Safety

Does Your Au Pair Get Paid A Stipend When S/he’s Sick?

by cv harquail January 26, 2015

When your au pair gets sick for more than a few days, questions about substitute childcare, sick days, and additional costs can put pressure on the balancing act between “part of the family” and “employee”. Every family needs a backup plan for the occasional day or two (or three) when an Au Pair is laid […]

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3 Reasons To Get A Flu Shot- with your Au Pair

by cv harquail November 3, 2014

Cold’n sneezy season. I have just returned from CVS, where I bought zinc lozenges, throat spray, tissues, Ricola, and sudafed. And, I got a flu shot. There’s nothing you can do about a cold– just deal with it, wash your hands, and move on. But the flu? The real, honest-to-goodness slay-you-with-sickness-phlem-and-fever flu? That can be […]

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Improve Your AuPair’s Driving With an Online Driving Class

by cv harquail September 5, 2014

An online driving course is an easy, inexpensive way to get both you and your AuPair feeling confident about her/his driving– before your au pair even arrives in the USA! Here’s a tip from TexasHostMom— Our first AP was 26 when she arrived and had been driving for some time, so I never thought we’d have […]

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Creepy, Crawly, Contagious Things- What if your Au Pair catches them too?

by cv harquail July 27, 2014

(Reposted from our archives, since an Au Pair Asked…) When I became a mom I knew that that I would need to become accustomed to dealing with things that, pre-motherhood, had completely grossed me out. I’m talking about poopy diapers, vomit, bloody noses, fart jokes, and public belching. These were things that I would have […]

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Open Thread: July 12

by cv harquail July 11, 2014

We’re baaaaack! I know that you’ve missed the Open Thread — I can tell from all the re-directions in the comments on the posts! Use this open thread to toss out any question or concern you have — except for one: If you are an au pair outside the USA whose host parents are somehow […]

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The Fainting Au Pair: Should we rematch?

by cv harquail May 5, 2014

Reliable, predictable, kind, and safe — that’s what we need childcare to be. So what happens when we have an au pair who we like, who’s doing a great job, and then all of a sudden turns out to have a condition that is unpredictable, that makes her unreliable, and that makes you worry that […]

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Autonomy vs. Food Safety When The Au Pair Cooks

by cv harquail February 21, 2014

How do I give my Au Pair autonomy in the kitchen without worrying that my kids are going to eat something that could make them sick? Dear AuPairMoms — I need to find ways to teach my au pairs about food safety, without offending them. Any ideas? Here’s my story: AP1: Raw Bacon My son was […]

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8 Ways To Teach Your Au Pair About Food Safety

by cv harquail February 19, 2014

Milk left out on the counter. Raw eggs in salad dressing. Undercooked chicken thighs. And of course, the picnic lunch with macaroni salad but no ice pack. All of these are food safety disasters. If your Au Pair hasn’t been taught about food safety, though, he or she might think these are harmless mistakes. That […]

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Do Au Pair Agencies Really Rematch Au Pairs Who’ve Violated Safety Rules?

by cv harquail December 30, 2013

When it comes to host parents asking for a rematch, there are many grey areas. Whose fault was the problem? Did the parties try hard enough to fix things? Is the issue worth rematching over? We can debate these questions in almost every case. Except one– when an au pair violates a safety rule. If […]

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Is There a Sensible Way Around “Infant Care” Restrictions?

by cv harquail September 14, 2013

This question is a great one for Local Counselors to answer– have you had experience with this issue? Dear Au Pair Moms ~~ We have found a prospective au pair who is just great and seem like she would fit perfectly into our family. She has been in the USA with another family and […]

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