Beware of Pranksters…Don’t Be An April Fool!

Tomorrow is April Fools’ Day here in the USA.  Although this is not an official holiday, this is a fun day that is celebrated in many parts of the world.  It is a day when humor reigns supreme.  This is the one day you can play a practical joke (a funny, harmless trick) on your family and friends without retaliation. (At least until next year!)

There seems to be some debate regarding the origin of April Fools’ Day, or All Fools’ Day.  Many historians believe the holiday began in France in the 16th century after the adoption of the Gregorian calendar.  Prior to the adoption of the Gregorian calendar, New Years was celebrated near the end of March to coincide with the vernal equinox.  However, many of the French people continued to celebrate New Years on April 1st, either because they did not agree with the change or they had not received word about the change.  Their fellow countrymen began playing pranks on their neighbors to “make fun” of them for their foolishness.  The tradition soon spread throughout Europe.     Other historians believe the tradition started much earlier than that.  The Romans, for example, celebrated “Hilaria”, which was a festival of good cheer that also coincided with the vernal equinox.

However it came to be, April Fools’ Day is always fun at my house!  Living with three boys, there is definitely never a dull moment.   Give them a free pass to play a prank?  Well, that’s just trouble waiting to happen.  They are always tricking me on April Fools’ Day.

This year, I decided that it was my turn to get them back.  So, I did a little research.  And I’m going to share the ideas that I found with my host parents and au pairs.  (I found these on Parenting Magazine’s website, so they have to be okay?  Right? Disclaimer: I am not responsible for your child’s wrath if you decide to try these tricks at home.)

Here are 10 Kid-safe April Fools’ Pranks:

1. Put a few drops of food coloring in a pitcher of milk (choose your kid’s fave shade). Make sure she’s watching when you nonchalantly fix her morning bowl of cereal!

2. Take out cereal bags and put them in mismatching boxes. See how long it takes for everyone to find their favorite cereal.

3.  Wait until your kids are asleep, and then switch them in their beds.

4. Put water in a cereal bowl, and freeze overnight. The next morning, offer to fix your kids a bowl of cereal. Pour the cereal on top of the ice, completely covering it, and watch them try to dig in.

5. Put part of a post-it note over the tracking ball on a computer mouse — it won’t work! (Make sure to write “April Fools!” on the note).

6. Serve up a topsy-turvy dinner to throw your kids for a loop: bake meatloaf in a 12-cup muffin tin and frost with mashed potatoes for a “cupcakes” dinner — bonus if you add food coloring to the spuds. Then toast strips of pound cake for a dessert of “French fries”. Don’t forget red-tinted frosting for ketchup!

7. Bunch up TP and stuff it in the toe of the victim’s shoes. They’ll wonder why their shoes suddenly don’t fit.

8. Add a squirt of lemon juice to a glass of water when your kid’s not looking, then wait for his sour face.

9. Use a pin to make a few small holes in a plastic disposable cup, and make sure to put it back on the top of the stack. Watch as your victim gets a drink and it ends up all over his shirt.  P.S.: Make sure it’s a drink that doesn’t stain, or the joke’s really on whoever has to do the laundry!

10. Take a screenshot of the desktop of Dad’s computer, and leave the image open. Sit back and let him freak out for a few minutes, believing the computer is frozen.

These are just a few ideas.  Try to think of some creative ideas of your own to “fool” you host kids.

Is April Fools’ Day celebrated in your home country?  Feel free to share how you celebrate April Fools’ Day in your country!

Au Pairs Hit the Ice for Some Winter Time Fun

Ying, Amity, Sophie and Sophie take a moment to pose for a snapshot.

Wow!  I’m so behind on my writing, but I am trying to get caught up over the next few days so everyone can hear about all of the fun things we’ve been up to lately.

