Can this relationship be saved?

Au Please, Your Advice: Is an Au Pair Right For Us?

by cv harquail April 1, 2014

For all things au pair -related, the first step is to know what kind of care-giving you need. Clarity in your needs not only helps you narrow down the field of impressive au pair candidates, it also helps you make the necessary trade-offs between “ideal” and “real world terrific”. Someone who can play the violin? […]

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Au Pair lies, but my kids love him. Should we rematch?

by cv harquail March 31, 2014

Just when you think the answer is clear, a situation comes along that makes it foggy again. Only last week, I claimed that repeated lying was an automatic, unquestionable grounds for rematch. Then, we got this email, below, from DevastatedHM. DevastatedHM has an au pair that she and her family adore, but who has broken […]

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Open Thread: March 29

by cv harquail March 29, 2014

Welcome to our Weekend Open Thread! Open threads are for comments on any subject at all, including past posts, things we haven’t posted on, what you’ve been thinking or doing, etc. You can even let me know if there’s a topic you think I should queue up for the coming week. Just be […]

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Au Pair is harsh and negative with Host Kids: Can we change her interaction style?

by cv harquail March 27, 2014

Dear Au Pair Mom Community, I really need your advice about a situation I have where I don’t think “rematch” is feasible (and besides my husband is totally against it). Basically we have had an Au Pair (our 3rd) for the last 9 months. The first 6 months were great. She’s organized, responsible, a good […]

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Two Weeks, Three Lies, and One Next Step: Rematch

by cv harquail March 26, 2014

Unsafe behavior. Confirmed serious lying. These are the two unquestionable reasons for rematching– even if your au pair is brand-new. Of course, the agencies and even we ourselves ask that we give each new au pair situation a chance to work itself out. Many of us have had au pairs who turned out to be […]

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Create A Bucket List for Au Pair Adventures

by cv harquail March 24, 2014

If you could create a ‘bucket’ list for any Au Pair coming to the USA, to help him or her make sure to take FULL advantage of the Au Pair adventure, what would you recommend? Writes TexasHM: This morning I had a random idea – what if I created for my AP a list like this […]

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Open Thread: March 22

by cv harquail March 22, 2014

Welcome to our Saturday Open Thread! Open threads are for comments on any subject at all, including past posts, things we haven’t posted on, what you’ve been thinking or doing, etc. as long as it follows our basic comments policy. This thread will be open for a full weekend, from today until the evening of […]

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Notes About The Blog: What’s been happening behind the scenes at AuPairMom

by cv harquail March 9, 2014

You might be wondering what’s going on here at AuPairMom, what with the revised blog formatting and my efforts to post more often. I’ve finally put the wheels in motion to ‘upgrade’ AuPairMom so that it works more effectively for you and for me. AuPairMom has got itself a consultant, Shawn.

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Classic Case: Should we keep trying with a Mediocre Au Pair?

by cv harquail March 4, 2014

Here’s a situation we see time and time again on AuPairMom: The family has an au pair (often, their first one) and the au pair is only okay. The au pair’s relationship with the kids is “fine”, but the au pair doesn’t follow through on her other responsibilities. The host parents have tried a few […]

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50 Shades of Shocking? Au Pair has trashy taste in reading

by cv harquail March 1, 2014

It can be pretty exciting to finally ‘find’ your au pair match, and to be able to look forward to meeting your new au pair. That is, until you discover how s/he likes to spend her/his free time. Dear AuPairMom– Am I a prude, or is this something to be concerned about? We recently […]

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