Add your screen name and a brief description to our new List of Contributors!
After a few instances where really clever screen names (aka Nom de Mom) have been repeated by new commenters to the site, it’s time to create a list of Who’s Hoo here.
(Yes, the HOO is in honor of the Owl).
If you’d like to ‘claim’, log, or note your screen name, you can do this by adding a comment, below. You can also add a few details about who you are. Please enter your email address when you comment, if you’d like me to be able to follow up with you ‘backstage’ at any point. (I’d like to be able to do this, if needed).
New readers and commenters can skim the list and see if the clever name they would like to use is available (or not).
If there are situations where two people are using the same screen name, the person who used it first should keep it, while the new(er) person comes up with another clever name.
If you saw a clever screen name on another site or forum that has not been used already here on AuPairMom, I’d recommend that you *not* use it. The Host Parent community is small enough that “Evil Host Mom” over on “HostParentSanity.com” may well be a reader here. You want to keep your identity ‘unique’ so that folks don’t think that every comment from “Evil Host Mom” is from you….
Let’s see Who’s Hoo!
[ Note: this post has only been up for a few hours, and already it's making me really happy to see names linked with details... and to think about how terrific all of you are as participants in this blog. Feeling kinda lucky. ]
{ 110 comments… read them below or add one }
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I’ve been reading Aupairmom for a year and a half now and am thrilled to see how the community has grown. I’ve learned a lot and, consequently, am a better host mom. I read every post, and it’s great to have so many sources & opinions for tips and advice.
I have three school-aged kids, who are each involved in multiple activities, and I am self-employed with a part-time schedule. Add to that my volunteer activities (“overcommitted” is my middle name!), DH’s full-time work schedule and his volunteer activities, and you see why my blogname is BusyMom. Our childcare needs have evolved over the years and we currently need a combination of driver, meal preparer and reminder (i.e., remember to bring XYZ with you to school) with a bit of referee thrown in. Plus, we need a split schedule.
After 10 years of live-in nannies, we transitioned to an au pair primarily because of increased flexibility and reduced cost. I’ve toyed with the idea of using college students or a live-in housekeeper, but have dismissed these as being too flaky and too expensive/hard to find respectively. Aftercare at the schools is impractical for us because of extracurricular activities. Plus, it phases out in middle school. Leaving the kids alone is not an option both because of their ages and the driving aspect.
I would love to hear more from families with older kids so see when they have phased out of the au pair program and what they’ve converted to. After 12 years of sharing our home, I would love to have it back to ourselves, but anticipate the continued need for a driver, cook, and reminder for 8 more years until the oldest two are in college and the youngest is driving!
Hi Busymom!
I too am beyond busy! I have 3 children all school aged now, the eldest is 10, youngets 6. So, we are toying with finding someone aside from au pair this upcoming year. trying to look at pros and cons, and I will let you know how search goes! Current au pair leaves mid Sept, so we figure worst case scenario, if we don’t find anyone right away, will use after care and go from there! We, too, need tutor/taxi driver/ referee/ short order cook!
Anonmom,
Do come back a let us know how it goes! I would love to transition to something different, but have difficulty figuring out what could meet our needs.
I post often but I’m not posting much here because, well, I prize my anonymity and I feel much safer if I don’t share any details.
We have younger children and have had several au pairs. Overall, our experience has been very positive. My children were in full-time daycare and I have to say that wasn’t any better or worse than what we have now, just different. We do the au pair program because it offers us the flexibility that daycare does not. It’s also super expensive where we are to have either a live-out nanny or fulltime daycare.
I love this site for all the reasons those above me mentioned. I wish I had known about it with our first au pair because I really could have used the advice! I adore the other posters and CV because of the experiences and knowledge that is openly shared.
I read often but only post occasionally. Love the content and am glad that we get to hear from “both sides” from both AP’s and host families.
I have 2 beautiful boys (ages 6 and 9) and we live in a coastal town in the San Diego area. Both my husband and I work full time outside the home as scientists (one in academia and one in industry). DH travels 1-2x per month while my job is more anchored and organized. Our lives are busy (who’s aren’t!), but I think not too crazy for the AP’s, us or the kids.
We’re hosting our 3rd successful AP but did have one mis-match earlier this year (that was when I *found* AuPairMom website and got hooked — I really appreciated the support at that time). We don’t have any friends with AP’s so am glad for a forum to get a “reality check” for expectations and a place to share experiences. I’m not worried if my AP reads this as our current situation is very healthy … however, if our next AP has issues, I may change my moniker at that time.
Thanks CV and all the great host parents (where are the host-Dad’s???) that contribute!
Huh. I always assumed you were an OB/Gyn!
