Open Thread: A Break

by cv harquail May 1, 2015
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Hi All-  Much excitement here at AuPairMom Headquarters this week. I fractured my scapula and two ribs on Sunday, by falling off a horse that spooked and started galloping towards the woods. My helmet and safety vest protected most of me, but the fractures, bruises, and etc. have taken a toll on both my ego and […]

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When Au Pairs Plan In Advance Not To Complete Their Year

by cv harquail April 23, 2015
au pair breaks contract

Au Pair contracts, for both the au pair and the family, exist so that both parties are absolutely clear about what they can expect from each other. A Host Family pays an agency fee that they expect to cover 12 month of service. Indeed, knowing that you can amortize the cost of finding and training an […]

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Can an Au Pair Help An Anorexic Host Mom? Should She Try?

by cv harquail April 21, 2015
au pair problems, host mom

When an au pair notices that the host mom is having some kind of personal problem, should the au pair try to talk with the host mom about it? When I think about this question in the abstract, my answer is “Of course! If the au pair cares about the host mm as a person, […]

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Sheet Pan Suppers: Easy Meals for Au Pairs to Cook

by cv harquail April 17, 2015
Sheet Pan Suppers for Au Pair to Cook

“Mom, this chicken’s a winner.” ~ DD1 “You should email the cookbook author and thank her for that recipe.” ~ AuPairDad “Yay! You’re making the Spicy Peanut one again!” ~ DD2 These are all real quotes, prompted by a gift that Host Mom Page E. sent me– a cookbook called Sheet Pan Suppers, by Molly […]

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Selling Our House: How do we show the Au Pair Room to Buyers?

by cv harquail April 14, 2015
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(Part of a series on Moving With Your Au Pair) When your family is selling your house, everyone has to pitch in to make the sale as easy as possible. This means – being on their best ‘pick up after yourself’ behavior, – being ready to dash out and stay out at a moment’s notice, […]

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Taking An Au Pair on Vacation: Hotel Room Arrangements

by cv harquail April 9, 2015
barbiehotel

Already looking forward to your summer vacation?  If you’re planning to bring your Au Pair, now is the time to start talking about vacation arrangements –especially how you plan to manage hotel rooms. Au Pairs should be provided with their own private room to sleep in — that’s what the Agencies require. The Agencies require […]

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Au Pairs with Dietary Preferences Need to Cook for Themselves Sometimes

by cv harquail April 7, 2015
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It seems that half the world has some kind of dietary restriction. I read a poem a few days ago about the challenge of trying to meet everyone’s different expectations, until the poet gave in and served a bowl of polished stones. (I wish I could find the poem– it was by a real poet, and […]

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Easy Ways to Get to Know Each Other Before Your Au Pair Arrives

by cv harquail April 3, 2015
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Once we’ve matched with each other, Host Families and Au Pairs usually have a good bit of time to wait before the Au Pair physically joins the family. We’ve already shared a bit about how often we like to check in with each other between Match and Arrival.   We agree that keeping in touch […]

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Would You Choose a Former Nanny as an Au Pair?

by cv harquail March 31, 2015
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Here’s a rare kind of email– a topic we have never discussed before.  I keep thinking there are none of these left, and then >boom< one of them lands in my inbox. I‘m currently working as a nanny. I would really really love to come and do an au pair year in America. I love […]

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Notes on the Blog: Somehow, we broke the Interwebz

by cv harquail March 27, 2015

I don’t know what happened, and I don’t know what fixed it back up to 98% of what it was before, but sorry about this morning’s long, long, long outage. Also, apologies to whomever commented between last night and noon today– your insights were lost in the ‘series of tubes’ that make up the worldwideweb. […]

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