Our friend, Nemo, managed to shut down all of Boston the  entire weekend that followed the much-anticipated storm.  Luckily, Massachusetts was prepared and we all escaped unscathed.  Our planned au pair outing at Kendall Square’s Community Ice Skating in Cambridge, however, had to be cancelled.  And that’s too bad because we had a record number of au pairs and friends planning to attend this fun, inexpensive, outdoor winter activity.

As the Local Area Representative for Go Au Pair here in the Boston area, I love planning our monthly outings and au pair get togethers.  These monthly activities are an important part of an au pair’s introduction to Amerian culture and provide a great venue for me to get to know these young people and provide them with local support and helpful advice when they need it.

We rescheduled the activity for the following Saturday.  We had a great time, but, unfortunately, many of our au pair friends were unable to attend due to schedule conflicts.

We had some first-timers who had never ice skated before.  Ying, an au pair from China, started the morning off holding on to the railing. After I held her hand a few times around the rink, I eventually let go, and she was skating like a pro!  I love witnessing young people experiencing something new.  It is like watching your child take his first steps.  This is one of the reasons I love my “job”.  (If you can really call this a job?)

Of course, she did fall down a few times, but the important part was, she kept getting back up.

Marcela, Erika and Angeles taking a break.

Angeles, from Mexico and Lily from China, also learned to skate that day.  And then there were some showoffs, like Margaryta from Ukraine, who was practicing her skills ice skating backwards.  Good job, ladies.  I’m proud of you.  Here are some pictures from our fun outing.

Margaryta and Monica–BFF’s

Ying fell down, and she got right back up!

Boston Au Pairs Have a Weekend of “Snow Much” Fun in New Hampshire

For our January activity, my Boston area  Go Au Pair cluster, had a special treat.  On Saturday morning, we packed into three cars and headed North to check out the snowy mountains in New Hampshire.

We drove two hours to my family’s cabin in Laconia, NH. Our cabin is located about 6 miles from Gunstock Mountain Resort in Gilford.  We arrived in the area at lunch time and stopped at a local restaurant, Shooter’s Tavern, for a nice lunch.

Enjoying a break after the long ride up to New Hampshire.

The girls were very excited because they had passed the frozen lake on the way and were very curious about the small houses and people walking on the lake.  I explained to them that those small houses are called “bob houses” and people use them as shelter from the frigid weather while ice fishing.  Some of the girls stopped on the way home from the restaurant to walk on the frozen lake.  It was very exciting and frightening at the same time!

Ksenia, Alma & Marche “walking on water”.

When we arrived at the house, everyone unpacked and settled in.  We got our snow clothes on and headed over to Gunstock for an afternoon of snowtubing.  Personally for me, this was the highlight of the weekend.

Snowtubing is a thrilling winter activity that requires no skill!  And doing this at a mountain resort takes all of the hard work out of it.  Just hook your tube onto the pulley, sit back,  and enjoy the ride up the hill.  Once we reached the top of the hill, we rode back down in groups, enjoying a little competitive racing.

The girls are getting ready to race down the mountain in their snowtubes!

After our snowtubing adventure, we headed back to the house to enjoy a nice cozy fire, a hot dinner, and some warm conversation.  After dinner, the au pairs entertained each other with an exciting game of Wii Just Dance 4!  Some of us went to bed early because we had to get up really early to make it to our ski lesson in the morning.  (Some of us did not go to bed early…but I won’t mention any names here.)

The “Just Dance” competition was getting serious!

There were 13 au pairs who went on the trip.  Out of the 13, two knew how to ski/snowboard.  (They were both from Russia.)  The rest of us, myself included, were lucky enough to participate in Ski New Hampshire’s “Learn to Ski or Snowboard for Free Week”.  Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get reservations at Gunstock for this special free promotion, but I was lucky to  secure everyone a spot at Ragged Mountain Resort, which is about 45 minutes further away.    (This meant we had to get up even earlier, but that was okay because everyone saved a lot of money by doing this.)

