Your Host Parent approach

Who counts as an “American” family?

by cv harquail September 19, 2011
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I imagine that every au pair has an idea of what her or his “ideal” host family should be like. The assortment of children, the family’s location, their personality, their basic household rules… all of this factors in. But how much do you think it matters that the family be “American”-American, rather than German-American or […]

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Is it fair to schedule an Au Pair for Late Night baby feedings?

by cv harquail August 31, 2011
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The help we need is the help we need. Depending on your situation as a host parent, you might need driving, or cooking help, or child-minding on weekends, or flexibility when a child is sick. We each ask our au pairs to help us with different childcare tasks. As long as the tasks are within […]

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Best Practices: Scheduling an Au Pair with a Stay-At-Home Mom

by cv harquail August 21, 2011
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We don’t really have a good term to describe moms who work in the home taking care of their home & family 24/7. Personally, I’m not a fan of the label “stay at home” mom, because it sounds like a command (Stay at home, mom!). And while work-at-home mom is descriptive– she’s a mom, working […]

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Struggling to Communicate With Host Dad

by cv harquail August 5, 2011

Every host parent has his or her own approach to interacting with their au pair. Our personalities affect some of this, but even more important is who has taken which role in the host parents – au pair relationship. When adults team up to become parents, homemakers and breadwinners, they divvy up these roles so […]

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Do you send a gift basket to your new Au Pair at Orientation? (Poll)

by cv harquail February 22, 2011

Here’s a poll to follow up on my vdiatribe…..

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Enough with the Gift Baskets!

by cv harquail February 21, 2011

A long time ago, I was experimenting with doing a vlog (a video post), but I never posted it because I looked kindof dorky. Also, a few months later, the lovely Susan Robinson of Cultural Care started her AuPairAnswerMom vlogs, and does them so well that I thought I’d just stick to text. But then […]

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Au Pair Pocket Money: Do you pay more than the required stipend? (Poll)

by cv harquail February 15, 2011
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[This post addresses customs and Au Pair regulations in the USA. It may or may not be relevant to host parents in other countries.] The amount of weekly pocket money (or stipend) that a host family is required to provide to an au pair is set by the Federal Government. Right now (as of Feb […]

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When Host Parents Disagree, once an Au Pair has let them down

by cv harquail January 29, 2011
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When there is more than one host parent in the household, it’s important for host parents to present a united front. Parents & Partners need to agree on household rules, behavioral expectations, and childcare preferences, and communicate in agreement to the au pair. When host parents disagree, it is impossible for an au pair to […]

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Candid, awkward issue: Choosing Au Pairs who are obese

by cv harquail January 26, 2011
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AuPairMom is a place where we host parents (and au pairs) can talk about issues that only other host parents and au pairs can understand. Often, these issues are tough ones that touch upon cultural differences, style differences, political differences, and deep personal preferences. Every now and then, we get a topic that we want […]

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Something’s Missing: Not the GPS, but her sense of Responsibility

by cv harquail January 20, 2011
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From HostMom Needing Guidance: Dear Au Pair Mom readers — We’re 7 months into our year with our current AP. It’s been a good year so far and she is a great AP. She’s good with the kids and fairly easy to live with, and we’re starting to think about whether to extend. However, I […]

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