35-45 Age group
2 children , 5,7 - years old
| Name | Andrea B. |
| Nationality | British |
| Spoken language(s) | English |
| We live in | United Kingdom |
| Registered on | 16/09/2015 |
| Last login | 3 months+ |
We are a small family of five, Andrea (Mum) from Denmark, Mark (Dad) from England, Annika (7) and Jonas (5)...................and Keats, our Labrador. Mark has an eighteen-year-old daughter (Cora) who visits us quite often with her boyfriend. Andrea teaches violin and music in a famous boarding school, Mark is a Professional Horn-player who also teaches at university level. We live in Rugby which is a medium sized town right in the middle of England and from the train station here you can get to London in 1 hour and to Birmingham in 30 minutes. Our family is affected by Autism, Annika has Asperger's Syndrome and Jonas is quite profoundly Autistic. It is fair to say that neither of them fit the standard image most people have of Autism, though, and both our children are lovely, gorgeous in fact, and fun to be with. Annika is a highly intelligent and funny girl who loves reading, dancing, hand stands and cart wheels, all kinds of arts and crafts, being outdoors and spending time with family. She is fluent in Danish as well as English and usually loves having our au pair to herself! Jonas is a very happy and loving boy who is always up for a walk out to explore the world - playground, nature or shops are all good. He is a real charmer and always relates very well with our au pair. Music and singing are important to him, and he loves a good cuddle, but his main passion is water, so swimming, baths, puddle splashing, water spraying, pouring etc are on the menu regularly. He is just beginning to speak and uses some signs but is surprisingly good at making his wishes understood.
We need someone to join with us as the third adult in our home taking responsibility with us for keeping everything moving and in some sort of order! We don't keep a list of specified duties, it's more a sense of if you see something that needs doing, do it, whether it is childcare or housework. Probably no different to your own home.......... We all pitch in to get it done and then we all join in with the fun too. We employ a cleaner who comes every week, so housework is limited to the standard daily stuff. The most important thing for us is that our children are engaged in meaningful activities and we think that our au pair is the key to success in this. You don't need to be an expert on Autism, and the children are not difficult, they are just a little different and require a bit of patience and understanding. It is very important for us that you join in with us as a family member, as we believe that the relationships within the home are what keep it being home. We have had nine au pairs so far and we keep in contact with most of them still and they come to visit us from time to time. Our last au pair was in fact on her second time with us!
| Prefer Au pair of gender | Either |
| Au pair couples accepted | Yes |
| The aupair will be required to drive | Yes |
| Elderly care is required | No |
| Housework required of Au pair | Average |
| Single parent family | No |
| Our religion | No Religion |
| We practice our religion | No |
| We have children with special needs | Yes |
| We require care for children under age 2 | No |
