Make your home a nest of creativity

by cv harquail March 19, 2009
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Perhaps one of the most useful bits of advice for managing an au pair relationship is "be creative". Creative in terms of how you see things, how you respond to challenges, how you integrate your priorities and your au pair’s abilities, and how you develop a relationship between your kids and your au pair. It […]

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Advice Wanted: My Au Pair just wants to get married– to anybody!

by cv harquail March 18, 2009
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Our current au pair, who is nothing spectacular but fine is trying desperately to marry an American. She’s online constantly trying to arrange a marriage for herself. This week, she told me she’d “met someone” online who is offering to marry her, pay for her schooling, buy her a car and a home, but he […]

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Half-Full or Half-Empty? Extending the “so-so” au pair

by cv harquail March 17, 2009
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Glass half full, or empty? We are approaching the time to decide whether to extend with current AP. Because she may have seen me reading this blog on my computer, I want to stay vague but give enough info to generate discussion. We’ve had several APs, and a few rematches. Two kids, one in kindergarten, […]

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The kind of question I love to hear from Au Pairs! And your answers …?

by cv harquail March 14, 2009
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I’m so glad to have the chance to highlight some of the nicest things about having an au pair. Discussing the good things not only benefits host parents who are new to the whole thing and need some encouragement, but also helps out any experienced host parents who need to be re-juiced. Here’s a question […]

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Terms of Endearment and Moms’ Deepest Fears. Also, Childcare Myths.

by cv harquail March 12, 2009
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Over in the Skribit feature, as a suggested topic, an anonymous person asked “How to deal with the fact that the child calls the Au Pair ‘mom’.” When I first saw this topic suggestion, I planned to ignore it. I wasn’t sure it was from a real host mom. Honestly, how many times have you […]

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Poll: How long, exactly, is “two weeks vacation”?

by cv harquail March 11, 2009
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The question has been posed: How do you count "two weeks vacation"? I’m not sure of the "official" rule, so I hope a Local Community Counselor can chime in, but in the meantime, let’s see how we host moms interpret that guideline. And, when you and your Au Pair arrange her vacation, how do you […]

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Advice Wanted: ‘Former’ Au Pair Has Outstayed Her Welcome. What to do?

by cv harquail March 10, 2009
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Speaking of being taken advantage of and being too generous…. check out Cynthia’s situation….And offer her some advice!! Does anyone have experience when AP wants to spend the 13 month with you??? I can’t seem to get her to leave. She always says her plans have change or she is waiting for money, etc. LCC […]

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Advice Wanted: Au Pair changed her vacation… now what?

by cv harquail March 10, 2009
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Moms- Big conversation going on today about Mary’s au pair…. Here’s the conversation so far…. Join in! Our au pair has been with us for 8 months. She transitioned from another family and has not been the greatest. She does the bare minimum and has left the children unsupervised. She doesn’t make good decisions and […]

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Quick Update on AuPairMom Feature ….

by cv harquail March 9, 2009
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Hi Host Moms- You can always tell when things have been crazy at work in a good way, because days weeks pass by before I get a good post up here! I really appreciate that you keep up a conversation with each other through the comments, and I’ve appreciated the nudge to ramp back up. […]

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Sabotage your Au Pair’s Authority: 3 Easy Ways

by cv harquail March 8, 2009
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It amazes me sometimes, the stories I hear about host parents’ bad behavior. I heard a story this week about an au pair who told her charge that he had lost the privilege of having ice cream after dinner, because he had refused to put away his toys at the end of a play date […]

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