July 2010

Help Your New Au Pair Pack: 5 things to bring, 5 things to leave behind

by cv harquail July 9, 2010
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West Coast Mom suggests that we pool our collective wisdom to generate a packing list for our incoming au pairs.  This list would not include the basics (they’ll all think to pack underwear). Instead, this list would cover wht an au pair needs to bring to support her or his adventure. What we pack reflects […]

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From “Part Time” to “Full Time”: Can I ramp up my au pair’s hours over time?

by cv harquail July 7, 2010
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Dear AuPairMom, I’m a mom, employed part-time, who is thinking about getting an au pair. I’m thinking of having an au pair to (1) care for my kids while I’m working, (2) work with me as a mother’s helper as I care for the children, and (3) make it possible to get other things done […]

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Swimming, Personal Choices and Cultural Norms

by cv harquail July 5, 2010
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A request for advice from “Everybody In The Pool” — Dear Au Pair Mom readers, An issue has arisen with our new au pair (arrived 2 weeks ago) – and it’s not one I anticipated. I’m hoping AuPairMom readers have some thoughts and insights… It’s a cultural issue and also a personal issue. It is […]

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

by cv harquail July 2, 2010
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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 […]

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Use Everyday Math Skills to calulate our rematch percentage

by cv harquail July 1, 2010

Rather than wait until I find a polling tool that can divide as well as count, let’s use our everyday match skills to get a sense of the percentage of rematches AMONG AuPairMom readers. [Remember, this is a poll of the special group of host parents that reads AuPairMom. Our results will not be the […]

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When Your Host Mom is a Stripper

by cv harquail July 1, 2010
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Host moms and dads have a lot of interesting occupations, and habits. On this blog, we’ve got police officers, massage therapists, teachers, managers, writers, dog breeders, and more. But up until this comment, below, I never thought any of us host parents … well, here’s the comment: This isn’t really to ask for advice, more […]

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