Random Advice

It’s YOUR vacation, not hers. Okay?

by cv harquail February 2, 2009
vacation

I had a long listen at a neighborhood party last week…one of my host mom friends had just come back from a family vacation to Disneyworld. Three kids, three adults, two bedrooms, 5 days. And for my friend, not a vacation at all. What went wrong? I’ll tell you what went wrong. My friend forgot […]

20 comments Read the full article →

It’s Still AuPairMom…

by cv harquail January 22, 2009
AuPairMom bird

Hi Moms (& Dads) – I have been putting off the inevitable upgrade of the AuPairMom theme… I really love the old theme by Randa Clay, with the sweet bluebird, but… those of you who Twitter have probably noticed that Twitter uses the same stock image. Even though Randa used this particular bluebird first, it’s […]

15 comments Read the full article →

A Death in Her Family: How can you help?

by cv harquail January 12, 2009

Parents- here’s a request for some immediate advice: From Maya People, I could use some sugestions here. I just found out today, Sunday, that my au pair’s grandmother passed away on Tuesday. She never told me. Just told me today when I asked if she has talked to her family recently. I asked if she […]

3 comments Read the full article →

Check out this interview of an (au pair) Mom!

by cv harquail January 6, 2009

All — One of the moms who contributes regularly to our conversations, and who has a blog and a business, is interviewed this week on Bizzie Mommie as the "Mompreneur of the month" ! In addition to her ‘mom’ blog WorkMoreDoMoreBeMore, Ann Levine also runs and writes Law School Expert . There’s a reason we […]

8 comments Read the full article →

More Thanksgiving Day ideas…for you and your Au Pair

by cv harquail November 24, 2008
wampanoag aupairs low cost childcare au apir advice

What do you know about Thanksgiving? The AuPairCare website for Au Pairs has a fun little activity for Au Pairs celebrating Thanksgiving with their host families. If you haven’t seen this yet, you might want to suggest it to your au pair, or just play it with the family yourself. First, visit this website for […]

1 comment Read the full article →

How Can You Get Your Au Pair to be (more of) a Self-Starter?

by cv harquail October 6, 2008

Moms- We’ve got another request for advice! Not so surprisingly, this request shares a theme with last week’s question, about how to get your au pair ‘out and about’ so that you can have some alone-ish time. I’ve taken the liberty of highlighting some of the passages to call your attention to them… What are […]

13 comments Read the full article →

6 Reasons to Have Au Pairs Overlap

by cv harquail July 24, 2008
2 horses overlapping au pairs

Once you’ve had the opportunity to orient a new Au Pair, you realize how much work it is to teach an Au Pair all of your family’s systems and personalities. When you imagine doing this again in only 11 months (!), you may start looking for opportunities to reduce the amount of work for you– […]

1 comment Read the full article →

Ways to start orienting your New Au Pair: Some advice for the first two days

by cv harquail June 30, 2008

The first two or three days can be really overwhelming– not just for your new Au Pair, but for you. It’s like drinking from the proverbial fire hose — Where do you possibly begin? How can you get it all done? How much will she actually understand? Should you spend the first few days sightseeing […]

9 comments Read the full article →

Next Entries →