Your Host Parent approach

Which Au Pair Rules Feel Flexible?

by cv harquail February 4, 2015
breaking au pair rules

This is a companion post to “Which Host Family Rules Feel Flexible to Au Pairs?” Au Pair Program Rules are Great. One of the strongest elements of the US Au Pair Program is the framework created by the State Department rules.   These clear and specific boundaries around work hours and work responsibilities help US Host Parents and […]

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Teach Your Kids To Treat Your Au Pair With Respect

by cv harquail January 30, 2015
children rude to au pair

Here’s a host mom after my own heart. Why? Because her first thought after describing the problem is to ask what she might be doing to contribute to it. Not that I want host parents (or au pairs) to always shoulder the blame, but with all things social it’s the *relationship, the *context, and the […]

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Help Your Au Pair Take Snow Days In Stride

by cv harquail January 19, 2015
Au Pairs enjoy their first snowfall au pair advice low cost childcare

Few events clarify the gap between how working parents and their school age kids respond to changes than the announcement of a snow day. When I was little, I thought snow days were magical. An overwhelming amount of snow combined with a day off from school seemed like a gift from the heavens — to […]

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Why You Shouldn’t Round Up Your Au Pair’s Weekly Stipend

by cv harquail January 12, 2015
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What is “One Hundred Ninety-Five Dollars and Seventy Five Cents“? A:  The amount of an Au Pair’s weekly stipend, or B: An awkward, not-round number? Both. Which is why many families ’round up’ from $195.75 and pay their au pairs an even $200 per week. Rounding Up seems to make sense. If you pay your […]

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Au Pair Host Parent Word for the Year: Hygge

by cv harquail January 2, 2015
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Last New Year many of use chose a few ‘words of the year’ to help keep us focused on our values and goals as host parents (and people!). Micro-affirmations like “3 Words“, Core Desired Feelings , and even just a parenting mantra help us make small changes in our habits that, over time, can help us grow. […]

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Is It This Particular Au Pair, or Is An Au Pair Just Not Right for Me?

by cv harquail December 31, 2014
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Au Pairs “as a concept” and a particular au pair in real life are two very different things to imagine in your world. An Au Pair “as a concept” is the idea of a young adult living with you as part of the family and as an employee childcare provider, sharing your food, sharing your […]

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Traditions with a Twist: A Holiday Game with your Au Pair, guest post by Cristina Sierra

by cv harquail December 12, 2014
jack lail

Long time contributor-under-a-nom-de-mom, Cristina Sierra shares this holiday idea: A “Mad” Twist on ‘T’was The Night Before Christmas’ Here’s a creative way to introduce your Au Pair to a US holiday tradition, namely the poem  “T’was the night before Christmas” – by making it his / her own. How? Easy – just add Mad Libs. By […]

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Create a Holiday Tradition– Just for your Au Pair

by cv harquail December 10, 2014
pug

You were wondering when I’d start the holiday posts … and here’s the first one! When new people enter our families, a great way to welcome them is to include them explicitly in our family holiday celebrations. Efforts like: Creating a Christmas stocking for your au pair to hang along with the kids’, Getting an additional […]

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Help Your Au Pair Learn When to “Pick Her Battles” with Kids

by cv harquail December 6, 2014
on the slide

How do you teach the art of knowing when to let things slide? So much of good parenting and good caregiving is about being consistent. Kids thrive on routine. They need consistent explanations, consistent expectations, and consistent consequences so that they learn how to make good choices with their own behavior. Yet, so much of […]

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AuPairMom is thankful for … TaCL

by cv harquail November 25, 2014
thankful owl

We all know her. We all love her. TaCL : the internet-famous TakingAComputerLunch. She’s #1 of 2,200 Over the course of the 6+ years of AuPairMom, around 2,200 different people have contributed to the blog by offering advice in the comments. It’s TaCL’s 5 Year Anniversary on Au Pair Mom, and I think it’s time we […]

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