We are in need of an Au Pair for a family of four in Minneapolis. Here is her lovely letter for her future Au Pair — let’s get to know their family more!
Dear future Au Pair,
Hi from the USA! My name is Casey and I am writing to you from the beautiful city of Minneapolis. I would love for you to meet my little family – my better half Taylor and our two (most of the time) wonderful children Aiden and Grace. Half of our friends says it shows, the other half says it doesn’t – but the two of them are twins, and are about to turn 11 this year!
The four of us live in a cosy house right outside Minneapolis, that is spacious enough to accommodate us and ideally a fifth family member – you! Minneapolis is one of the biggest cities in one of the most northern States of the US – Minnesota! Minnesota in general is a beautifully “green” state and great for nature lovers – they call it “the land of lakes” for a reason! The suburban area that we live in can be described as neat and clean, the kind of area where everyone seems to know each other (which is true for the most part) and just a quick 20-minute bus ride away from the city center.
Our winters here can be rough, there is no point in sugar-coating that. But all our former au pairs got used to it really quickly, and have come to realise that it comes with a lot of benefits: sledding, ice fishing, warming up with a cup of hot chocolate, you name it. We are all huge skiing fans (well, Aiden prefers Snowboarding), so especially if you’re into winter sports, I can guarantee you that you will fall in love with this place.
As I’ve said, you won’t be our first au pair. We started having au pairs after the twins were born. The Minneapolis area is part of a big cluster, which means that you will have plenty of other au pairs living nearby. A couple of years ago, we took a small au pair break, as we thought our kids were getting too old to have an au pair. But it soon felt like we were missing a family member.
On to our little family, the Wilsons! Taylor and I both work full time, so you won’t be seeing us a lot throughout the week, I’m afraid. Taylor is a dentist, and I work in the Sales department of a local pharma company. The good thing is that we have pretty straightforward office hours, which means that we always leave the house between 6.30 and 7 in the morning, and you can expect us to be back by 6 or 7 pm the latest. Our au pair is usually the one who makes sure that the twins make it to school in the morning.
As we don’t get to see our kids a lot throughout the week, we cherish our weekends, and we always make sure to have some dedicated family time together. You will be “off” on the weekends, which gives our au pairs plenty of time to travel and to explore the country. But you’re also more than welcome to join us for our family activities, it’s completely up to you. Our family is spread out all across the country, so it is very likely that we will also be traveling as a family, on Thanksgiving for instance.
The twins are both very active, smart and creative. They like to spend most of their free time with their friends. They used to do literally everything together, but as they are now slowly but surely becoming teenagers, they’ve started to make a point in being part of different friend groups. They’re also looking for different activities to participate in, which we appreciate and try to support them in. Most of the time though, they like to invite their friends over to our house, which is why it can get “a little crazy” at times. Having that said: Our au pair will be driving our kids, as well as their friends from time to time, so it would be ideal if you had plenty of driving experience already. You would have your very own car here, that you would be able to use in your free time as well.
Grace is a very bright, tough and a, at times, restless girl, whereas Aiden is the more thoughtful one of the two. Grace is a “jock”, which means that she’s interested in different kinds of sports, depending on the season. She is part of a competitive Lacrosse team, but she has also been showing interest in her school’s drama club recently. Aiden is a very good and dedicated student, and has a thing for anything tech-related: photography, the latest consoles, the best editing apps, etc. He tends to binge watch YouTube all day long (if we let him).
We are looking for someone who can appreciate our kids’ different characters, but mainly someone with ideas on how to motivate the kids to be the best version of themselves. Sometimes this will mean to help them with their homework, on other days, they might come to you for some moral support or a piece of advice. Another thing that we’re always looking forward to, is to learn about our au pairs’ favorite recipes! We love to cook together as a family, and are always looking for ways to expand our culinary repertoire.
The three of us – Taylor, our au pair and I – have always tried to be an inspiration for Aiden and Grace. For example: Our last au pair Nora volunteered at a local animal shelter, and liked to bring the twins along every now and then. Ana, on the other hand, made a point of teaching them her native language Spanish. We appreciate the role that every single one of au pairs has played in their lives so far. We’re looking forward to welcoming yet another new member to the family, so if this sounds like the type of family that you would like to be a part of please let me know.
In any case: Good luck with your USA experience, and we hope to hear from you soon!
Much love,
Casey, Taylor, Aiden and Grace