Welcoming your AuPair

5 Ways for Au Pairs to Find Other Au Pairs

by cv harquail September 9, 2015
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It’s the season to Welcome New Au Pairs! A time for orienting, driving lessons, checklist making, getting lost, and — sometimes for new Au Pairs — feeling lonely. When a new Au Pair arrives, it’s critical that s/he make a few Au Pair friends right away. Only another Au Pair can understand the unique situation of […]

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Time for a Reset Conversation – with the Whole Family

by cv harquail July 7, 2015
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Things were going to hell in a hand basket. Dishes clean but still in the dishwasher. Laundry folded and never put away. Children announcing that they needed to be driven here and picked up there, at the last minute. Spouse “having dinner with a client. I told you about it yesterday” but nothing written on […]

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How to Fix It When Your Au Pair Starts Out On The Wrong Foot

by cv harquail June 29, 2015
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Four weeks in, and your Au Pair still isn’t doing what you’d expected. Worse, s/he’s not doing what you need.   You’ve finished up her formal orientation and in-home training, but your Au Pair hasn’t stepped up to fill the role. Is there anything you can do? There are two kinds of early performance problems. The first […]

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Welcome Your Au Pair With a Fully-Stocked Bathroom

by cv harquail May 24, 2015
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When your au pair arrives in your home, the way that you’ve prepared for their arrival can say a lot about how excited you are to get to know them. We’re all away of the basic things we should have ready —  a clean, happy bedroom, a freshly printed handbook, a personalized map,  a training schedule, […]

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Awkward Arrival Time But We Like This Au Pair — Should We Match or Move On?

by cv harquail January 15, 2015
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We’re new to the AP process, currently interviewing for our first AP ever. I’m in academia, and was hoping for someone to start in July or August, so that they can get comfortable with my son (will be 3 years old in the Fall) before school starts back up in September. One issue is that […]

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Should She Ask Her Host Mom To Read AuPairMom?

by cv harquail September 8, 2014
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Dear AuPairMom – I have been reading AuPairMom while I was deciding to become an au pair and I was expecting that what you have on this blog explains what an au pair should expect. My host mom seems to be having some struggles with having an au pair. I’m my family’s first au pair. My family is […]

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When Your New and Old Au Pairs Get Jealous of Each Other

by cv harquail July 6, 2014
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How hard is it to see the incoming au pair making connections with the kids, settling into the AuPair room, learning to drive in the USA, and talking about all she’s going to do in her year of adventure? If you’re the host mom, it’s not hard at all– you *want* to see this. But if […]

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Welcome Your Au Pair With A Custom Google Map

by cv harquail March 19, 2014
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HostMom Pippa takes advantage of easy online tools, and comes up with *surely* one of the greatest ideas for helping your au pair visualize her/his new surroundings (aka your world). She recommends creating a Custom Google Map:  An easy way to share information with your incoming AP before he or she arrives is to create […]

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First Impressions: Can you ‘just know’ you need a rematch, already?

by cv harquail March 14, 2014
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Did you ever just “know” you needed to rematch?   Dear AuPairMoms! Our incredible first AP left last week – tears all around; she loved our 3 little kids so much and was an amazing friend to us too.  We live in a desirable area and have a separate studio for the AP, have a third […]

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Taking Brand New Au Pairs on Vacation: Best Practices?

by cv harquail March 3, 2013

Host parents generally agree that taking an au pair on vacation right at the start of his/her au pair year is inviting trouble. Starting your au pair year in a vacation location, with host parents who are not rushing off to work and with host kids who are not heading off to school makes the […]

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