Choosing an Au Pair

What’s Luck Got To Do With It?

by cv harquail February 20, 2016

Absolutely, luck plays a role in the Host Parent – Au Pair Relationship. There’s all sorts of random in the timing of applicants’ availability, in the ways their portfolios get served up by Agencies, in their mention of that one little fact that makes us pay attention, and in the friends they make (or don’t) their […]

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Au Pairs With Manageable Health Issues – Would you match with them?

by cv harquail February 17, 2016

Two different young women — potential au pairs — write with the same question: How do Host Parents feel about matching with Au Pairs who have manageable health issues? By “manageable”, we mean — well understood, medicated or controlled successfully for a long time, not likely to interfere with caregiving, and not likely to flare up […]

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Saying No to an Au Pair Candidate: Ideas for Kind Email?

by cv harquail January 21, 2016

MassHM wants your text. Would anyone like to share their “no-go” email? I hate this part and need to have an easier way to get through it. I don’t want to say “You’re not the right au pair for us” or even “No, thank you” in a way that hurts a candidate’s feelings. I’ve found […]

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When It Makes Sense to Cancel Your Au Pair Match

by cv harquail November 16, 2015

Sometimes with big decisions we feel some “buyer’s remorse”. Maybe you should’ve gotten a station wagon instead of a mini-van? Or the size 12 instead of the size 10…? Often, the buyer’s remorse just goes away. Other times, you take the jeans back to Target and exchange them for a larger size. Whatever. That’s […]

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Would You Consider a Transgender Au Pair Candidate?

by cv harquail October 21, 2015

As more Americans become aware of transgender people’s concerns and rights, we’re seeing more transgender people coming forward to participate fully in our society. We’ve got transgender actors like “possibility model” Laverne Cox, transgender television hosts/media personalities like Janet Mock (whose autobiography I recommend to everyone), transgender characters at the center of TV dramas, and of […]

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When What Host Parents Want Isn’t Quite What Host Parents Do

by cv harquail September 1, 2015

Sometimes I look at my Au Pair handbook and roll my eyes. It is more fantasy than reality. More aspirational than actual. I look at the way I’ve described our family life: “We’re a fun loving family who enjoys playing together“, and I think of all the times I’d have preferred to stay on the […]

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Finding an Au Pair for a Situation That’s Not a Cakewalk

by cv harquail August 13, 2015

Host Mom Dorsi writes what she claims is a rant… but what we know is simply the reality. It can be hard to get responses from Au Pairs when the situation you’re offering doesn’t look relatively easy. We are in the early search for a new AP. I have contacted 8 candidates from one agency […]

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Don’t Fret Over the One That Got Away

by cv harquail July 14, 2015

It’s easy to obsess about the candidate or host family that seems perfect for you. We each have an idea of the ‘perfect’ au pair, the ‘perfect’ family, that we conjure up from our imaginations. Sometimes these images are based on previous experience “She’d be just like Elrina, tall, outgoing, fun, thoughtful…” or from a […]

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Would You Recommend An Au Pair to This Family?

by cv harquail July 5, 2015

We have a new and unconventional need for childcare. Would an Au Pair be the right choice for us? How would we know? My husband and I have had an awesome nanny (who does not live with us) for the last year since our son was born. However, my husband has to leave the […]

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