From the category archives:

Holidays

9 Ways to Celebrate Halloween with your Au Pair

by cv harquail October 30, 2009

Special Halloween Edition
Halloween is one of my favorite holidays to share with Au Pairs. Unlike some holidays, Halloween doesn’t seem to trigger a whole lot of nostalgia and homesickness. For au pairs who ‘do’ Halloween in their home countries, it’s a chance for her to share traditions from her culture. And, if [...]

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3 Ways to be a Great Host Parent

by cv harquail April 14, 2009

Here’s the first in an occasional series about Ways to be a Great Host Parent .
Sorry Tolstoy.
Whether happy or not so happy, not every host family is the same.  We host families like to revel in our uniqueness and we like to think that, for the lucky au pair, our family is just the [...]

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Your House is Not a Youth Hostel

by cv harquail April 3, 2009

Let me repeat that: Your house is not a youth hostel.
It’s not a hotel. It’s not a pied a terre. Your house is your home, and if you choose to have friends of your au pair as overnight guests, there is a lot to think about.
One blatant sign that a host mom and host [...]

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Poll: How long, exactly, is “two weeks vacation”?

by cv harquail March 11, 2009

The question has been posed: How do you count "two weeks vacation"?

I’m not sure of the "official" rule, so I hope a Local Community Counselor can chime in, but in the meantime, let’s see how we host moms interpret that guideline.
And, when you and your Au Pair arrange her vacation, how do you usually distribute [...]

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Creepy, Crawly, Contagious Things- What if your Au Pair catches them too?

by cv harquail February 27, 2009

When I became a mom I knew that that I would need to become accustomed to dealing with things that, pre-motherhood, had completely grossed me out. I’m talking about poopy diapers, vomit, bloody noses, fart jokes, and public belching.
These were things that I would have to deal with, gross or not, because I was [...]

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Don’t take your Au Pair on vacation during her first 3 months!

by cv harquail February 8, 2009

Okay host moms- I’m coming out with a pretty specific "Don’t":
Don’t, I say DON’T, take your au pair on a vacation the first 3 months she is with you.
Why? Because:
1. It sets up inaccurate expectations about how she will be treated (e.g., as a guest and tourist vs. as a ‘working’ member of the [...]

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It’s YOUR vacation, not hers. Okay?

by cv harquail February 2, 2009

I had a long listen at a neighborhood party last week…one of my host mom friends had just come back from a family vacation to Disneyworld. Three kids, three adults, two bedrooms, 5 days. And for my friend, not a vacation at all.
What went wrong? I’ll tell you what went wrong. My [...]

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Tip: Save those Ice Skates!

by cv harquail January 18, 2009

At the park across the street, the pond has frozen.
(This is actually what it looks like!)
Every time the pond freezes, I congratulate myself for saving my old ice skates.
About five years ago, when my little ones were taking skating lessons , I bought myself skates that actually fit me so that I [...]

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Poll: Will your AP be on-duty on Christmas?

by cv harquail December 18, 2008

Hi Moms-
I’m testing out a new feature  — polls!
I’d love to get a sense of what everyone is planning for their au pair on Christmas day…. Given the percent of American families that celebrate Christmas  –  (according to the Associated Press , Gallup polls from 1994 to 2005 consistently show that more than 90 percent [...]

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Gift, Bonus or Tip: Call it what you want, but keep in mind….

by cv harquail December 17, 2008

I’m intrigued by the comments in the previous post about a Christmas/ Holiday tip for your au pair… it seems that some readers are taken aback by the idea that one would tip ones au pair. As a trained social scientist, I see these reactions as "data" — but what is the data telling me? [...]

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