November 2009

Crazy MisCommunication with your Au Pair

by cv harquail November 28, 2009
200911221010.jpg

Ah, the fun of mis-communicating– it adds a special zing to the parent-au pair-child relationship, no? Whether or not it’s due to a language barrier, there are some times when you discover what you think your au pair thought you said isn’t actually anything near what you think you thought you said, or vice versa. […]

22 comments Read the full article →

Will your Au Pair be On Duty this Thanksgiving? (Poll)

by cv harquail November 22, 2009
200911220913.jpg

Every holiday my DH and I have the same holiday conversation: Should we ask our Au Pair to be on duty? Scheduling your au pair to work on and around holidays, family vacations, and birthdays (yours and hers) can be challenging, because you’re once again right on top of the question– What does it mean […]

39 comments Read the full article →

Thanksgiving Day Tip: Involve your Au Pair in Story Corps’ National Day of Listening

by cv harquail November 21, 2009
200911210919.jpg

Here’s a Thanksgiving activity that you can involve your au pair in, that can keep her engaged, keep family members engaged, and create something special for all of you. Have your au pair lead the family in the Story Corps’ National Day of Listening. The actual National Day of Listening is the day after Thanksgiving […]

3 comments Read the full article →

On celebrating each other’s religious holidays

by cv harquail November 9, 2009
Orange star micamica.jpeg

Only 4.5 weeks till Hanukkah, 8 weeks until Christmas, 9 until New Years… Time to think about weaving your Au Pair into your family’s celebrations. You should think ahead, and talk with your au pair, because holidays can be important times to feel in or out of a family, acknowledged or overlooked, celebrated or taken […]

25 comments Read the full article →

Random, Crazy, and True Au Pair Stories

by cv harquail November 6, 2009
_3630_3617409240_e007e8162c.jpg

My Random, Crazy & True AP Story We here at AuPairMom invite you to tell us some of your random, crazy and true stories about your experience with an au pair. We know you have stories, and we invite you to let ’em loose. Just two constraints: 1. The story has to be TRUE. 2. […]

221 comments Read the full article →

Birth Control and Your Au Pair

by cv harquail November 5, 2009
_2077_2167085417_df477e3ae6.jpg

I wasn’t really ready to blog about this particular topic, even though it’s on the list of 378 topics I brainstormed 18 months ago… We got an anonymous comment on a different post that raised the issue… so here we are. It can’t be any harder to blog about than it is to do! You […]

50 comments Read the full article →

Choosing an Au Pair for Teens

by cv harquail November 3, 2009
sureshot coffee.jpg

If you’re choosing an au pair for teens, what are the qualities you’d look for? I’m assuming that teens have different childcare needs, and we’ve thought about these in our earlier post… so how do we find au pair candidates who can do all this? I have no idea. My guess is that you’d want […]

4 comments Read the full article →

Beyond the Chauffeur: Benefits of Au Pairs when your kids are teens

by cv harquail November 3, 2009
gossip_girl400.jpg

Au Pairs can be great companions and caregivers to older children…. and by older, I’m thinking teens. Yeah, yeah, teens think they are old enough to do without childcare — they can be at home by themselves, cook their own meals, get their homework done, and walk around with earbuds blocking out the rest of […]

9 comments Read the full article →

Choosing an Au Pair: Language as a Selection Criterion (Poll)

by cv harquail November 2, 2009
nihao-kailan_logo.jpg

What do you think of the idea of choosing an au pair based on her native language? Note: Choosing on language is not the same as choosing an au pair based on culture. Just think of the range of cultures where French is spoken!  Cameroon, Haiti, Montreal and Tuscany are  very different  cultures. Is there […]

17 comments Read the full article →

Her Language or Yours? Balancing different goals

by cv harquail November 1, 2009
pankake.jpg

One of the oft-cited opportunities of au pair childcare is the idea that your children can learn another language from your au pair. Sometimes people choose au pairs to help them reinforce a second language that is already spoken in the household (perhaps, by one of the parents or by a child adopted from another […]

26 comments Read the full article →