Phases of AuPair’s Year

Are you really ready to be a Host Parent? The Host Parent Readiness Test

by cv harquail May 11, 2010

We spend a lot of time on this blog sharing ideas about how to figure out whether an au pair candidate is actually ready to do the job, live in another family, and explore an new culture and country. But, we haven’t spent much time sharing ideas about preparing *ourselves” for becoming host parents. We […]

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Au Pair Asks: How can I gently decline my Host Mom’s advice?

by cv harquail April 26, 2010

One of my guilty pleasures as a host mom has been to think that I’ve been able to give my au pairs some good advice. After all, I’ve had a lot of life experience, I’m opening-minded, I have relevant professional experience, and — let’s face it– I usually know what I’m talking about (grin). Therefore, […]

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Extending Legally, Without an Agency: Ideas?

by cv harquail April 25, 2010

We would like advice on how to extend with out au pair legally, but by using a lawyer instead of going through our current agency. We want to disconnect from our agency, gently. To put it mildly, our experience with our agency & LCC has been a great disappointment. They are the only agency that […]

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Deciding whether to extend: The Au Pair’s Point of View

by cv harquail April 11, 2010

When we have an au pair we really like, and even sometimes a so-so au pair, we start to think: Hey, maybe we should extend with this au pair… another 6, 9, or 12 months with the comfort of knowing what we’ve got, taking advantage our mutual investment in the relationship, keeping things stable for […]

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How to Assess an Au Pair Candidate’s Driving Experience

by cv harquail March 23, 2010

Our second au pair had a lot of driving experience back in her Eastern European country. She’d been driving for 3 years, almost every day. Sounded great. This, along with her other great qualities, lead us to match with her. Zoom ahead three months, as we settle her into the Toyota to go out for […]

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From Nannys to Au Pairs: What is it like when you switch?

by cv harquail March 16, 2010

Some families start with au pairs and stay with au pairs until their kids can drive. Many (most?) parents use an array of childcare options over the course of their parenthood. Lots of us will switch back and forth between different childcare options, depending on what we and our kids need at any given time. […]

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Your Au Pair’s Room: Give her a choice of pillows

by cv harquail March 15, 2010

When it comes to bedding for your au pair’s room, there are three criteria that must be met: The bedding must look clean. The bedding must smell clean. There must be enough bedding. It’s a bonus if the mattress is new, if the bigger bed fits the room, or if the sheets are her or […]

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What Size Bed for Your Au Pair (Poll)

by cv harquail March 11, 2010

A host mom writes: Do we need to get a bigger bed for our next au pair? Our current au pair has a queen-size bed in her room, which used to be our guest room. We are moving to a larger home in a few months. The new house will have a guest room, and […]

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Sad Host Mom: How to break the bad news about her visa

by cv harquail February 20, 2010

Parents, we got this email from an active commenter, who doesn’t really have a “problem” we can fix — but she does need us a little bit. Can you share any wisdom that might make this hard situation a little easier for her and her Au Pair? We love our au pair. She came to […]

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Au Pair Abruptly Quits, then wants to come back to see kids. Really? (poll)

by cv harquail January 28, 2010

Here’s a painful situation, about which this host mom could use some good advice. I’m sure that this kind of situation has happened to other families who’ve gone into rematch [Something similar happened to us with our flame-out au pair, and so reading this mom’s email got me all mad all over again. What went […]

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