Monitoring Your Au Pair’s Driving Using Car Apps and Tools

by cv harquail March 11, 2016
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In the new era of the quantified self, we have Fitbits for counting steps, apps for managing nutrition, online calendars to coordinate schedules, and GPS to get us where we need to go. Many of us use these tools not only for our selves, but also to organize our Au Pairs. We also now have […]

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Interviewing Rematch Au Pairs? Check Their References

by cv harquail March 7, 2016
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The Rematch / Transition Process makes everyone tense.   Au Pairs want to find a better situation but worry that host families will assume that rematch was their fault. Host Families want to find an in-country au pair who’ll fit better with their family, but want to avoid taking on some other family’s “reject”. Agencies […]

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Innocent Au Pair Shunned By Jealous Host Mom

by cv harquail March 5, 2016
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Sorry about the headline, but how else to summarize this dilemma, below? Before you jump in with good advice, which you will, let’s remember that we only know one side of this story, and we should proceed with the assumption that it’s accurate. Take it away, team. Dear AuPairMom– Well, I’m a 23 year old […]

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When the Cost of Rematch Seems Too High, but Your Au Pair Isn’t Working Out

by cv harquail March 3, 2016
au pair, host child, childcare

This brand new host mom, in a country without much of an Au Pairing culture, is trying hard. Despite her efforts, though, the combination of her Au Pair’s inexperience, lack of English skills, lies about driving, and basic attitude (not to mention, cultural differences between them) have led to an untenable situation. Worse still, it […]

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Give As Much As You’ve Gotten Before You Quit Your Au Pair Job

by cv harquail March 1, 2016
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At the mom@aupairmom.com mailbox, I regularly receive emails from Au Pairs who are unhappy and want to leave their positions. Au Pairs present a slate of concerns, each one legitimate in its own right, although some of them are too small, really, to be dealbreakers on their own. These emails usually roam all over the […]

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What Makes an Au Pair a “Rock Star”?

by cv harquail February 25, 2016

… asks a Host Mom who thinks hopes she has one. I think I’ve always assumed that, like quality and pr0n, “you know it when you see it” if you’ve got a Rock Star Au Pair. And, I’ve probably also assumed that what makes some one a Rock Star Au Pair really depends on what […]

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What’s Luck Got To Do With It?

by cv harquail February 20, 2016
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Absolutely, luck plays a role in the Host Parent – Au Pair Relationship. There’s all sorts of random in the timing of applicants’ availability, in the ways their portfolios get served up by Agencies, in their mention of that one little fact that makes us pay attention, and in the friends they make (or don’t) their […]

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Au Pairs With Manageable Health Issues – Would you match with them?

by cv harquail February 17, 2016
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Two different young women — potential au pairs — write with the same question: How do Host Parents feel about matching with Au Pairs who have manageable health issues? By “manageable”, we mean — well understood, medicated or controlled successfully for a long time, not likely to interfere with caregiving, and not likely to flare up […]

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Creating an Au Pair – Host Parent Partnership that Doesn’t Exclude the Other Host Parent

by cv harquail February 12, 2016
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In some families, parents aim to share childcare and home management equally.  In other families, there is one parent (of the two, three or four) who serves as the “lead parent”.  The Lead Parent is the one who runs the forgotten lunch over to school, stays home when a kid is sick, and manages the family’s childcare. […]

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Which Au Pair Agencies are the Best to Work For?, asks future LCC

by cv harquail February 8, 2016
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What do Au Pair Agencies feel like from the inside? I know that I was delighted when I got to meet the folks at InterExchange face to face — it was clear that they genuinely care about the experiences of their Au Pairs and Host Families.  It seems like people there enjoyed their jobs and […]

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