Posts tagged as:

Vacations

4 Ways to Reduce “Seasonal Schedule Shift Syndrome”

by cv harquail May 18, 2010

Seasonal Schedule Shift Syndrome:
AuPairMom’s fancy name for “when your au pair gets grumpy because all of a sudden the whole schedule changes, and now s/he has to work an occasional Saturday night.”
When school ends and ’summertime’ begins, family schedules change.
Rhythms for your kids’ days may change, as may your own work schedules. And, your au [...]

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Abandoned by au pair, left with plane ticket

by cv harquail March 18, 2010

This just in from a Host Mom in London. I think she’s asking for two kinds of advice: how to manage the vacation childcare, and how to manage her feelings of being, um, irked:
Hi, we have a 19 yr old au pair from Sweden who has been with us for 5 months after committing to [...]

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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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“No Room at the Inn” because AP changed her plans. Now what? (Poll)

by cv harquail August 22, 2009

My au pair’s vacation is coming up. To cover for her, we’re having both sets of grandparents come stay over. They’ll be here for a month, but will overlap for a little over a week. The overlap will occur while the AP is on vacation.
We have a smallish house – 3 bedrooms. Our “guest bed” [...]

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Your Au Pair’s Guests: A few guidelines….

by cv harquail June 17, 2009

I just love reading all these posts nodding my head knowing I am not alone in my feelings!
One topic that I think may have been covered lightly is Out of Town Guests. Our Au Pair is having A TON of guests! She has her Step Father coming, a single girlfriend, a married couple, her mother, [...]

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Vacation – All she ever wanted?

by cv harquail June 10, 2009

Another wrinkle on vacations!
Our second au pair has arrived, and I need some au pair mom support and suggestions
This second au pair has been much more difficult than the first. She’s in the midst of her third week here, and we’ve already had a 3-point meeting with
the LCC and there have already [...]

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Setting Guidelines when your Au Pair has guests

by cv harquail April 23, 2009

When an au pair has guests come to visit, it is tempting for the Host Parents to give the au pair lots of ‘extras’– extra time off, extra flexibility, extra food and space, and basically to try to accommodate their au pair’s expected desire to spend time with the visiting friend or family member.
This willingness [...]

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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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Advice Wanted: Au Pair changed her vacation… now what?

by cv harquail March 10, 2009

Moms-
Big conversation going on today about Mary’s au pair…. Here’s the conversation so far…. Join in!
Our au pair has been with us for 8 months. She transitioned from another family and has not been the greatest. She does the bare minimum and has left the children unsupervised. She doesn’t make good decisions and is very [...]

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