We are the Beane family and currently live in Scarsdale, NY, but are relocating to Westlake, TX by July 1, 2015. Jonathan and Jodie have been married for 15 years and dated for three years prior to marrying. We have a set of spectacular twins, age 9, Anani and Jonathan. They are very funny, loving, inquisitive and affectionate. They are in third grade and entering fourth next year. Jonathan at first is shy, but once he gets to know you, he is loads of laughs. Anani is very outgoing and affectionate from the onset. Jodie is a human rights professor and Jonathan is a corporate executive and leads diversity for a large global company which is why we are relocating to Texas. We are a very close family and very affectionate towards one another. We spend our summers in Puerto Rico, as Jodie is Puerto Rican. Jonathan is African American and his family lives in North Carolina so we visit there too. Our relationship with our immediate family is very close and they visit often. Jodie’s immediate family lives in New York City and we will be visiting them often. We often have family meals on weekends and our home is usually the center for holiday celebrations. We love to travel, dance, read, horseback ride, socialize with each other and others, and watch movies. Our twins love animals, but have allergies to cats and dogs so they are getting allergy shots regularly. Jonathan and the twins have food allergies and we always carry their meds and an Auvi-Q pen. We have moved several times over the past few years and the twins have attended several schools as a result. We did live in NYC for a long time prior to moving around and love it there.
Our ideal au pair must have experience with children, twin experience is a plus, and enjoy spending time with them and should be responsible, active and have a positive attitude. Jodie tries to speak in Spanish as much as possible so they can retain what they learned when they lived and studied in Montessori School in Puerto Rico which was all in Spanish. We do not allow personal cell phone use during work hours for our au pair. We will need our au pair to work 45 hours a week. The typical schedule will involve getting our twins ready for school, making meals, and driving them to school and after school activities. We are looking for an au pair who is comfortable and good at driving. The au pair will also need to take them to doctor appointments for allergy shots when we are unable. We want the au pair to help them with homework, especially math, and reading out loud. We also want the au pair to play with them if there is no homework or they have a day off. We are an active family and would like our au pair to take the twins outside to play or on walks at least once a day if the weather is nice. We are a very clean and neat family so we would like our au pair to help keep the twins' room and common areas they use tidy and do the twins' laundry. We provide guidance and direction, but do not like to micromanage and need to communicate regularly.
Open communication is very important to us. If our au pair is ever uncomfortable, confused, or in disagreement with anything, we ask the au pair please let us know right away and we will do the same. For the first month, we will meet with our au pair once set day a week during the evening after the children go to bed to discuss the week and offer an opportunity for us to give the au pair feedback and for the au pair to express any concerns. It is also important to us to receive regular communication from our au pair about our children’s’ day and progress. Of course, we wish we could be with them every minute of the day and, while that is not possible, we look forward to hearing from our au pair about their growth. We expect you to use the “Kids In Care Log” to record daily events and note what they ate. Please don’t rely on the log alone, however, and freely discuss their day with us. We expect our au pair to be patient and flexible as schedules and events change with children.
We are a very active family and we like to go to events, amusements parks, concerts, see plays at the local theater, play soccer on weekends, visit friends, and venture to new areas. We would love to have an au pair that enjoys swimming as we go plan to have a pool and go to the beach in the summertime. Both Anani and Jonathan take swimming lessons and love water. They like to spend the entire day boogie boarding in the ocean when we go to Puerto Rico. We hope you love the outdoors and pets too, even though we do not have one. We try and sit down to dinner together as a family each night and talk about the days events. This is very important family time and we hope to have an au pair who enjoys being part of our family. We also enjoy horseback riding as a family and spontaneous trips. Jonathan and Jodie like to have one date night a weekend and our au pair would be charged with a fun planned activity for the twins.
We currently live in Scarsdale, NY a suburb of NYC and commute to NYC for work. However, Jonathan just accepted a new position in Fort Worth, TX and we are moving to Westlake, TX, an affluent neighborhood outside Dallas. Jodie will be at home to help transition the twins until she finds employment at a university. Jonathan will commute to work. Driving is essential in this area as there is little public transportation. We are about 25-30 min outside Dallas and 35 min outside Fort Worth. It is a gated community and was voted one of the best places to live in the US! It also has a social club, fishing lake, tennis courts, pools, spa, restaurant, and much more. There are rolling hills and horses, famous Texas longhorns, and black cows surrounding our community. We will be exploring this area with the au pair and hope to travel the state and to Mexican resorts which is a common trip for Texans.
Our daughter Anani is being evaluated for a slight Executive Function at our request. The twins are well behaved nine year olds who are very socially conscious, especially for their age. The global environment and human rights are important to them. Anani is not having academic difficulty yet, but in preparation for the rigors that lay ahead in fourth grade, we noticed her ability to keep things in order needs some guidance. She is easily distracted, but easily redirected and we have no behavioral issues with either child outside the normal issues nine year possess. They have also had close, long lasting and bonded relationships with the sitters we have had. The sitters are still part of our family to this day. We hope for the same with our au pair.