Let’s just say it’s not very much fun sharing 2 bathrooms with 13 other women.  But other than that, our morning went pretty smoothly.  We all got dressed in our snow duds, ate breakfast, cleaned up, packed up, and were ready to leave by 8:30 am.  Our lesson was at 10:00 am and were supposed to arrive by 9:00 am.  (Oh well, we tried.)  We arrived at the mountain, got checked in and fitted for our equipment.  We made it just in time for the start of our lesson.

Excited girls getting ready for a new experience!

There were two au pairs who decided to take snowboarding lessons, while the rest of us gave skiing a shot.   It was very challenging, but I think everyone had a good time.  After the initial lesson, they split us up into two groups.  We learned the very basics–how to put on and take off our skis, how to turn, how to slow down, and most importantly, how to stop! Most of us even ventured to take a ride on the chair lift and ski down the “bunny slope”.  That was a lot of fun!

Ligia, an au pair from El Salvadore who is currently in her second year, had tried snowboarding shortly after she first arrived in the US last January.  “With this lesson I feel more confident, and I know the next time I go, I’ll be rocking the diamonds!” she told me. “So, you’re planning on doing this again?” I probed.  “I would love to try it a million times again,” she added.  “No matter how many times I fell, I would LOVE to do it again!”

JinJin getting ready to hit the slopes!

One au pair had a close encounter with ski patrol.  Ski patrol are the on-site medics who drive around on snowmobiles rescuing injured skiers.  Fortunately, it was a minor accident that involved our au pair crashing into a handsome snowboarder…but that’s a story for another time.  Seriously, other than a bruise and a minor headache, she was fine.  “I tried it.  I did it.  Now I’m done with skiing,” she told me after her incident.  Oh come on, Alma, give it another chance!  Maybe you should try snowboarding next time?

New Hampshire is sooo much fun!

Meet Go Au Pair’s Au Pair Sis

Meet Au Pair Sis

Who is Au Pair Sis?  Au Pair Sis is  an au pair‘s new best friend.  Au pairs come to the US for a one to two year childcare and cultural exchange program.  These brave young men and women leave their homes and families, many times for the first time in their young lives, and come to live with American host families so that they can embrace our culture while providing childcare to these families.

I can only imagine how scary it must be to leave everyone and everything you’ve ever known behind, and exchange it for a life with strangers where everything is foreign…from the language to the food to the driving rules and more.   I think au pairs are some of the bravest people I’ve ever met!  As the Local Area Representative, I, along with my colleagues at Go Au Pair‘s head office in Utah, enjoy supporting our au pairs throughout their placement with our American host families.

But, we thought, wouldn’t it be great if they had a big sister to guide them through this adventure? And wouldn’t it be nice if there was a place where they could meet up with other au pairs who might have similar interests?  Sure they get to meet up with other au pairs in their cluster at their monthly meetings, but what about going beyond that?  How about a place where they could meet up with other au pairs throughout the US?  Maybe someone from their home country?  Or maybe someone who lives in an area they would like to visit?

That’s how Au Pair Sis came to life!  Au Pair Sis is an interactive, fun community where au pairs can get together with each other and also have a “big sister” available to provide support and advice in a very non-threatening way…a virtual friend, confidant, and supporter.  Au Pair Sis is there for all au pairs.  Having a communication problem with your host family and don’t feel comfortable talking to your LAR?  Send Au Pair Sis a private message.  Feeling homesick and want to  have a place to “meet” up with someone from your home country?  Connect with your fellow countrymen on Au Pair Sis’s Facebook page.  Looking for ideas about activities you can do with your host children?  Check out Au Pair Sis’s Facebook page for ideas.  Do you like to read and love talking about the books you read?  Join Au Pair Sis’s book club!

And, best of all, if you would like to share recipes, advice, or activity ideas with other au pairs in the community, be sure to let Au Pair Sis know.  This is a community for au pairs, and everyone can contribute!

Be sure to “Like” Au Pair Sis’s page on Facebook today.  Welcome to the family!