Au Pairs Help to Make Splash Bash a Smash!!

Au pairs from Au Pair in America volunteered for Splash Bash, held on Monday, August 27, at Heritage Park in Farmington Hills, Michigan.

Splash Bash was a wonderful chance for everyone to enjoy one of the last few summer evenings before school and the fall routine starts. This was the second time the City of Farmington Hills held this event and it drew an even larger crowd than in 2011.

Children of all ages were seen running through the splash pad, jumping in the bouncer or tossing around an Au Pair in America beach ball. Some families were relaxing on a blanket in the park or eating a bite at the picnic tables and when dusk fell, they walked over to the amphitheater to watch The Smurfs movie.

Near the beginning of the evening, Miss Farmington, Elena Pavlicas, had the opportunity to tell the au pairs about her role as Miss Farmington, while at the same time they told her what it was like to be an au pair in our area. Many of the au pairs have recently arrived so it was exciting for them to participate in their first volunteer event.

Au Pair in America added a special cultural awareness theme to this event. They not only provided many educational materials, but children and parents had an opportunity to speak with an au pair about their home country. Each child was given a passport book and chose flag sticker stamps from various countries to fill their passports. There was a page where the children could add their own surname, given name, date of birth, date of issuance, and after they get home, could paste in their own photo too!

In addition, Au Pair in America provided educational placemats to color with four different designs representing the continents of South America, Europe, Africa, North America and a fifth with a global awareness general theme.

The children enjoyed having the au pairs place a wash-off tattoo on their hand, arm or leg, picturing a small globe with children around the world. Beach balls were also given out along with toss rings for those who wanted to stay active. Every family received a red carry-bag so they could take home the materials and have a handy bag to use for groceries or school supplies.

Since many of the au pairs who were helping were new to the USA, they were eager to talk to the children about what an au pair is and why they decided to come here to live with a host family and provide child care. They explained what a wonderful opportunity it was for them to learn about our American culture while at the same time sharing their own culture. Some of the children and their parents were very curious and asked many good questions about what country the au pair came from and how old the children are who are in their care. Parents were interested in knowing more about the child care option and how the process works if they wanted to host an au pair.

Au Pair in America's local representative and long-time counselor, Carol Benton, organized her volunteers and was available to talk to the families who might be interested in becoming a host family for Au Pair in America in the near future.

Typical for all of the events run by Bryan Farmer, (Recreation Superintendent for the Department of Special Services in Farmington Hills) Splash Bash was a big success. Bryan expressed his appreciation for the au pair volunteers and was pleased with their efforts, which added a special global awareness/cultural flair theme to Splash Bash

Au Pair in America has placed au pairs in the Farmington Hills area for more than 20 years and Carol Benton has been a counselor with the organization since 1994. If you would like more information about Au pair in America please contact Carol Benton, cbaupair@aol.com or Au Pair in America, www.aupairinamerica.com, 1-800-9-AUPAIR.