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First time Host Parent

What exactly is a Host Family Handbook?

by cv harquail June 21, 2010

We’ve got a lit of different terms floating around to describe the written information that we give our au pairs. We call them handbooks, manuals, guidelines, and rules. (And who knows what our au pairs call them!) For the purposes of our conversations here on AuPairMom, let’s try to lock down the terminology. A Host [...]

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Itty Bitty Babies: Ups & Downs of Au Pairs for Infants (and new Host Parents)

by cv harquail June 18, 2010

[[I'm delighted to share with your a Guest Post from a regular contributor, Dorsi. Dorsi noted that she hasn't seen much on the blog about infants and offered to share her reflections. Reading her post brought back so many memories of those tender first days of being a mom and having to look like I [...]

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Can you say “exploited” in French? Au Pair asks what to do

by cv harquail June 8, 2010

Dear Au Pair Moms & Readers, I need serious advice and thought you would give me great advice as I love your blog! I’m 21 and am working in France as an Au Pair. I arrived last Wednesday (a week ago tomorrow) and have enjoyed it so far as I love the family and feel [...]

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Au Pair Asks: How can I get my Host Mom to give me a schedule?

by cv harquail May 23, 2010

Dear Au Pair Mom, I just find out this site, and I think it’s really helpful. You have a lot of useful information for all of us, and I would like some advice from host parents. I’m an Au Pair, and I just started the program. I’m here for two months and everything is incredible! [...]

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If the Au Pair Agency failed in their “due diligence”, what can Host Parent do?

by cv harquail May 19, 2010

Parents, here’s an emergency plea from a First Time Host Mom, who needs advice on dealing with an unhelpful agency. LCCs and area directors, chime in too, please! Hello! I have a problem w/ an au pair company (which shall remain nameless) and I am not sure how to handle it. We are a new [...]

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Realizing you aren’t ready to be Au Pair host parents? And you have an Au Pair?

by cv harquail May 12, 2010

If we only knew then what we know now… being an Au Pair Host Parent would be really easy. Okay, easier. As our au pair parenting experiences unfold, we learn a lot about what works and what doesn’t, what we can change and what we can’t, how we can accommodate to an au pair and [...]

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Au Pair Mom’s Mothers’ Day Challenge

by cv harquail May 8, 2010

The annual celebration of Mothers’ Day offers us moms a chance to have breakfast in bed, or experience some other kind of treat from our family. It’s one particular day that we get a bit of positive feedback for the work that we do as moms, and it’s one day that we get to be [...]

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Christmas Tip: Make sure your Au Pair has a stocking

by cv harquail December 10, 2009

If you are a first-time host family, and if you celebrate Christmas, you might find yourself caught off guard when you begin to incorporate your Au Pair into your family traditions. Some families will want their au pair to help select and decorate the tree, others won’t. Some families will invite the au pair to [...]

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Calendar Advice from CalifMom

by cv harquail August 10, 2009

A treat from Calif Mom! Knowing that I’d be away from the blog (for a little longer than I’d planned) Calif Mom sent us a present: a guest post on calendars! Here’s her advice, with the usual blend of wisdom and wit! cv Dorsi mentioned Google Calendar in a comment advising a host mom who [...]

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Starting out on the right foot, when you’re on maternity leave

by cv harquail June 2, 2009

We’ve talked a bit about how to start out with an au pair, and it seems that in general, we think that the best strategy is to get her working right away. This helps your au pair feel needed, distracts her from homesickenss, helps with training, and ramps all of the family up fairly quickly. [...]

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