Cars, Phones & Computers

How To Evaluate An Infant-Qualified Au Pair Candidate

by cv harquail December 27, 2015

For many of us Host Moms and Dads, our first Au Pair arrives shortly after our first baby. Twice in one season you become a new parent– first of your own baby, and then of your Au Pair. I look back on those times now and think how absolutely naive I was about both new […]

59 comments Read the full article →

Au Pair’s Host Child Using iPad Improperly– How should she discuss with Host Parents?

by cv harquail December 16, 2015

Apologies, readers, for the euphemism in the headline — by “improperly”, we’re meaning “hey the Host Kid is looking at websites with the letters s – e -x in the title”….. Host Parents and Au Pairs are aligned in a main childcare goal– keeping the children safe. “Safe”, of course, has a lot of different meanings…usually […]

49 comments Read the full article →

Don’t Be Afraid To Rematch If Your Au Pair Can’t Drive

by cv harquail December 11, 2015

I truly appreciate Host Parents who are reluctant to rematch when their Au Pair isn’t “perfect”. I appreciate Host Parents who are willing to “work it out”, who are willing to reset their expectations, and who are willing to celebrate what an Au Pair *has* rather than worry about what an Au Pair is […]

60 comments Read the full article →

When Your Au Pair Streams Movies – Illegally

by cv harquail December 1, 2015

Taylor-Swift-in-bed-with-Apple-MacBook-Pro-laptop

Deciding whether or not to pay for the online media (movies, TV shows, music) that you consume seems to be a generational thing. Young people do it, we “olds” do not. Sure — once upon a time I used Napster (dating myself). Until we got a reminder from the University where I worked that using […]

42 comments Read the full article →

Au Pair DUI: Rematch or not?

by cv harquail November 30, 2015

The answer to this one is pretty clear to me, even though I’m not the host parent who’d have to find and train a new au pair right in time for the Holidays: Writes HostMomWithCarTrouble: Would you rematch if your Au Pair got a DUI? It was our car. The kids were not in the […]

95 comments Read the full article →

3 Ways to Help Your Au Pair Break A Texting Addition

by cv harquail July 28, 2015

… at least while s/he is On Duty caring for your kids. SmartPhone addiction isn’t a metaphor– people actually get hooked on the physical rush of receiving a text. Like Pavlov’s dogs, a simple ‘ping’ starts them salivating for a connection with another person. Another person on the other side of the smart phone, though. […]

50 comments Read the full article →

Does Your Au Pair Car Have A Curfew? (poll)

by cv harquail May 14, 2015

Back in 2010, we had poll to see what percent of au pair blog readers had a curfew on the car that the au pair uses. 60% of host families who responded to that poll had a curfew on their au pair car [ Check out that post: Au Pair Guidelines: Does your car have a curfew? (Poll) ] […]

30 comments Read the full article →

Why Have a Curfew on Your Car and not Your Au Pair?

by cv harquail May 13, 2015

Some readers have wondered why a family might put a curfew on the au pair car, but not have a curfew on the au pair him/herself. They point out that if au pairs are dependent on the au pair car for transportation during their time off, then having a curfew on the car is effectively the […]

60 comments Read the full article →

Au Pair Asks: Should I offer to rematch to solve a driving problem?

by cv harquail March 24, 2015

Hi Au Pair Mom, I am currently an Au Pair on the East Coast. I arrived in Jan 2014 and extended another 6 months. Everything is amazing and we have had no issues in the time I have been here. But now a pretty big problem has arisen and I dont know what to do. […]

49 comments Read the full article →

Who Pays for Your Au Pair’s Gas?

by cv harquail January 10, 2015

Au Pairs should pay for their own gas when they use the family’s car(s) on their own personal time. Host Families should pay for gas used when the Au Pair drives for family and child-related activities. Managing who pays for gas is pretty simple, right? If only cars came with two gas tanks, or funky meters […]

60 comments Read the full article →

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →