Phases of AuPair’s Year

Letters of Recommendation: For a so-so au pair? (Poll)

by cv harquail January 20, 2010
_3285_2718238377_7bedbf3250.jpg

When your au pair is getting ready to leave you, either to end her year or to extend with a different family, it’s nice to write her a letter of recommendation. Unless, of course, you wouldn’t recommend her to anyone. When the topic of recommendation letters has come up before, you all have been of […]

29 comments Read the full article →

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

by cv harquail January 10, 2010
201001101458.jpg

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 […]

18 comments Read the full article →

How to stay happy as a Lame Duck host parent

by cv harquail December 28, 2009
200912281358.jpg

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 […]

17 comments Read the full article →

3 Questions an Au Pair should ask YOU to make a good match

by cv harquail October 22, 2009
200910211429.jpg

If Skype didn’t exist, if email hadn’t been invented, and if we could only communicate with potential au pairs using short, really expensive long distance phone calls (anyone remember those days?), we wouldn’t have the luxury of long conversations to help us assess a good match. And since we do have that luxury– and so […]

53 comments Read the full article →

Good Bye, Good Luck from exAuPairMom

by cv harquail October 13, 2009
Flower FairyFolk etsy.jpeg

I always wonder about “the rest of the story” when I get a notice that someone has unsubscribed from the email newsletter .. for the reason that “the content is no longer valid”. I usually take that to mean “we don’t have an au pair anymore”. Over the weekend we got this letter from a […]

35 comments Read the full article →

Choosing an Au Pair: How to Avoid a Princess

by cv harquail September 26, 2009
_images_Once-Upon-A-Mattress(PL11)-8-10.jpg

If only it were as easy as sticking a green vegetable underneath her mattress and waiting to see if she gets a good night’s sleep… We all want to avoid “the princess” – the au pair candidate who thinks the job is all about visiting the States, living in an American home, and having an […]

50 comments Read the full article →

The Boyfriend-Back-Home: Always bad news?

by cv harquail September 1, 2009
200909011008.jpg

We got an interesting request for advice from a host mom who just found out that her incoming au pair has gotten a BBH — a Boyfriend-Back-Home. This mom is concerned because her first au pair – host mom experience was marred by her au pair’s devotion to the BBH over her commitment to the […]

40 comments Read the full article →

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

by cv harquail August 27, 2009
jek in the box jacaranda.jpg

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 […]

26 comments Read the full article →

Checkout Task List: Back by popular demand

by cv harquail August 26, 2009
checklist

(Several readers have asked to see this list again… turns out it’s been hard to find, probably I need to use more & better tags. Until the rainy day when I get to play with the folksonomy, here’s the Checkout Task List! originally posted Aug 25, 2008) When your aupair is getting ready to leave […]

19 comments Read the full article →

Settling Accounts — *Before* she departs

by cv harquail August 17, 2009
Suitcase with Ribbon lost star.jpeg

The comment from PA AuPair mom in the post about docking the au pair’s pay sent a chill down my spine, and reminded me that I need to write and post this bit of advice: Before your Au Pair leaves, be sure to settle all accounts with her. This advice is not for host parents […]

24 comments Read the full article →

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →