In the 80's and 90's, we hosted 10 foreign exchange students, one a year, ten years in a row. They stayed with us for 10-11 months, arriving in August, going to high school here, had the usual teen baggage to one degree or another. Some were from wealthy families, some could barely scrape the airfare together, some had many siblings, some were an only child, some were boys, some were girls. They became family as we worked things out and bonded with each other by Christmas. For example, one of the boys gave us some troubles, blowing off his schoolwork saying it didn't matter because it didn't count, got into beer a few times, had to have a chat with some detectives once. I showed him how to shave, how to tie a necktie, taught him how to drive (a stick!), my wife helped him learn to dance a little and he went to his first prom. I kicked his butt over the school work and he finished the school year with good grades. A few months after he went home, we got a nice letter from his folks saying "We want to thank you very much for what you did for [him]. We sent you a boy, you sent us back a man. [He] attends to his affairs very well now."
It was amazing how well we bonded in just those few months, and there were almost always lots of tears at the airport in late June.
They've all been back to see us, their families have come to visit us, some multiple times, and we've been to visit them and never have hotel bills while there. We have "family" all over Europe. We stay in touch regularly, and they refer to me as their
"American daddy".
Hence "ameridaddy"
