Foundations & Basics

When you are available and your Au Pair is ‘on duty’ — how to manage?

by cv harquail April 16, 2009

Anything She Can Do, I Can Do Better.... on Flickr - Photo Sharing!_1231092697748.jpeg

Caveat: This is NOT a post about (1) when you work at home and your au pair is on duty, [post for another day] or (2) when you are absolutely off duty and she is on duty…[post from earlier today]. This one is about: When you both are at home and available to the kids— […]

9 comments Read the full article →

Scheduling your Au Pair to be on duty when you are at home…

by cv harquail April 16, 2009

I got a bit of a chuckle when I saw this topic suggestion on the Skribit form: “Should you make your au pair work on weekends if both parents are at home doing nothing?” The topic suggestion was anonymous, but if I had to guess I’d say it was from an au pair. Why? Because […]

33 comments Read the full article →

Can this relationship be saved? Our Au Pair rubs me the wrong way….

by cv harquail April 15, 2009

Sometimes a host parent’s complaints about an au pair seem legitimate. Sometimes the complaints don’t seem legitimate. And sometimes, the host parent just really isn’t sure. Here’s a long request for advice from Anonymous . She sets it up as though she might be a bad person… and let me tell you that by the […]

14 comments Read the full article →

3 Ways to be a Great Host Parent

by cv harquail April 14, 2009

Here’s the first in an occasional series about Ways to be a Great Host Parent . Sorry Tolstoy. Whether happy or not so happy, not every host family is the same. We host families like to revel in our uniqueness and we like to think that, for the lucky au pair, our family is just […]

11 comments Read the full article →

Myths about Au Pairs: The Fox in Your Henhouse

by cv harquail April 7, 2009

Close behind the myth that every Au Pair is a "Hottie" is the myth that au pairs are out to steal your Host Dad. I guess this is one of those where the exceptions are so salient that you end up believing that it happens a lot. I haven’t ever met a host mom or […]

68 comments Read the full article →

Advice wanted… best medium & process for communicating expectations?

by cv harquail April 5, 2009

Calif Mom needs some ideas for upgrading her communication system with her au pair. My AP joined us last summer and is going to extend (yay!). I have been wanting to fine tune some expectations ahead of signing those papers, and have been taking notes on specific things I would like her to start doing […]

8 comments Read the full article →

Your House is Not a Youth Hostel

by cv harquail April 3, 2009

Let me repeat that: Your house is not a youth hostel. It’s not a hotel. It’s not a pied a terre. Your house is your home, and if you choose to have friends of your au pair as overnight guests, there is a lot to think about. One blatant sign that a host mom and […]

25 comments Read the full article →

The 3rd Car: Avoiding a sense of entitlement

by cv harquail March 31, 2009

We all want to be generous, and we all want to be appreciated. There’s nothing like having a third car for your au pair to use to make you aware of the tension that can exist when you want to be generous and want to be appreciated. When we bought our first Volvo wagon to […]

24 comments Read the full article →

Poll: Putting groceries away… fair chore?

by cv harquail March 28, 2009

One great treat of the internet age is ordering groceries on line to have them delivered to home at your convenience. We’ve been doing this for several years now, and it’s been worth every extra penny. I just log on whenever I find the time, and I schedule the delivery for when our au pair […]

28 comments Read the full article →

Getting her stuff back home: Is there a cheap way to ship things?

by cv harquail March 27, 2009

The amount of money your au pair has saved and the amount of stuff she needs to get back home are inversely proportional. That’s a problem, because if she wants to take that stuff home, it’s gonna cost some money. How can your au pair get that extra stuff home as inexpensively as possible? One […]

11 comments Read the full article →

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →