Andréa Fridell - September 2017

We would like to nominate Andrea Fridell for Au Pair of the Month. 

When Mandy said she was going to find us an amazing au pair, she wasn't at all wrong.  We had an instant connection with Andrea on our first interview and every interaction after just got better.

Andrea fits seamlessly into our family and to think she has only been with us for 6 weeks is hard to comprehend because it's like Andrea has always been part of our family. The children adore her and she adores them. She enjoys playing their pretend games and is always creating new 'missions' for the kids, they love these games and everything is fun.  Andrea is extremely helpful and patient when helping our daughter with her homework.  Andrea thinks of fun and creative ways for Asha to complete her homework and then creates a fun activity afterwards as a reward.  We have watched Asha's confidence grow as a result of the time Andrea spends with her.

Our four-nado son is hard work as everything needs to be done in a very particular way, he's too busy for eating and life is often one tantrum after another.  To parent this kind of child is challenging, but Andrea has taken to looking after Hugo in her stride and as a result his tantrum count has gone down significantly.  Andrea is very patient with Hugo, but at the same time encourages him to try new things, meet new children and helping him see other people's point of view. 

We recently started the Incredible Years course which runs 14 weeks for 2.5 hours in the evenings.  Andrea decided to attend the course with us so that we can be unified in our strategies and be a parenting team to the children.  This shows Andrea's incredible maturity as she shares her struggles with the children and the solutions she is using to overcome these with a group of other parents in the course.

Andrea has taken to NZ life well.  She is involved in a quiz night each week with a group of other local au pairs, has picked up regular babysitting for our neighbours, helped out at Play Centre just because she wanted to, arranges trips such as long walks/hikes for her friends and weekends away.  She is a true leader and inspiration to others.

Andrea has an amazing work ethic, she is organised, organises others and thinks of the little things that will make a difference to our family.  If she is going down to the shops in her personal time, she will always ask if we need anything picked up or go through the shopping list to confirm if anything is urgent and needs to be purchased that day. 

We are incredibly grateful to Andrea for being part of our family and making such a huge difference to our lives.

Stewart / Hancox family