Can this relationship be saved?

Can this au pair relationship be saved? Laundry list of “no”s

by cv harquail March 22, 2010

Readers, this situation is a challenge on many fronts… I’ve listed them out in headings to make things a little easier. It looks like a no-win situation to me, so I’d recommend rematch. But I might be missing something… Read on and offer your thoughts. “Where do I begin? My partner and I are two […]

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Au Pair Asks: My Host Mom’s Boyfriend is cramping my (caregiving) style. Advice Please!

by cv harquail March 18, 2010

When it’s the host parent herself or himself who is making the au pair’s job difficult, she knows exactly what to do — bring the issue up with that host parent, and come to a resolution. But what if the person causing the problems isn’t the host parent, but the host parent’s “friend”? The au […]

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Au Pair Advice: She’s using my coffee mug!

by cv harquail March 17, 2010

We host parents can be a weird bunch. The kinds of things that drive us crazy… no wonder it can be hard for au pairs to get adjusted! Over the weekend I heard a crazy lament that I want to share with you. My friend has a new au pair, who’s been with them about […]

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Au Pair Community Counselors: Conflicts of interest?

by cv harquail March 13, 2010

Can the role of the Local Community Counselor (or Area Director), and the compensation strategy for that job, set up an implicit conflict of interest? I think the answer to that question is: Yes. Caveats first: Each agency is different. This concern addresses only those agencies with the structure I describe below. First, let me […]

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Let’s Celebrate!

by cv harquail March 8, 2010

I was surprised to discover that AuPairMom has just published our 300th post! It’s hard to believe. But even more amazing? These 300 posts have generated 6, 151 comments from us. What a happy amount of wisdom going around. To celebrate, two things are in order… First, invite a host parent friend to come join […]

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Can this Au Pair relationship be saved? Lying, smoking, drinking, and the silent treatment

by cv harquail March 3, 2010

Hi, AuPairMom Readers– We are a host family in a metropolitan suburb with two young boys. This is our fourth year hosting. Over the years, we have had 3 very successful matches and 2 rematches – a mixed bag. The good matches were very good, and those au pairs continue to visit us, and we […]

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When your Local Community Counselor can’t remember your name

by cv harquail February 25, 2010

Wanna talk about creating a good relationship with your Local Community Counselor (LCC)? Let’s take a tip from a real Super Nanny, TSOM’s Fraulein Maria. “Let’s start at the very beginning.” No one (neither Au Pair nor host parent) can have a supportive relationship with an LCC unless the LCC does two basic things: (1) […]

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Tax Info For Au Pairs

by cv harquail February 24, 2010

HostDadinNJ sent me a PDF of information from the Au Pair Care Agency, which answers lots of questions AND has some great links to official & legal information. Sadly, I can’t figure out how to upload the pdf to the blog, since I’m missing the MSQL PHP or something. However, in the meantime, if you […]

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Honest Truth, how many weeks are over 45 hrs? (Poll)

by cv harquail February 23, 2010

The controversy continues! There’s now some concern over just how widespread is the practice of having your au pair work more than 45 hours a week. Let’s try to put some numbers in this — I’d love to get an empirical assessment of this practice… Problem is that an online poll will NOT give us […]

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Our Au Pair is not the cheerful girl we expected. Now what?

by cv harquail February 15, 2010

We’re 1 month into our first au pair and not sure if it’s going to be ok or not. Just to clarify we’re based outside the US so our au pair has not come to us through an agency, in fact she is American. We have 3 kids, all under 6 and there is no […]

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