Posts tagged as:

au pair

Why Safety Rules Matter

by cv harquail January 30, 2010

I get a lot of crap from people about the safety rules at our house. Apparently we’re a little strict.
Probably our most prominent safety rules have to do with driving. For example, I don’t use my cellphone when I drive. I just don’t.
I’m that person who waits ’till she gets where she’s going, then parks [...]

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Au Pair Abruptly Quits, then wants to come back to see kids. Really? (poll)

by cv harquail January 28, 2010

Here’s a painful situation, about which this host mom could use some good advice. I’m sure that this kind of situation has happened to other families who’ve gone into rematch [Something similar happened to us with our flame-out au pair, and so reading this mom's email got me all mad all over again. What went [...]

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Do you pay your Au Pair for her orientation days?

by cv harquail January 27, 2010

When do you start paying your Au Pair? Do you consider her training days to be ‘work’ for you, or do you wait until the Thursday night she arrives in your home before the clock starts?
For our first au pair or two, we just paid them starting when they arrived, because it didn’t occur to [...]

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Took the car for the weekend & lied: Should I report car stolen?

by cv harquail January 23, 2010

The quick answer?

Only if you’re ready to rematch, and

Only if you are ready to have your au pair hate you.

And you may well be ready for that, if this situation is what it’s boiled down to:
I actually just found this great blog because I believe my au pair has stolen our car to take a [...]

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Your Brother’s Wedding vs. Her 21st Birthday: Whose priority wins? (Poll)

by cv harquail January 22, 2010

Here’s a tough situation that could use your advice! This host parent is facing what feels like a win/lose situation in a conflict between what the family wants and what the au pair wants.
Check out the details, weigh in at the poll, and then offer some advice!
Dear AuPairMom Readers– I was so glad to find [...]

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Letters of Recommendation: For a so-so au pair? (Poll)

by cv harquail January 20, 2010

When your au pair is getting ready to leave you, either to end her year or to extend with a different family, it’s nice to write her a letter of recommendation. Unless, of course, you wouldn’t recommend her to anyone.
When the topic of recommendation letters has come up before, you all have been of different [...]

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Tough Topic: When your au pair steals from you

by cv harquail January 19, 2010

There are many topics that I have dreaded bringing up here, but I’m going to bring them up anyway with a little bit of warning… I’ll announce in the headline that it’s a “Tough Topic” and everyone will know to treat it gently.
One of the painful tough topics is when you discover your au pair [...]

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How Does Your Au Pair Grow?

by cv harquail January 17, 2010

Truly one of the joys of being a host parent is watching your au pair blossom as a citizen of the world and as as a person. I look back in hindsight now and wish that for each of our au pairs, I had written them a note at the start of their year to [...]

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Haircolor and Au Pairs: What’s up with that?

by cv harquail January 16, 2010

Last year I made a joke in one post about au pairs spending a lot of money on Garnier Nutrisse hair color, and nobody commented… I thought I was alone in the “What’s with all the hair coloring?” question. I have since discovered, for better or worse, that I am not the only host mom [...]

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EduCare or Regular Au Pair?

by cv harquail January 11, 2010

Have you ever compared the EduCare program to the the regular Au Pair program?
If you’ve chosen the EduCare, what swung you over? And, what’s your experience been with EduCare Au Pairs?
What’s the EduCare Program?
From the website of the US Department of State:
The Au Pair program includes the EduCare component.

The EduCare component is only for families [...]

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