TALK. A letter from the Smylie family - being with Au Pair Link from the beginning
Thursday, 25 May 2017
Happy 10 year anniversary Au Pair Link!
What a journey and a transformation you have had over this time.
We've been privileged to have been part of Au Pair Link almost from
the beginning. Back in 2008, I was starting a new job in a
different town, and childcare options were very limited. One
day care had a waiting list of several years, and the only other
one had left me feeling very uncomfortable and not willing to risk
my children there. A passing comment from my brother along the
lines of "have you thought about an au pair?" had me tapping my
keyboard to find out more! I came across Au Pair Down Under
(Au Pair Link's previous name). I got in touch and our au
pair journey was underway.
For our first few au pairs, we dealt directly with Cecilia
Robinson. Back then, her mother Kiki was interviewing au pairs back
in Sweden and Cecilia was placing them in New Zealand. We
were the first she'd worked with in Taranaki. We connected
with Emma, who joined us in July 2008 for a year. Back then, we had
Flynn (2) and Lachie (8 months). The positive impact of
having an au pair, compared to day care, was immediate. By
having Emma at home with the kids, I could just get up and head to
work - no drops offs or picks ups. The kids stayed in their
normal routine, got to go to playgroups, music etc, and also spend
lots of quality time with their dad on the farm. When I got
home, the kids were already bathed and ready for bed - I got to
enjoy my kids for that precious time when I got home - not be
rushing with bathing, grocery shopping and doing laundry!
Emma fitted in so well and made such a big difference for our
family life, there was no question of whether we'd get another au
pair when she left - we were committed! At that stage, we
were the only local family to have an au pair and Emma made a huge
effort to assimilate into Kiwi life. She joined a local
football team and became great friends with some local girls her
age. She also embraced farm life and ended up doing our relief
milking on some of her weekends off to earn some extra money.
A win-win!
One year on, and Au Pair Down Under had been renamed Au Pair
Link. Cecilia had started on making connections with other
countries and our next au pair was Carina from Germany.
Carina stayed with us for six months, until the birth of our third
child Niamh. By now, a couple of other local farming families
had come on board with Au Pair Link which meant Carina had other au
pairs to travel with and share her adventures with which added a
different dynamic. More changes by the time I was looking to
return to work and Au Pair Link had become accredited with the
Ministry of Education and we now had a Programme Manager Jo!
Jo was wonderful, and created so many wonderful learning
opportunities for our au pairs and our children. Our next au
pair was Vivi from Germany who had a wonderful year with us,
enjoying all that Taranaki and New Zealand had to offer.
Not every match is perfect and we hit our first stumbling block
next. Our next au pair arrived but was so incredibly home sick, she
headed back home within days. This was a big shake up for us but Au
Pair Link were fantastic at helping us with rematching. They
also convinced a previous au pair for their accountant, Nina, to
help us out for a week or so while we got sorted. Nina
reluctantly headed from the city to the farm and ended up
completely surprising herself but loving farming life and
completely getting amongst it! She stayed for 6 weeks in the
end and helped with our transition to our next au pair Carolin from
Germany who stayed for a year. By now, there were many au
pairs in Taranaki and our au pairs were having a wonderful time
exploring New Zealand in their time off, and also having lots of
fun in general. They were making friends for life not only
with us, but with the other girls who were also going through a
similar experience.
Carolin was with us until we had our twin boys Angus and Quinn.
We then had Rachel from the USA with us for six months and then
Leonie from Germany for the second six months of my parental
leave. Then the very brave Nadine joined us from Germany for
a year, when our twins had just turned one, Niamh was 3, Lachie was
5 and Flynn was 7. She did an amazing job under often
challenging circumstances. Next was Anna-Lena from Germany
who stayed for a year, then Joan from Denmark for six months and
finally our last au pair ever is Katja from Germany who leaves us
in a few weeks after a year when our littlest boys go to
school!
During this time, Jo was replaced by Donna as our Programme
Manager and over the next few years, Donna also became a special
part of our family. We valued all that both Jo and Donna did for us
and our au pairs. Being a Programme Manager is a tough job and both
did it with kindness, energy and compassion. I also made some
special connections with some of the Au Pair Link team, firstly the
incredible Cecilia and also Diana, our Placement Manager over our
last few years who always went above and beyond to make sure we
felt made the best match possible. The placement journey itself has
changed so much over our time, and it's great to now be in charge
of our own matching process through the online system.
For the most part, we've been incredibly lucky with our au pairs
matches and we proudly display our Au Pair Wall of Honour in our
hallway, which has all eleven of our au pairs and showcases the
changes in our family over this time.
These special connections will last forever. Two of our au pairs
are the godparents of our twins, we've been to Europe for the
wedding of Emma and we are looking forward to more weddings in the
years ahead (no pressure girls!). We still keep in very close
contact with our au pairs and consider them part of our very
extended family! Our lives have been enriched by all that they've
bought. We've loved sharing our home with them and think the
key to our successful relationships is that we have never thought
of them as employees - they've always been part of our family and
been included in everything we do. We've found having this
inclusive environment creates the best outcomes for everyone. We've
been lucky that many of their families have come to visit, and over
the years, most of our au pairs have been back to stay - some more
than once! Katja's already promised she'll be back again soon too -
it's never "goodbye" - just a "see you again soon".
It's been an incredible nine year journey with Au Pair
Link. We can't think of a better fit for our family, than
having used an au pair as our child care solution.
Written by Karen Smylie (Hawera, Taranaki) - Au Pair
Link's longest standing family to date.