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Cultural Exchange Challenges

Who counts as an “American” family?

by cv harquail September 19, 2011

I imagine that every au pair has an idea of what her or his “ideal” host family should be like. The assortment of children, the family’s location, their personality, their basic household rules… all of this factors in. But how much do you think it matters that the family be “American”-American, rather than German-American or [...]

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What really motivates them to become Au Pairs?

by cv harquail May 3, 2010

Very few au pairs come to the US because they want to take care of kids. They can do this in their home countries, with a lot less drama and zero homesickness. While many (let’s hope, most) au pairs like kids, and think they will enjoy caring for kids for a year, this is usually [...]

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Her Language or Yours? Balancing different goals

by cv harquail November 1, 2009

One of the oft-cited opportunities of au pair childcare is the idea that your children can learn another language from your au pair. Sometimes people choose au pairs to help them reinforce a second language that is already spoken in the household (perhaps, by one of the parents or by a child adopted from another [...]

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Matching with an Au Pair: When Racism interferes

by cv harquail October 2, 2009

Take a deep breath everyone– time to talk about something many people find uncomfortable: Racism.  But talk about it we must, because racism gets in the way of our relationships with each other. 3 Sources of “Racism Interference” Racism interference can come from three directions, any of which can influence your match with an Au [...]

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Traveling with Kids: Book to investigate

by cv harquail June 20, 2009

Strolling across the interweb this morning, I came across this review of a book about traveling with kids … and it looks like the kind of information Au Pair host parents might be interested in. Many of us choose to have Au Pairs over US college student live-ins, or other caregivers, because we’d like to [...]

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Au Pair Appreciation: St. Lucia

by cv harquail May 3, 2009

International Au Pair Appreciation Week As shared by a Host Mom Our last AP was from Stockholm, Sweden. Her mother sent her 3 Swedish white ‘nightgown’ style dresses, electric "crowns" and bulbs so that she could celebrate St. Lucia Day for our benefit in December 2008. She baked sweet rolls flavored with saffron, taught our [...]

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