Posts tagged as:

Holidays

What’s the most “American” thing you’ve had to explain to your au pair?

by cv harquail July 2, 2010

4th of July is one of my favorite holidays… all about family, community and abstract patriotic notions.
4th of July is also the holiday when I am most likely to embarrass my children– apparently, as they get older, it is no longer cool to dress up in red, white & blue and cheer wildly at the [...]

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How to Handle Costs for a Ski Vacation: Who should pay for what?

by cv harquail February 5, 2010

When a host family takes their au pair with them to work during part of the vacation, what should they provide for her during her off-duty time? Especially, what should you provide on a ski vacation, where costs are relatively high and your au pair can’t afford to pay for her own skiing?
A European Host [...]

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Temporary Eviction: Would you make your Au Pair stay somewhere else while you are on vacation?

by cv harquail December 17, 2009

Host parents, we got a request for advice from an au pair who is facing temporary eviction while her host parents are on vacation. The situation is a bit of an emergency, since the family is slated to leave within the week. Your ideas? Here’s the situation:
Dear Au Pair Mom readers,
I am an au [...]

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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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Will your Au Pair be On Duty this Thanksgiving? (Poll)

by cv harquail November 22, 2009

Every holiday my DH and I have the same holiday conversation: Should we ask our Au Pair to be on duty?
Scheduling your au pair to work on and around holidays, family vacations, and birthdays (yours and hers) can be challenging, because you’re once again right on top of the question– What does it mean for [...]

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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 expose [...]

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Christmas Tip: Tell your Au Pair what your family believes about Santa

by cv harquail December 12, 2008

Don’t put your au pair in that awful situation of being the person who blows Santa’s secret.
Explain to your au pair how your family talks about the man in the red suit, what he does, and what he means. Help her understand your way of discussing the Santa phenomenon, so that she can coordinate [...]

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More Thanksgiving Day ideas…for you and your Au Pair

by cv harquail November 24, 2008

What do you know about Thanksgiving?
The AuPairCare website for Au Pairs has a fun little activity for Au Pairs celebrating Thanksgiving with their host families. If you haven’t seen this yet, you might want to suggest it to your au pair, or just play it with the family yourself.
First, visit this website [...]

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Tip: Family Fun for Thanksgiving

by cv harquail November 21, 2008

20 Fun Things You Can Do with Family on Thanksgiving
Hi Host moms—  I found this great list of ideas for Thanksgiving on the DumbLittleMan Tips for Life blog. It’s such a great list that there is no way to summarize it and do it justice, so I’m excerpting [...]

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Plan Ahead for the Holidays. How will your Au Pair celebrate with you?

by cv harquail October 1, 2008

I was just stunned to learn this morning that there are only 12 weeks until Christmas. 12 Weeks!!! While my Jewish friends have been celebrating their new year, I have been stumbling along oblivious to how quickly the fall has been flying by…. so thank goodness that blogger Tsh over at SimpleMom.com reminded [...]

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