Competitive Atmosphere

Dear all,
today I am a bit upset. In the last period things are not going as I expect and one of my friend is always underlying my poor results.
I'm a religious woman and I belive in the power of Faith and so I pray a lot. However, it is so annoying when someone keep this competitive atmosphere. Each single person is different and react in a different way. I know that a challenging time can be also a way to grow up and learn something new. Her speechs hurt me. She undervalue my experience as au pair. It is not a gap year, it is a year of hard studying and working with children.
I study every single day. I know that there are people much more better than me, but there are also people with poorer results than mine.
I'd prefer to have a cooperative atmosphere than a competitive one.
Is it so necessary to be so competitive?

Competitive Atmosphere

Dear all,
today I am a bit upset. In the last period things are not going as I expect and one of my friend is always underlying my poor results.
I'm a religious woman and I belive in the power of Faith and so I pray a lot. However, it is so annoying when someone keep this competitive atmosphere. Each single person is different and react in a different way. I know that a challenging time can be also a way to grow up and learn something new. Her speechs hurt me. She undervalue my experience as au pair. It is not a gap year, it is a year of hard studying and working with children.
I study every single day. I know that there are people much more better than me, but there are also people with poorer results than mine.
I'd prefer to have a cooperative atmosphere than a competitive one.
Is it so necessary to be so competitive?

All documents You need

Au Pair FB's group in Cork and nearby

Dear au pairs,
I have just created a group for those of you wishing to meet with other au pairs living in Cork or in the nearby. 
It'd be amazing to spend time together and have coffee, walking to the park or a trip during the weekends. It's not always easy to live far from home, but we can talk and try to solve our difficulties.
Everyone is welcome here:au pairs in Cork & nearby
All the best,
Busyasabee.

Planning Activities and Being an Example for the Children

Dear all,
Today I am going to talk about the importance of looking for events or timetables of the main attractions/places of the city you are going to. A gold rule  is trying to find out as much information as you can.
As an au pair student, it could be interesting to know the timetable of the libraries-I have just noticed that they close at 5 p.m., but on Thu I have the possibility to stay there till 8 pm. Also, it would be nice to check if they organize some events for children since Ireland has many rainy days and it would be an amazing way to involve children in reading/lab activities. 
One of my friends has recently confessed that she loved to go with her daddy to the library. He took her to the library every week for reading one different book and still now she loves literature.
Thanks to the Net it is easier to establish a first approach with the city we are going to. We can read comments and advice of other people and decide what we would like to do.
Children can enjoy a sunny day in the park or a rainy day in a theatre/cinema. They are all occasion to learn something new. This is a key point from which the au pair can develop other activities for children-drawing, helping them to write a short text about their experience, learning from them what they like mostly and what they did not like at all. It would be a nice idea to keep a journal with impressions or photos to share with children and time to time to show them the funniest or the most significant moments during your staying as au pair. 
Keep in mind that children are learning a lot from your behaviour and attitude and every beautiful thing that you do it is a new and important step for them. If you are grateful for simple things, children will notice it and as a consequence they will imitate your kindness. 
However, this does not mean that you must be perfect. Nobody is perfect. You can have hard time, but I am sure that this will not influence the unique relationship that you have established with the children :-)

My New Host Family

Hi everyone,
I am an Italian student who is going to be Au Pair for a year.
The main reasons why I am doing this are:
1-My nanny has recently passed away and she was a great example of moral, values and kindness and I would like to be like her.
2-I love languages and children and being au pair is such an amazing combination of my 2 passions.
3-I think it is an experience that will teach me a lot of things that could be useful in the future-I do not talk only about practical things, but this one is going to be a challenging experience.
FINDING FAMILY: I confess it:it was tricky to find the ideal family. Many families required a sort of nanny-driver and I am so afraid of driving abroad with children-it is such a big responsibility. 
Since I am a student and I am not having a gap year, I was looking for a family who could give me free days for coming back to Italy and passing my exams. I did not ask any other kind of holidays-e.g. Christmas-because I think that my exam are to require many days in Jan and May. In connection to this, I wished to find out a family who could give me free time(e.g. weekend or free evenings) for studying for university.
I have received a request from a French family made up of 4 children aged 0-6 and a mother-the father comes back home only at the weekend. Even if it may seem amazing(wow I'll speak French all day), I was wondering when I could have spare time for my exams and thesis since a great number of children still don't go to school.

So I've been searching for 2 weeks until I have found a lovely Irish family made up of 3 sweets children aged 1, 5 and 6 and a single mother. It was love at the first sight.
I have talked with them a couple of times across Skype because I thought that it would be great to "meet" them and in the meantime to check if it is all O.K-in the end I am going to live with them 12 months.
The mother has given me a schedule and she has provided me with all necessary information:-).
I have appreciated it so much because she seems to care about all and this reveals her strenght and also her love for the children.
Soon I'll prepare luggage and I'll go to Ireland :-)