Adjusting to the USA

Support Gun Safety Legislation

by cv harquail October 4, 2017

Dear Readers — A girlfriend reminded me this morning that, as a person who runs a website that reaches 16,000 people a month, I have a responsibility to use this platform wisely. To promote community, to promote growth, to promote learning, to promote cross cultural understanding, and to promote safety. One of the most horrifying […]

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Au Pair Getting High In Our Home

by cv harquail October 9, 2016

When we know an Au Pair is doing something that contradicts our house rules, but we aren’t able to present positive proof of this, what can we do? We don’t want to be accusatory. But then again, we’re sure we’re right. We don’t need to see him or her rinsing out the bong in the […]

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Brand New Au Pair’s Extreme Homesickness — Can we turn it around?

by cv harquail August 16, 2016

It seems like this brand new host mom did everything right (or, rather, took all of our recommendations) for getting started with an Au Pair. Careful consideration, lots of advance learning, deep interviewing, a handbook (!), and lots of positive energy. Even after their new Au Pair arrived and presented the challenge of extreme homesick, […]

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Au Pairs and Modesty: A Challenge of Cultural Fit

by cv harquail September 29, 2015

I had just come back from dropping my kid off at school. As I climbed out of my car, my neighbor walked by on the way to the park with my favorite golden retriever. I was compelled to run down the driveway and get a cuddle from that darn dog. It was only when I […]

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Cultural Exchange: American kids react to breakfasts from around the world

by cv harquail February 17, 2015

Cultural Exchange always feels more concrete when it’s translated into food. Food preferences, food differences, food customs, and beyond. With a hattip to Mark Frauenfelder at BoingBoing, here’s a video that reminded me of the first time I had fishpaste from a tube, on a business trip to Sweden. I wonder how many […]

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Beware the Homesick Au Pair: Screen it out, or wait it out?

by cv harquail October 28, 2014

Homesickness is completely predictable Homesickness is something that every au pair should anticipate, and that every au pair should make a commitment to work through. If you’re signing up to spend a year in another country, in another family, then you are committing to working through any homesickness that occurs between month 1 and month […]

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3 Easy Ways to Help Your Au Pair Use Your Home Appliances Correctly

by cv harquail October 10, 2014

American appliances have too many options. Having endless options is great for getting just the right setting for a specific task, but it becomes quite a problem when you’re forever trying to remember which combinations of buttons and levers to press. Between our vacuum cleaner (5 attachments, 3 wands and 5 buttons), our washer (23 […]

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Welcome Your Au Pair With A Custom Google Map

by cv harquail March 19, 2014

HostMom Pippa takes advantage of easy online tools, and comes up with *surely* one of the greatest ideas for helping your au pair visualize her/his new surroundings (aka your world). She recommends creating a Custom Google Map: An easy way to share information with your incoming AP before he or she arrives is to create […]

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Help Your Incoming Au Pair Visualize Her Adventure

by cv harquail March 18, 2014

My au pair is doing a project for the agency and has requested photos of us, neighborhood, etc. Should I send her pics of our house and her room? Absolutely! Send photos! It’s understandable that your new au pair wants to be able to visualize where she is going to be. I think it’s […]

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