children in a multicultural environment. In this post, we are going to pinpoint four great ways how your Au Pair can spice up your life by introducing you to his/her culture!

 

Language

Of course, having an Au Pair at home gives your children the opportunity to learn a new language. Learning a second language early on will be useful for your children in the future, but that’s not all! Bilingual people are also better at multitasking, they have a different perception of time, and they are better analyzers. Learning a new language is one great step towards a bright future.

 

Cooking

Maybe your children, like many other children, don’t like vegetables and it is a constant push and pull to make them eat what you’ve cooked. Could it be the presentation of the food or the fact that your children already know all your dishes?

In any case, having someone with different recipes and cooking style can help you with that. Some cultures use a lot of species and vegetables in their dishes, and many of them are delicious. Ask your Au Pair to prepare something that is typical for his/her home country: you and your kids will enjoy the experience of a new taste! This shared meal will also be a good chance to compare eating habits and eating etiquette.

 

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Games

Depending on the country, some games tend to be different. Let your Au Pair teach your children some of the games played in his/her country, so they learn new games that they can also teach to other children in school! They will see that even though the games differ from the ones they know, they are fun as well.

 

Fairytales

As it happens with games, fairytales are different in each country too, and they have different morals. Ask your Au Pair to tell you some of his/her famous fairytales that he/she grew up with at home and choose those that you think might be good for your children. Also, it can be a good idea to ask the Au Pair to tell the stories in his/her mother tongue: new stories, new morals and improvement of language learning.


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