Cultural Care Au Pair
On Sun Sept 10th local au pairs and their host families met at the Bedford Safety Complex for a fire safety meeting and tour of the station. This meeting was hosted by Cultural Care Au Pair and members of the Bedford Fire Department.
According to Local Childcare Consultant, Christine Miller, educating au pairs on fire safety is part of Cultural Care Au Pair’s ongoing Continuing Safety Education Program (CSEP). “This program requires local childcare consultants like me to review safety education with au pairs on several topics throughout their year-long stay in the United States. One of those topics is fire safety and who better to help us learn than fire fighters themselves,” said Miller.
The au pairs at Cultural Care Au Pair also complete an intensive online training course and spend 4 days at our Au Pair Training School in New York reviewing child safety and development and earning a 2-year adult and pediatric CPR/AED and first aid certification before they arrive in their host family’s homes.
The au pairs in Christine’s Bedford area group represent the countries of Brazil, Columbia, Germany, Austria, Sweden, Poland, Italy, South Africa, and the Netherlands. Miller, a resident of Manchester and mother of three, supports area parents and au pairs, advising them of educational opportunities, as well as organizing fun activities for au pair monthly meetings and two host family events each year.
“I am always looking for ways to make safety training and education fun for our au pairs,” said Miller. According to Miller, “the training on Sunday covered everything from calling 911 for emergencies, what an emergency consisted of, and what a firefighter looks like with all of his gear (for the host children). For the au pairs and host parents, the training covered planning escape routes and agreeing on a meeting place in case of a fire, getting the children out of the home quickly and safely, and using a fire extinguisher. The au pairs even got to practice using one. For added fun, the host children got to see what it was like to use one of the fire hoses and everyone took turns goingfor a ride in a fire truck! The Bedford firefighters did a great job making it fun as well as educational for all.”
“When you invite an au pair into your home, programs like these assure that you leave your children in the most capable hands possible. It is comforting as a parent to know that your children are with a caregiver you can trust.”
For more information on inviting an au pair into your home, call Christine Miller at 603-867-3199 or visit cmiller.aupairnews.com.
