Get the easy email newsletter! Just add your address to the yellow box, below right.
Powered by MaxBlogPress  

Choosing an Au Pair

What to do when your Au Pair’s job performance starts to slide

by cv harquail March 31, 2012

In the seasons of the Au Pair year, there often comes a time after The Honeymoon and All Systems Go, but before On the Way Out, when some au pairs hit The Minimum Viable Performance. (Sometimes, though not always, this is paired with The Slough of Not Giving a Shit  Not Caring Anymore.) During The [...]

67 comments Read the full article →

Would you choose an “older” Au Pair? (Poll)

by cv harquail March 25, 2012

Is there an age past which an Au Pair candidate is just “too old” for you to consider? We got a note from OlderAP asking: Would Host Families consider accepting an older au pair? I am 26 years old. I graduated from university with MSc, extremely good grades, and have childcare experience with children aged [...]

55 comments Read the full article →

Would you Pre-Match with your Au Pair’s Sister?

by cv harquail March 6, 2012

Dear Au Pair Mom – We have just extended with a great au pair. It was hard for us to find someone from my own home country so that my 2 children could be exposed to the the language and culture. We were lucky enough to have found someone who is responsible and caring. She [...]

8 comments Read the full article →

First Time Host Mom Asks: Extension Au Pair or Brand New One? (Poll)

by cv harquail March 4, 2012

Can you remember back to when you were a first time host parent, still trying to figure out how you could make this au pair thing work for you? We have a family friend, MD, who’s wading into this for the first time, and she asked me to ask you: If you were a First [...]

22 comments Read the full article →

Revealing Your “Special Needs” During the Matching Process

by cv harquail February 17, 2012

When is the best time to discuss with a prospective au pair candidate that a host child has special needs? When your child has special needs, you need to be sure in advance that your au pair is up for the challenge. Many au pair candidates will indicate on their applications that they are open [...]

22 comments Read the full article →

F.A.Q.: Must we use an Au Pair Agency to engage an Au Pair?

by cv harquail January 14, 2012

Must we use an Au Pair Agency to engage an Au Pair? Yes. Sure, you can go it alone, but then you would not be operating within US Law. We emphatically recommend that you use an approved agency to find and retain your au pair. Following the laws and regulations protects both your family and [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

How To Find a Short-Term Au Pair

by cv harquail October 15, 2011

Sometimes, you just don’t need an au pair for a whole year. You may need just 8 months, until your child has a full school day, or until you drop down to part-time work. You may just need an au pair to cover a gap between a departing au pair and some other childcare arrangement.  [...]

7 comments Read the full article →

Too Much Generosity or the Wrong Kind? Trust your heart

by cv harquail October 8, 2011

Dear AuPairMom- The posting from the host mom offering the fancy host family situation make me think of the choices that I made when I was matching with my host family. I talked to many different families. All of them had some different things to offer, cars yes or no, no Saturday nights, babies and [...]

6 comments Read the full article →

Too Good to be True?

by cv harquail October 7, 2011

A while ago I got a request for advice — a host mom was mystified that her desired au pair candidates seemed uninterested in the opportunity she had to offer. After all, what au pair wouldn’t want a situation that required only 20 hours per week, paid vacations with the family, her own apartment underneath [...]

71 comments Read the full article →

Interpreting the Lanugage of Lag Time: Emailing Prospective Au Pairs

by cv harquail September 27, 2011

It’s kind of ironic for me to post a query about the topic of how to interpret the lag time between sending an email and an au pair candidate responding. As several of you with whom I correspond with on email already know– I can be “not very prompt” in my replies. What does this [...]

52 comments Read the full article →

← Previous Entries