When you are available and your Au Pair is ‘on duty’ — how to manage?

by cv harquail April 16, 2009
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Caveat: This is NOT a post about (1) when you work at home and your au pair is on duty, [post for another day] or (2) when you are absolutely off duty and she is on duty…[post from earlier today]. This one is about: When you both are at home and available to the kids— […]

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How to find a great host family: Part 1

by cv harquail April 16, 2009
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Although this isn’t a blog for au pairs to get advice on being an au pair, sometimes it’s just nice to have the opportunity to share advice, especially when it comes to helping an au pair clarify her needs and expectations before she begins her host family search. Hello! My name is Casey, I’m from […]

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Scheduling your Au Pair to be on duty when you are at home…

by cv harquail April 16, 2009
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I got a bit of a chuckle when I saw this topic suggestion on the Skribit form: “Should you make your au pair work on weekends if both parents are at home doing nothing?” The topic suggestion was anonymous, but if I had to guess I’d say it was from an au pair. Why? Because […]

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Can this relationship be saved? Our Au Pair rubs me the wrong way….

by cv harquail April 15, 2009
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Sometimes a host parent’s complaints about an au pair seem legitimate. Sometimes the complaints don’t seem legitimate. And sometimes, the host parent just really isn’t sure. Here’s a long request for advice from Anonymous . She sets it up as though she might be a bad person… and let me tell you that by the […]

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3 Ways to be a Great Host Parent

by cv harquail April 14, 2009
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Here’s the first in an occasional series about Ways to be a Great Host Parent . Sorry Tolstoy. Whether happy or not so happy, not every host family is the same.  We host families like to revel in our uniqueness and we like to think that, for the lucky au pair, our family is just […]

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Build the Mothers’ Rights Movement!

by cv harquail April 10, 2009
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Up to this point I haven’t posted here at AuPairMom on topics beyond the particular world of hosting Au Pairs, but today I’m making an exception to share the offer I got, below, from an organization that I really believe in: MomsRising. MomsRising is an organization whose "members are bringing important motherhood and family issues […]

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Au Pair Mom Admin: When Au Pairs comment … Poll

by cv harquail April 10, 2009
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Hi Moms & Dads, I’ve been wondering how you all feel about the comments by au pairs on various posts, and whether you’d like me to take a more active role in managing the participation of au pairs in our conversations. We have had some really useful comments from au pairs, where they have asked […]

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Poll: Does your Au Pair join you for dinner?.

by cv harquail April 8, 2009
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Our family tradition Sitting down together at the table for supper is one of my favorite moments of the day. During the week, when it’s just us girls, we all hold hands and sing grace before we eat. In that brief moment, everything is peaceful and undeniably happy. Then we let of each other’s hands, […]

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Myths about Au Pairs: The Fox in Your Henhouse

by cv harquail April 7, 2009
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Close behind the myth that every Au Pair is a "Hottie" is the myth that au pairs are out to steal your Host Dad. I guess this is one of those where the exceptions are so salient that you end up believing that it happens a lot. I haven’t ever met a host mom or […]

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Myths about Au Pairs: Au Pair = “Hottie”

by cv harquail April 6, 2009
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What is it about the term “au pair” that triggers salacious comments from people who should know better? What do you do when someone says something rude about au pairs as a concept? This question popped up a few weeks ago for HostMomToBe: … There is this one very annoying situation that I really could […]

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