advice

9 Ways to Celebrate Halloween with your Au Pair

by cv harquail October 29, 2011
au pair halloween advice holidays celebration costume

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 your au […]

10 comments Read the full article →

Poll: Have you ever switched Au Pair agencies? If so, why?

by cv harquail April 25, 2009
nosy cat.jpg

As a believer in the “path of least resistance’” and a fan of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, I’ve been with the same agency since we started with au pairs. I chose the agency because it was one of the only two in my town at the time, it had a much larger […]

34 comments Read the full article →

Sample Handbook from a Reader

by cv harquail March 3, 2009
Starling fabric

Hi Moms- Recall that last month I invited you all to share pages from your Family Handbook … I’ve just posted the first of those sample handbooks as a page: Sample Handbook 2, from CC Family. The Sample Handbook is based on the format provided by the Cultural Care Agency, so you may have seen […]

9 comments Read the full article →

Food and your Au Pair: Label it if you don’t want her to eat it

by cv harquail December 9, 2008
cookies18-735236

Do you know what it feels like to spend two precious hours baking several dozen homemade cookies for your daughter’s class party, only to discover the next day, when you go to wrap them, that your au pair and her friends have eaten all but 6? That’s about how I felt last week, when an […]

18 comments Read the full article →

Celebrate Your Au Pair’s First Snowfall!

by cv harquail November 13, 2008
Au Pairs enjoy their first snowfall au pair advice low cost childcare

Does your au pair come from a tropical or always warm country? Do you live in a place with four seasons? If so, your family might get to share a real delight — you might get to see your au pair enjoy her very first snowfall! Check out this photo of two of our au […]

Read the full article →

Tip: Teach your Au Pair about Vampires

by cv harquail October 31, 2008
vampire bill compton au pair aupair advice

Special Halloween Edition Every Host Mom should teach her au pair about vampires. No, I don’t mean the Bill Compton kind of vampire, I mean the bill ELECTRIC kind of vampire. [If you want to know more about Bill Compton, check these vids: "I’m Too Sexy…" (almost NSFW) or "Talking in Your Sleep." Apparently, these […]

1 comment Read the full article →

Host Mom Advice Wanted: Allow Au Pair to use personal computer while on duty?

by cv harquail October 22, 2008
feet up on couch pretty pillows

Hi Host Moms- We’ve gotten a request for advice, from KT_VA: We have an au pair, who takes care of our 6 month old. Today I came home to find my daughter sleep upstairs, and the au pair on the computer instant messaging her friends, with the baby monitor off. 20 minutes later, I heard […]

4 comments Read the full article →

In Rematch Again? Why didn’t you call me?

by cv harquail October 16, 2008
call me for au pair advice

Just a quick, little story: I heard through the grapevine that the au pair we had briefly, who rematched with another family over “personality issues” is in rematch– again. This made me wonder, just as I wondered when this au pair was in rematch the first time: Why didn’t you call me? Yes, you, host-parent-in-rematch. […]

9 comments Read the full article →

Homesickness and your Au Pair: How you might help

by cv harquail October 15, 2008
homesick au pair needs help

Being an Au Pair’s host mom occasionally calls for you to help your au pair take care of herself, both physically and emotionally. You will find yourself needing to offer her ideas about how to distinguish between a cold and an allergy, how to find new friends, and almost certainly how to deal with homesickness. […]

6 comments Read the full article →

How Can You Get Your Au Pair to be (more of) a Self-Starter?

by cv harquail October 6, 2008

Moms- We’ve got another request for advice! Not so surprisingly, this request shares a theme with last week’s question, about how to get your au pair ‘out and about’ so that you can have some alone-ish time. I’ve taken the liberty of highlighting some of the passages to call your attention to them… What are […]

13 comments Read the full article →

← Previous Entries