Extending

Helping Your Au Pair Extend, with Student Status: Advice Wanted

by cv harquail January 10, 2010
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Hi Au Pair Mom Readers! Love the site and am totally addicted. The advice is so helpful! I need advice on the subject of college education for my au pair. Our au pair has indicated an interest in attending university here in the U.S. instead of in her home country (Germany). It’s unclear whether she […]

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How to stay happy as a Lame Duck host parent

by cv harquail December 28, 2009
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There comes a time in your relationship with your au pair where your ability to influence her behavior vanishes- just vanishes. This usually happens as she is getting ready to leave, either to go back home or to go on to an extension with another family. [When this happens during rematch, it’s an entirely different […]

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Our Au Pair Wants to Extend and We’d Rather Not

by cv harquail August 27, 2009
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Uh Oh. A clash of expectations on the horizon. And, once you discuss it, you might get some pushback from your au pair…. Our au pair has been with us about 5 months. She is ok. Not great by any means. We are not planning to extend with her. Our biggest issue with her is […]

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Extending– without the Agency. Yes or no?

by cv harquail June 17, 2009
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We are in month 8 with our first au pair (she’s frmo Thailand), who has been great. We would like to extend, and she would like to stay for at least six months more, but she would like to do so outside of the agency. Apparently a friend of hers, at the end of her […]

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Extension Candidates: How to interview, what to look for

by cv harquail April 20, 2009
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Extension candidates are a tough bunch. These au pairs already know the score… they know what it takes to be an au pair, they have already improved their English a bit, they know how hard it can be to take care of children, and they know the wide range of material situations that host families […]

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Extending with your current Au Pair: A Bad Idea?

by cv harquail April 20, 2009
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Our post about interviewing extension candidates reminds us of an earlier bit of advice that was a surprise to many of us host parents. My LCC gave me great advice. No matter how good the relationship is, NEVER extend with the same au pair. It almost never works out. She thinks that an au pair […]

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Advice wanted… best medium & process for communicating expectations?

by cv harquail April 5, 2009
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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 […]

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