Cultural Exchange Challenges

Help Your Incoming Au Pair Visualize Her Adventure

by cv harquail March 18, 2014
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My au pair is doing a project for the agency and has requested photos of us, neighborhood, etc.  Should I send her pics of our house and her room?   Absolutely! Send photos! It’s understandable that your new au pair wants to be able to visualize where she is going to be. I think it’s […]

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Au Pair Appreciation: Sharing Her Language and Extending Herself

by cv harquail February 23, 2014
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Every morning and evening I am thankful for our  au pair, S. She arrived in January 2013 to take care of our son,  who was 8 months old at the time. S was trained to be an au pair in a foreign run orphanage for handicapped and other abandoned children and orphans in Zhengzhou, China. […]

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Au Pair Appreciation: Cross-Cultural Connections with Our Children

by cv harquail February 5, 2014
eine der guten

It been a year and a half since our beloved Educare AP, R, left us to return home for university, but she remains a strong presence in our lives. She is present through her letters, and especially through the lessons she taught the children. Our children were in third grade and kindergarten when she was […]

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Thanksgiving Is Not A Spectator Sport: How Will You Involve Your Au Pair?

by cv harquail November 23, 2013
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Thanksgiving is a time when all Host Parents find that they need to get into the ‘Cultural Exchange’ mode.  You can’t just plant yourself on Grandad’s Barcolounger hogging the remote, expect everything to unfold the usual way.  And, you can’t expect that your au pair will feel as comfortable as this kitty (left) if her/his […]

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Does your Au Pair call you Mom or Dad, Ms. or Mr.?

by cv harquail July 9, 2013
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Just when I was thinking there were no more new questions about being an au pair, this one comes across the digital transom: I’m a soon to be first time au pair and I have a quick question for you. What’s the best way to address my host parents? My instinct is to call them […]

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Au Pair Asks: How Do I Ask Prospective Host Families About Guns in Their Home?

by cv harquail June 17, 2013
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Following on our earlier post about guns in the home, here’s a different take on the issue. An au pair candidate writes to ask– How do I ask possible host families about whether they have weapons in their home? When I replied this au pair’s email, I mentioned to her that she’s the first au […]

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Au Pairs and Guns in Your House: Rules, Principles, and Having the Conversation

by cv harquail June 15, 2013
gun safety, au pair advice

I remember the first time my baby was invited to someone else’s house for a playdate, without me but with my au pair. The other child’s au pair had extended the invitation, but I called the other parents myself just to check in. I asked them all the usual questions– what time, where, allergies, any […]

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Male Au Pairs, Revolutionaries and Change Agents

by cv harquail May 30, 2013
justin

Can male au pairs change the world? The Wall Street Journal would like you to think so. Belatedly, I’ve come across this WSJ article: No, Girls Are Not Natural Baby Sitters, by Charlotte Alter, that suggests that ‘normalizing’ male au pairs would hasten the demise of sexism. Yea for that, I say. I love the […]

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When An Au Pair’s Thriftiness Shortchanges Her Adventure

by cv harquail April 4, 2013

Frugality is an admirable trait. It takes a lot of restraint and self discipline for an au pair to save money from her/his weekly stipend. Whether s/he’s saving for a vacation, a laptop computer, or to send money back home, au pairs who are carefully watching their expenses deserve our support. But when an au […]

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Switching Your Au Pair to a Different Visa is Difficult and Costly

by cv harquail February 24, 2013

Many a host parent has wished to keep a great au pair forever and ever– or at least longer than the legal year plus year extension.   And many an au pair (including a few of my own, and their friends) have gone to great lengths to find a legal or vaguely legal way to […]

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