Caring for children

Halloween Fun for Au Pairs and Host Kids

by cv harquail October 30, 2015

Every holiday gives your kids and your au pair a chance to work together, have fun and build memories with holiday-related crafts and activities. Cultural sharing and just plain ‘ole relationship-building happens in the doing of things. Given that Halloween is one of the trio of secular, nation wide cultural holidays (the other two being Thanksgiving and […]

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My Host Mom Hits Her Child — what should Au Pair Do?

by cv harquail October 19, 2015

Au Pairs are very aware that they are expected to follow the parenting philosophy of their host parents. Au Pairs have to ‘get over’ cultural differences and differences in family tradition that suggest a particular way to handle a situation. Usually, Au Pairs draw on their own cultures’ and families’ parenting practices when they find […]

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Toddler “Hates” New Au Pair. What to do?

by cv harquail October 8, 2015

Our third Au Pair just arrived and has been here for almost three weeks. She is very sweet, is trying hard, and while she may be too meek for our family, we are hoping she will come out of her shell with time. We may have made a mistake by overlapping her with our last […]

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The Weirdest Stuff Can Work Sometimes with Au Pair Host Kids

by cv harquail September 3, 2015

House Elves Encore Presentations Arm Wrestling to decide who gets to decide. Sometimes the sillier you make it, the easier it is for kids to just roll with the concept. In our family, the House Elves are the ones who don’t actually clean up after everyone. They are supposed to, but they don’t. The kids […]

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Two Kids, One Baby and a New Au Pair: Overload!

by cv harquail August 11, 2015

Where do I start? writes 2K1BabyHM I’ve scoured your site for advice (and found tons!). I’ve made notes of tips and things to discuss with my new AP, but I still have some questions and I wonder if AuPairMom readers can help me out… AP3 has just started – nearly a week ago – but I […]

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How To Resolve Middle-School “Drama” with Your Au Pair and Host Kids

by cv harquail July 1, 2015

I laughed with recognition of the dynamics in this Host Mom’s comment– who hasn’t seen their Au Pair and their kid(s)-of-a-certain-age get into squabbles just like 7th graders fighting over who gets to sit where in the cafeteria? FubolHostMom writes: … I’ve got a concern regarding the “attitude” issue. Over summer vacation, issues that were […]

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Eating On Duty: Managing Au Pair Meals

by cv harquail February 3, 2015

Au Pairs often need to make meals for themselves (as well as for host children) while they are on duty. We can’t (and shouldn’t) expect any caregiver to go for hours and hours without a proper meal. But when an au pair is ‘on duty’ with a primary responsibility for children, an au pair […]

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Teach Your Kids To Treat Your Au Pair With Respect

by cv harquail January 30, 2015

Here’s a host mom after my own heart. Why? Because her first thought after describing the problem is to ask what she might be doing to contribute to it. Not that I want host parents (or au pairs) to always shoulder the blame, but with all things social it’s the *relationship, the *context, and the […]

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Help Your Au Pair Take Snow Days In Stride

by cv harquail January 19, 2015

Au Pairs enjoy their first snowfall au pair advice low cost childcare

Few events clarify the gap between how working parents and their school age kids respond to changes than the announcement of a snow day. When I was little, I thought snow days were magical. An overwhelming amount of snow combined with a day off from school seemed like a gift from the heavens — to […]

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Help Your Au Pair Learn When to “Pick Her Battles” with Kids

by cv harquail December 6, 2014

How do you teach the art of knowing when to let things slide? So much of good parenting and good caregiving is about being consistent. Kids thrive on routine. They need consistent explanations, consistent expectations, and consistent consequences so that they learn how to make good choices with their own behavior. Yet, so much of […]

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