Choosing an Au Pair

Do Au Pairs need a ‘bill of rights’?

by cv harquail April 30, 2010

A reader sent me a link to an article in Slate, about a proposed ‘Bill of Rights” for domestic workers in New York State. (You can read the article in detail, here.) The proposed legislation would guarantee New York’s 200,000 domestic workers sick days, overtime, a day of rest, protection under discrimination laws, and notice […]

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Choosing an Au Pair: How much does the home country matter?

by cv harquail April 29, 2010

choosing an au pair, au pair selection advice, how to choose an au pair

Host parents are often asked why they’ve chosen an au pair from a particular country, and whether an au pair’s home country matters. How do you answer that question, without sounding like you’re stereotyping too much? When it comes to having preferences for countries, we feel very comfortable prioritizing home countries based on language— if […]

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Recent Widower / Single Host Dad: How to find the right au pair?

by cv harquail April 21, 2010

Readers, Here’s a specific question about choosing the right au pair for a family that has lost their mom through tragedy. We had one host dad comment on our earlier post about single parents, and I know that there are at least two other host dad-readers who have lost their wives and who have hired […]

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Deciding whether to extend: The Au Pair’s Point of View

by cv harquail April 11, 2010

When we have an au pair we really like, and even sometimes a so-so au pair, we start to think: Hey, maybe we should extend with this au pair… another 6, 9, or 12 months with the comfort of knowing what we’ve got, taking advantage our mutual investment in the relationship, keeping things stable for […]

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Interviewing Au Pair Candidates: Every Question You’ve Ever Recommended We Ask

by cv harquail March 23, 2010

Host Mom Melinda sent us all a wonderful present. Melinda went through many, many posts on AuPairMom where we’ve recommended interview questions — AND she put them all together! This will be a huge, long list. It includes some questions you’ll see on agency sites, plus several questions *exclusive* to all of us here. Thank […]

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How to Assess an Au Pair Candidate’s Driving Experience

by cv harquail March 23, 2010

Our second au pair had a lot of driving experience back in her Eastern European country. She’d been driving for 3 years, almost every day. Sounded great. This, along with her other great qualities, lead us to match with her. Zoom ahead three months, as we settle her into the Toyota to go out for […]

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Letters of Recommendation: For a so-so au pair? (Poll)

by cv harquail January 20, 2010

When your au pair is getting ready to leave you, either to end her year or to extend with a different family, it’s nice to write her a letter of recommendation. Unless, of course, you wouldn’t recommend her to anyone. When the topic of recommendation letters has come up before, you all have been of […]

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EduCare or Regular Au Pair?

by cv harquail January 11, 2010

Have you ever compared the EduCare program to the the regular Au Pair program? If you’ve chosen the EduCare, what swung you over? And, what’s your experience been with EduCare Au Pairs? What’s the EduCare Program? From the website of the US Department of State: The Au Pair program includes the EduCare component. The EduCare […]

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Choosing an Au Pair for Teens

by cv harquail November 3, 2009

If you’re choosing an au pair for teens, what are the qualities you’d look for? I’m assuming that teens have different childcare needs, and we’ve thought about these in our earlier post… so how do we find au pair candidates who can do all this? I have no idea. My guess is that you’d want […]

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Beyond the Chauffeur: Benefits of Au Pairs when your kids are teens

by cv harquail November 3, 2009

Au Pairs can be great companions and caregivers to older children…. and by older, I’m thinking teens. Yeah, yeah, teens think they are old enough to do without childcare — they can be at home by themselves, cook their own meals, get their homework done, and walk around with earbuds blocking out the rest of […]

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