LOL … I never thought of that, but given that it is a mom-oriented website, I guess I should have. No, my neighborhood goes by those initials … Ocean Beach = OB. Guess this is why cv had us give our background. Thank goodness you never asked for family planning advice!
I have a husband and a 21 month old daughter. I have been reading this blog for about 2 years now (about 4 or 5 months before my daughter was born). We got our first au pair February of 2009 and since then have had three au pairs. We got off to a rocky start with the au pair program mostly due to ignorance and inexperience as parents. But now we are much more savvy thanks to this blog! We are expecting our new au pair in August and we are very happy with our selection. Our current au pair has been wonderful.
My husband works out of the house and I work in a very family friendly office environment that is 8-5 Monday through Friday. We have a very relaxed and non-rushed lifestyle and think that the best thing about having an au pair is not having to shuttle our daughter to and from daycare. It makes for a very relaxed morning and evening.
My screen name is a play on my maiden name which is Irish.
I always thought your screen name had to do with the Hawaiian dance
Yes, she’s not telling you the whole story
Sharing is Caring – as we like to say on the Emerald Isle.
Although I have been reading this blog for months now, I am a fairly new contributor. We live in the Chicago area and are about to welcome our 5th au pair (in as many years). I find the discussions here extremely interesting and helpful. I chose the name “Mumsy” as it is the affectionate nickname my sister and I gave to our mom about 20 years ago. I am not pretending to me my mom but using her nickname makes me think of her and that makes me smile.
My husband, who is from Northern Ireland, calls his mother “mumsie.” The Irish like their diminutives.
Hello everyone. I was an aupair in Switzerland for three years, and moved back to the US a couple of months ago. I currently live in Colorado, and work as a very full time nanny to two adorable toddler twins. While I am not their mother, I am the one that they spend their waking time with, and so I feel like I am a “surrogate” mother. My experience as an aupair was bitter sweet, but I learned a lot. When I have children, I will be using an aupair as a form of childcare. I think my experiences being an aupair, and also being responsible for running a household (as I am now) and raising kids, I will be a decent HM. I really enjoy this site, and spend way too much time on here! Thanks, CV!
I don’t post often but am a daily reader. We got our first au pair shortly before my second child arrived and we consider it the best decision we have ever made as parents. I had severe post-partum depression after my first child and feared the worst for round two. Luckily I didn’t have any PPD symptoms after my second, and having an au pair made having a second child a breeze. I fell in love with the flexibility and convenience, not to mention how economical it is compared to other childcare in our area. But most of all, I love that our girls (APs) have become part of our family and they have each grown to love our children almost as much as we do. It gives us so much peace of mind to know they are cared for by someone so devoted to their safety, health, development and happiness!
Even with our glowing recommendations I have been unable to convince any of my friends out here on the east coast to start using au pairs for childcare. Additionally, I come from a place out west where having an au pair is seen as an extravagance akin to having a butler, so I am happy to have a place to come to where I am not such an oddity, where I can talk about my experience and learn from people walking a similar path!!
Frequent reader, 1st time HM. Through trial and error, just finished a year with 1st AP. Decided not to renew – probably should have rematched early on but you know… (see other post about that). Now just in-between and looking. Always hopeful though and this site definitely has been a great resource. Thanks!
reading one of the latest post about rematch I kinda figured out something…
One of the reasons why I like reading this blog is that I can get to know HF perspective on things. In two years that I’m this AP world (as I intern at CC, future au pair, au pair and ex au pair – and who knows, maybe one day as a HM), I had never heard of any rematch which was “the au pair’ fault”, before I started reading this blog. All I’d heard is that HF were horrible, treated AP bad, kids were little deamons… But I always suspected there were another side of each story…
I always tell every AP I know to read this blog… I know it is intended to help host parents, but, in my opinion, it is great to help APs to do undestand their host families better and, in consequence, to be better au pairs.
We au pairs are going thru so much during our ap year, that we tend to forget that parents have their own expectations, fears, etc. Sorry about that and thanks for reminding us!
Hi,
I’m mom to 2-year old twin boys. We’re on our second au pair. Our first one was a disaster that dragged on for 8 months before I finally pulled the plug, much thanks to this site for helping me come to that decision and saving my sanity. Our second au pair has been wonderful. Unfortunately her year is starting to come to a close and we’re starting to look for our next au pair. Wish us luck!
Hello from a shy one. I’ve been lurking for about six months and this is my first post. We have three great preschool aged children. We are having a wonderful year with our first au pair (a private match) and nervously awaiting our second one arriving in a couple months. Despite all the advice posted here we selected the first and only candidate we interviewed. Our new au pair exchanged a lot of messages with our current au pair so I am hopeful it will be a good fit. As a stay at home mom, with a husband that works long hours and travels, having an au pair enriches our family life. My husband is the one that likes the program best because he comes home to a happier home, that while still messy, isn’t as bad as it used to be. Working for a stay a home mom must be a hard job. My au pair sees me at my best and worst. Still haven’t wrote a family handbook despite promising the local agency coordinator that I would.
