Hi! We’re the Leidermans: Emily (mom), Jared (dad), Hazel (11 years old), and Sam (8 years old). We are excited to meet you!
We live in Berkeley, California – a great town with an international community. We live in a quiet, safe, sunny neighborhood. San Francisco is about an hour away by car. The climate is temperate, so we spend a lot of time outdoors. Our house has a lot of extra space and a big backyard, and you would have your own room and bathroom that is on a separate floor from the other bedrooms.
As a family, we like to go on walks or hikes, go to parks, spend time with the kids’ grandparents and other family members who live nearby, play games, work on art projects, go biking, and (especially before COVID) travel. The kids have been to Iceland, Spain, India, and a few different parts of the United States.
Our family is Jewish, and we love sharing the way we celebrate holidays. We respect all religions, and we also respect people who do not follow any religion.
Emily runs a small company from her home office teaching businesspeople how to negotiate and manage conflict. Jared manages the finances and administration for nonprofit organizations.
Both kids are in school and love learning. They attend a school that is a 15-minute drive away from our house.
Hazel (11 years) loves reading, swimming, coding, art, crafts, acting, being with friends, and baking. Sometimes, Hazel is serious and thoughtful, and sometimes Hazel is very silly! They are an advanced reader, and they are in sixth grade. They love cats, all cute things, and sarcastic jokes.
Sam (8 years) loves reading, jumping, swimming, unicorns, art, tools, music, playing with their friends, and dancing. They are in third grade at the same school Hazel goes to. They are full of joy and has been smiling non-stop since they were two weeks old.
Both of our kids use they/them pronouns instead of she/her. Hazel identifies as non-binary and Sam identifies as genderfluid. We’re happy to share more information with you about their gender identities and answer any questions you may have! We recognize that these pronouns may be new for you and make take some time to remember.
We value honesty, compassion, listening, and openness. Our ideal au pair would be patient, compassionate, curious, and interested in learning. We care a great deal about teaching our kids to treat everyone with respect. We are devoted feminists and big supporters of LGBTQ+ rights! When things go wrong, we try to stay calm, set clear limits with our kids, and listen to our kids' emotions and ideas.
Our family is at high risk of COVID complications, so we have avoided most in-person contact since the beginning of the pandemic. All of us are fully vaccinated and boosted. We expect to stay cautious, avoiding unvaccinated people, large groups of people, and most indoor gatherings. We spend time with friends outdoors and masked or on Zoom. We need anyone who lives with us to follow the same restrictions. That means that our family is not a good fit for someone who wants to go out partying with friends or travel a lot. Our family is a better fit for someone who wants to spend time relaxing or studying, getting to know a family, improving their childcare skills, hiking in beautiful areas, and learning about our culture. Our family may also be a good fit for someone who is immunocompromised or otherwise concerned about their health.
Our au pairs have found ways to travel during their vacation time, join a gym with outdoor space, and meet up with friends outside. Please note that these restrictions are current as of August 2023, and we don’t expect to change them until the transmission of COVID-19 is significantly reduced. If that doesn’t work for you, we understand – please just let us know right away so we can each find a better match.
If our family does sound like it could be the right fit for you, we would love to hear about where you’re from and learn about your culture. We would also love to introduce you to the United States and share our favorite parts! We have adored the au pairs we have hosted so far and we expect to be part of each other’s lives in the future. We are looking forward to welcoming a new au pair to our home.

We would love an au pair to help us get the kids to school in the morning and take care of them in the afternoons when they get home from school. Our au pair will need to be a safe driver who is very comfortable driving on freeways and in rain. In the summertime, when the kids are out of school, we’ll need more daytime help during the week. It would be great to have someone who can feed the kids dinner and get them to bed once a week while their parents have a date night. We also need help with all the kids’ stuff: laundry, dishes, tidying, etc.
A typical schedule during the week would be 6:30am - 8:30am and then 3:30pm - 6:30pm each weekday, with one day a later until 9:00pm for our date night. During the summer the schedule can vary depending on camps but will likely include some weeks with full days, 9:00am - 5:00pm.
In addition to being paid significantly higher than the baseline requirements, we hope au pairs will be excited about being part of an interesting, thoughtful family in a great area!