Evaluating Progress As Your Au Pair Aims to Improve

by cv harquail January 8, 2015
au pair performance, au pair rematch, host parent advice

How much improvement is ‘enough’ to shift an au pair out of  “on the way to rematch”? When there are performance issues with an Au Pair and we ask for an improvement, we expect that: (1) The au pair’s performance will improve, (2) Performance will improve enough to satisfy the Host Parent’s original concerns, (3) The […]

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Au Pair Host Parent Word for the Year: Hygge

by cv harquail January 2, 2015
2195556567_3c5c426f59_z

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
8031936764_d3d975b5bf_z

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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Holiday Gift Exchange: Host Parent to Host Parent

by cv harquail December 22, 2014
au pair gifts, au pair advice, choosing an au pair

My mom had a wonderful tradition for our neighborhood Christmas party. She asked every grown up to bring a small gift for a grab bag.  The gift had to be wrapped in aluminum foil so that (1) you couldn’t quite tell what it was, and (2)everything looked shiny. When folks arrived at the party they put […]

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Male Au Pairs: Not just for male host kids, by ReturningHM

by cv harquail December 16, 2014
just peeking

When ReturningHM offered to write a post about her experiences with male au pairs, I was delighted. Many new readers find AuPairMom by searching the term  ‘male au pair’. There simply isn’t that much information out there about the benefits and challenges of male au pairs vs female ones. Folks are curious about what it […]

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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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How Should Au Pair Candidates Choose An Au Pair Agency?

by cv harquail December 8, 2014
o hai pierre cat

Here’s something we’ve never talked about: How Should Au Pairs who want to come to the USA choose the agencies to represent them?   (note: let’s only do US Agencies in this post– I’ll do another one for ‘international’ agencies) We Host Parents know that there are a few differences in Au Pair Agencies that […]

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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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Saying No, and Staying Confident, When Your Au Pair Wants Your Car For A Roadtrip

by cv harquail December 4, 2014
puppy car

Why do we find it so hard to stick to our guns when an au pair asks us to bend our rules? None of us wants to seem petty, or stingy, or selfish.  On the contrary– we want to be generous where we can, we want to reward au pairs who do a great job […]

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