December 2012

On Duty or Off Duty: There is no third choice. Or is there?

by cv harquail December 29, 2012
201212291549.jpg

ON Duty or OFF Duty. There are only two choices for the hours on your au pair’s schedule. Host parents that try to establish a third choice, where an au pair is neither on duty nor off duty, are starting down the slippery slope of “taking advantage” of an au pair. ON Duty = Paid […]

92 comments Read the full article →

Start By Following the Rules: Au Pair Asks About Hours, Holidays and Discipline

by cv harquail December 29, 2012
201212291421.jpg

97% of the time that something goes wrong between an au pair and a host family, it’s because one or both parties is not following the rules. Okay, maybe it’s not 97%. Maybe it’s just 95%. But in the vast majority of the problems we talk about here, someone isn’t following the rules. We got […]

25 comments Read the full article →

Pinning Your Hopes on a Happy Holiday: Gift Ideas from APIA’s Christine Connally

by cv harquail December 22, 2012
pinter2.png

There are several concessions that I have to make regarding online tools so that I can actually get my behind and my attention out from in front of my computer. With work that requires reading, writing, editing and analyzing data, and hobbies that invite reading, writing, surfing and rabbit holes, there are things to which […]

3 comments Read the full article →

What if I actually don’t like my new Au Pair’s personality?

by cv harquail December 14, 2012
201212131337.jpg

Personality matters, but we struggle to figure out how much we should let it matter. Au Pairs are caregivers, roommates, family members, and in the best of situation, they become our friends. But for some reason, many of us feel awkward making decisions about au pairs based on whether we actually like their personalities. It […]

86 comments Read the full article →

Au Pair Asks: How Should I Manage My Host Dads’ Friends’ Drunken Advances?

by cv harquail December 13, 2012
201212131318.jpg

This post was actually a bit hard to fit to a short headline– the situation is a bit more complicated. As usual, culture dynamics, language issues, gender dyanmics, and more at work in this au pair’s uncomfortable situation with her host dad and his friends. What advice do you have for APinChina? Should she say […]

17 comments Read the full article →

Give Your Au Pair The Gift of Travel ~ Ideas from HRHM

by cv harquail December 13, 2012
cornwall map naturally heartfelt.jpg

Most Au Pairs want the chance to travel during their year with us. “Travel” can mean a lot of things– vacations, long weekends, day trips, and even a quick stop over at something interesting on the way to a regular errand. Host mom and regular contributor HRHM shares these ideas for simple, fun, lower-cost travel […]

7 comments Read the full article →

Au Pair Gifts To Kids: Katrin’s Book-a-Day Advent Calendar

by cv harquail December 6, 2012
sandra advent au pair gift.JPG

Host Mom Sandra tells us about a creative, low cost holiday gift idea that combines a clever physical gift with an enduring gift of spirit: I just wanted to send a quick note about my au pair, Katrin Schwingenschlogl from Austria. For the Christmas holiday, she developed her own Advent calendar for my children. She […]

7 comments Read the full article →

AuPair Gifts That Give Back ~ Ideas from Susan Robinson

by cv harquail December 2, 2012
_002_0_6917118_il_fullxfull.374477474_2quy.jpg

How about some some gift ideas for au pairs that, with their purchase, provide a donation to women’s and children’s causes around the world? It’s two gifts in one!  The curator of this list is Susan Robinson, known to many of you as AuPair Answer Mom over at Cultural Care. Susan Robinson has been host […]

Read the full article →