The Ericsson family and their au pair, Mathilda

Host mom and au pair run marathons together

When Swedish au pair Mathilda arrived in Santa Barbara, she quickly caught the "marathon bug" from her host mother, Adrienne. Together, the two trained through early mornings, minor injuries and inclement weather. They first conquered Santa Barbara's Pier to Peak half marathon, before running the NYC Marathon on behalf of Cultural Care Kids First Foundation. Never ones to back away from a challenge, Adrienne and Mathilda went on to complete the LA Marathon side by side. Training and running together strengthened their already tight-knit family bond.

"Sh loves my children as much as anyone who is not a parent can love them," said host mom Adrienne. "As a working mom, it gives me so much job and assurance that my children adore the person who spends the most time with them, and that she reflects their love."

Becoming an au pair is "the best choice I've done so far in my 21-year-old life," said au pair Mathilda.

The Roman Family & their au pair Paul

2018 Au Pair of the Year Finalist

Paul, au pair from France, living in Oklahoma

The gift that Paul has been to our family is immeasurable. He provides stability and an increased sense of family to our kids, which is hard to find in a military family. He melds into our family seamlessly. He teaches us to make crepes, introduces us to all manners of French foods and actually plays games with the kids. Sometimes my husband and I laugh that Paul has become his “Bro-Pair” too as they watch sports together. Having Paul in our family brings us a sense of security along with fun and laughter, and we can never thank him enough.

Submitted by the Roman Family, host family in Oklahoma

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The Bhartiya Family & their au pair Imm

2018 Au Pair of the Year Finalist

Imm, au pair from Thailand, living in Virginia

Imm is the calm in our family storm. She goes above and beyond, cooking special recipes for our kids and teaching them all sort of things us parents don’t seem to have time for, like basketball, rollerblading, skateboarding, swimming, guitar, piano, Thai language and so much more. We share so much culture with each other that our house has become an ‘Indo-Thai-American’ home. She has been a blessing to our family. We wish we could clone her so we can have her again, and again and again as our next au pair.

Submitted by the Bhartiya family, host family in Virginia

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The Sande Family & their au pair Debi

2018 Au Pair of the Year Finalist

Debi, au pair from Hungary, living in Minnesota

Debi is a unique combination of calm, thoughtful, and kind with incredibly playful and witty. She entered our home life seamlessly. She really is a member of the family. Debi cooks incredible Hungarian meals and it is always restaurant good. For Sam's first birthday, the girls crafted a felt birthday crown that Sam rocked so proudly all day and they secretly made him the most incredible artwork that displays a sweet Hungarian children's poem in both Hungarian and English, with some incredible paper art. We love hearing about Debi's culture and family and she is always willing to share a fun new word, or cultural and family traditions that are special to her.

Submitted by the Sande family, host family in Minnesota

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The Ugwonali Family & their au pair Nadia

2018 Au Pair of the Year Finalist

Nadia, au pair from Italy, living in Georgia

From the moment that Nadia arrived, she has diligently become the missing piece in our family’s puzzle. She has brought understanding, kindness, intelligence, motivation, patience and empathy to our children. She has been a friend and confidant to our twelve-year-old daughter, Gabriella. She listens to her joys and fears, helps her navigate the complexity of social media and is teaching her to respect and keep a positive image of herself. For all of them, I often find positive supportive notes that she writes to them. She leaves them in their lunch boxes, on their bedside tables and in their bags. She continues to stay genuinely engaged with all of the children while making friends and demonstrating a healthy way to explore, grow and develop on her own.

Submitted by the Ugwonali family, host family in Georgia

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The Casey Family & their au pair Jessy

2018 Au Pair of the Year Finalist

Jessy, au pair from Colombia, living in Massachusetts

Jessy is creative, careful, thoughtful and adds so many special details to our daily lives. Her dedication to our children is boundless. Day in, day out, when we get home from work, she is engaged with the kids doing all sorts of projects. Our six-year-old decided he wanted to be a dunk tank for Halloween, so Jessy went and bought supplies and made him a handmade dunk tank costume complete with target and attached ball. It was a thing of beauty that he could actually wear. So many people go out of their way to spontaneously comment on how dedicated and engaged Jessy is with the children - parents at music class, preschool teachers, neighbors. She is a terrific representative of au pairs and it makes us proud to have her be part of our family.

Submitted by the Casey family, host family in Massachusetts

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The Walker Family & their au pair Gugu

2018 Au Pair of the Year Finalist

Gugu, au pair from South Africa, living in Maryland

I remember the day I picked Gugu up from the bus stop. When she got off the bus, she ran over, and gave me the biggest and most loving hug. It was as if I was reunited with a long lost family member. She brought everyone in our family a piece of traditional Zulu clothing. It was such a thoughtful and unique gift that we will cherish for years to come. We found a South African food market in the US that will ship traditional foods and snacks to our home and have enjoyed trying all of the new foods Gugu has introduced us to. She is always willing to try something new with our family. Whether it’s going to a local Renaissance Festival, an outdoor symphony concert, eating Maryland blue crabs with firefighters, visiting the Atlantic Ocean, going to an ice sculpture exhibit in 9-degree weather, exploring college campuses, Gugu finds fun in everything she does.

Submitted by the Walker family, host family in Maryland

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The Pradel Family & their au pair Jannic

2018 Au Pair of the Year Finalist

Jannic, au pair from Germany, living in Massachusetts

Jannic Herrmann is a very special young man who has added so much to our family dynamic: Big brother, trusted friend and confidant, in-house soccer coach, and so much more. One of the best things about having a male au pair is the role model he sets for our boys in terms of being a loving caregiver who just happens to be a guy. When it was Marc’s turn to be “Star of the Week” in his classroom, he selected Jannic to be his special guest. They taught the other kids how to make origami animals, one of their favorite activities to do together. He has many of our friend’s children asking if they can have their own bro pair!

Submitted by the Pradel family, host family in Massachusetts

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The Brooks Family & their au pair Stina

2018 Au Pair of the Year Finalist

Stina, au pair from Sweden, living in California

Our au pair Stina is truly extraordinary – not because of her actions during turbulent or difficult times – but because of her actions each and every day. Our children have developed such a deep connection with her and won’t go to bed without a good night hug and “I love you”. She has shared her cultural traditions with us all, and she even made a presentation to my daughters’ 2nd grade class about her home country of Sweden. Her loving disposition, her sense of humor, her flexibility and her ability to see the best in every person and in every situation is remarkable and exceptional in anyone - let alone someone who is only 20 years old. We are just so thankful she found her way to us!

Submitted by the Brooks family, host family in California

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The Fuentes Family & their au pair Nathalia

2018 Au Pair of the Year Finalist

Nathalia, au pair from Brazil, living in Tennessee

We are nominating Nathalia for Au Pair of the Year for the second year. Our first year with Naty was amazing, and our second is even better. She is charming, loving and patient. Zander and Kate adore Naty as much (if not more) than we do. She is courageous and daring, and willing to tackle the unknown. Naty also has an easy sense about her - she takes life in strides and easily finds the joy around her. We are proud and grateful that Naty is a member of our family. She cannot get rid of us, and we fully expect that our future holds trips to Brazil and hers trips back to the United States.

Submitted by the Fuentes family, host family in Tennessee

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