Random Advice

Notes About The Blog: What’s been happening behind the scenes at AuPairMom

by cv harquail March 9, 2014
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You might be wondering what’s going on here at AuPairMom, what with the revised blog formatting and my efforts to post more often.  I’ve finally put the wheels in motion to ‘upgrade’ AuPairMom so that it works more effectively for you and for me. AuPairMom has got itself a consultant, Shawn. 

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Helping Your Au Pair Navigate Health Care Costs & Insurance

by cv harquail February 24, 2014

When an au pair is injured or gets ill, their health insurance is supposed to cover their care. But sometimes managing the both getting care and getting it paid for is more than any of us can handle.    Even those of us host parents who have “good” health insurance can get beaten down by […]

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Host Family Abandoned My Daughter! Should she rematch, or come home?

by cv harquail February 12, 2014
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Dear AuPairMoms, I’m a mom from South Africa. My dear daughter, S, has just arrived in America for a year au pairing. She completed her orientation week in New York, loving everything about it, and travelled to a nearby town to meet her Host Family last Friday. We had all been skyping the family since November and were […]

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Do Our Careful Reviews of Au Pair Applications Actually Make A Difference?

by cv harquail February 1, 2014
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Awesome Contributor and Host Mom Dorsi asks: “If you were to revisit the applications of your best and worst Au Pairs, what would you learn about making a good choice?”, Dorsi asks. Would you actually learn…. anything? The Oh-So-Wise ShouldBeWorking  replies: “What kills me about how fabulous our current match is is that there was […]

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Policies for Hosting Out-Of-Town Guests: Polls

by cv harquail January 25, 2014
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 Let’s get a sense of how many of us have which kinds of guidelines about out-of-town guests.     Take these polls, below  —- but EXCLUDE romantic relationships (e.g., boyfriend or girlfriend from back home) since these have been shown to have a separate dynamic. More on that in another post.   Please add details […]

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When Your Au Pair is the Neighborhood Safety Net

by cv harquail January 22, 2014
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We’re on our fourth day of snow-related school closings this month, and I’m really starting to feel the burden of being the only adult working at home– in (what seems like) the whole neighborhood. For parents who work outside the home, snow days can cause a lot of childcare problems. If you have a childcare […]

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When Host Moms Need Support and Not Just Advice

by cv harquail November 23, 2013
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AuPairMom gets two kinds of emails– emails asking for advice on how or what to do, and emails asking for support in just dealing with whatever is happening. Interestingly, every email we get is BOTH of those types. Sometimes we know what we need to do. For example, almost every email asking ‘Should we go […]

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Keeping Up With Changing Times… or not?

by cv harquail August 26, 2013
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A long time contributor to AuPairMom sent us a fascinating challenge: How should Host Parents respond to their Au Pair’s interest in trying pot, now that it’s actually legal in their state? I must say, this is a host parenting challenge that never occurred to me– and it’s intriguing. On the one hand– it’s legal. […]

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How Much Does the Au Pair Agency You Choose Really Matter?

by cv harquail August 21, 2013
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Of all the pieces that go into finding, matching and working with an au pair that’s ‘right for you’, the agency you choose is pretty low on the totem pole. I say that having only ever used one agency, so I know I’m not speaking from experience. At least with regard to agencies. Instead, I […]

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Share what you know about Au Pairs and Cross Cultural Communications!

by cv harquail August 7, 2013
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Earlier this spring, I was interviewed for a research project on cross cultural challenges with host families and au pairs. The researchers recently wrote to tell me they’ are having a difficult time getting the number of interviewees that they need, and they asked if I could share this request on AuPairMom: “We are two […]

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