I have commented a few times. We are in our first year with an au pair and I believe this blog was written just for me, this year – tattoos, wanting to rematch with little time to go, handbooks, interviews, etc. Thank you to all of you I have learned tons and am hoping our next au pair is much better from all your inputs.
As for me, I have three kids school and preschool age, live in the suburbs of DC where hubby and I work in technology. We switched last summer from daycare centers to an au pair and it has been well worth the increased flexibility that it has provided us.
Hello, we are just (eagerly!) waiting on the arrival of our first au pair. We have 20 month old twins and a 3 month old. I just stumbled upon this site and it looks SO helpful!
I used to be an au pair in 3 different countries, 4 different families over a time period of 2,5 years (first two years consecutively, then a year of university, then au pair again). My first year was spent in California and it was brilliant. I’m not saying it was always easy and always fun (I cared for 4 children aged between 18mths and 10 years) but I enjoyed the year a lot and it made me so much more independent and confident in myself. My second year was in a European country, because I needed to learn that language (yes, I went there with absolutely zero skills of that language and I went into a family where this was the only spoken language). It took me about 2 weeks to start understanding, then 4 months to become pretty much fluent. Just to say, this can work if both sides know about this before and are happy to work hard on the language barrier. Unfortunately I went into rematch, but found another family in the same country (I went without an agency, you don’t need one in Europe if you are European).
I absolutely love them and go back to see them as often as possible. My name is still on the door in wooden letters and even friends of the family refer to that room as my room 
My last au pair experience was the best and I cannot believe how lucky I was to have found them. I had the oldest one of that family staying with me in my home for a week twice and it’s great. My HM was meant to be my wedding witness for my civil wedding (unfortunately didn’t work out) and the youngest one will be my flower girl for the church wedding
I am now married myself (with church still ahead), living with my husband in yet another European country (I am German myself, but I do not wish to live there again), we are in our first house and are actively thinking about having an au pair later, too. Currently we’ve only got two cats though, one of which is driving me over the edge and will hopefully move on to another home soon because she’s a brand new kitten and does not get on with our older cat
I read a lot, contribute little, because I work too much
I came to the US in 2007 and still live with my hostfamily (i went back to my country and got a student visa).. im north-european, but thats about what i want to share, just INCASE my hostmom ever stumbles across this blog hehe..
what is interesting about my experience, is that my first year was PERFECT, second year pretty darn perfect, but it is NOW the problems are starting to become more frequent.. which is why i read this blog more often! to get tips and to see things from hostparents’ point of view..
Rather than scrolling back through 109 comments, and without ever seeing another ‘Jess’ posting here, I feel pretty safe in claiming this nickname. Correct me if I’m wrong!
I’m a 19 year old Australian girl, who aupaired in the UK earlier this year. I have been reading this blog since November, and I love it. It helped me prepare for my aupair experience, and although my experience wasn’t good, I feel confident that it was a one off situation due to all the lovely host mum’s that are on this blog!
Hi Pa HM (I’m originally from PA, too),
We’ve hosted two au pairs at the same time for years……I’m going to write a guest blog about this (I swear!), but I think the most important thing is that they be similar culturally so that they at least have something in common and get along. I know some host parents like them to speak two different languages so that they don’t get so chummy – but I think that’s sad – why wouldn’t you want them to be friends? It helps with homesickness, and give a general positive vibe to the house if they all get along. I also usually get one first – and involve them in picking #2. Good luck! Keep us posted on how it all goes.
THat is the kind of situation I had when I had two au-pairs for a while. I swear… I didn’t get 2X the coverage/help. More like 1.2X.. They even would say how well they got along, yet they’d eat two different lunches during the day. OMG. And, honestly with 4 kids, and activities in 4 different directions some days, we could use the help, but nope.
I hope that you get your AP situation settled. I know it’s been my year for craziness. I’m ready to get into a rut again.
What’s wrong with eating two different lunches? Just because they work together, they have to eat the same thing?
The point is that there was absolutely no cooperation between them. None.
Oh, well, another illustration would have been more beneficial. LOL. My husband and I don’t even eat the same things usually.
It was double the pots and pans, and each one usually made a huge elaborate lunch. And then neither one was really keen on super cleaning the kitchen, so it was only ever “kinda sorta” clean. – splatters behind the stove never got cleaned up, grease left under burners, etc.
I found that I was still having to remind them to take out the diapers, etc. The kids rooms upstairs were completely ignored unless I reminded them to do them, etc.- and even then, it was only half done.
(aside: sounds kind of like having two husbands!) (Oh! I didn’t say that!)
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