When Host Parents Reserve Treats For Themselves

by cv harquail May 19, 2014
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How do you communicate to your au pair that something in your home is ‘off limits’ to them, even though you host parents enjoy it liberally? Things like hot tubs, wine, the ‘nice’ car, the expensive balsamic vinegar, or a favorite coffee mug can become a source of tension, when these things are purchased or […]

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Grocery Budgets for An Au Pair: What’s a fair amount?

by cv harquail May 12, 2014
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Including an Au Pair in your grocery shopping means more than throwing another package of chicken breasts into the cart. For any of us (all of us?) with budgets and cost constraints, including an Au Pair takes more than figuring out ‘how much’ more food we need to nourish an additional adult.  It also asks us to gauge […]

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Open Thread: Mother’s Day Edition

by cv harquail May 10, 2014
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My friend Liz, in her official author/blogger role as @Hello_Ladies, made a provocative suggestion: Instead of Sunday being Mother’s Day, Mother’s Day Should Fall on a Monday. Then, we moms would actually be able to take some time off to relax from *all three* of our jobs: Mogul, Mom, and Maid. This morning, as my […]

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Au Pair Asks: My Host Family Fights. Is it okay to rematch?

by cv harquail May 8, 2014

Personally, I can’t imagine living in a family where the members actively fight with one another. It’s one thing to have sibling bickering, or to have the parents yell at each other (very) occasionally when something goes wrong. But to live in a household where people are actively hostile? That would depress me no end. […]

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You Know You’re A Great Au Pair Host Mom When…?

by cv harquail May 6, 2014
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Celebrating (Au Pair Host) Mother’s Day Do you ever have one of those moments when you say to yourself,                       “Gosh darn it, sometimes I *am* a great host mom!”? Go ahead, admit it. Or better yet, tell us about it, by filling in the rest […]

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The Fainting Au Pair: Should we rematch?

by cv harquail May 5, 2014
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Reliable, predictable, kind, and safe — that’s what we need childcare to be. So what happens when we have an au pair who we like, who’s doing a great job, and then all of a sudden turns out to have a condition that is unpredictable, that makes her unreliable, and that makes you worry that […]

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Open Thread: Rooting for Rosie

by cv harquail May 3, 2014
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Today’s open thread celebrate’s New Jersey’s Rosie Napravnik, who’s riding Vicar’s In Trouble in today’s Kentucky Derby. The Derby, and Rosie’s chance to make history, may or may not be on your radar screen for the weekend.  But in our house,  the run up to our annual Derby Party, plus the last week of classes, […]

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Choosing An Au Pair: Reading between the lines of an email reply

by cv harquail April 28, 2014
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People tease me about the number of emoticons, doge gifs, and exclamation points I use in my email, but I refuse to give up on anything that might help me convey the feelings behind my words — and to avoid being misinterpreted. It’s happened to all of us, when we’ve rushed to reply, or we […]

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Open Thread: April 26

by cv harquail April 25, 2014
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 Welcome to our weekend open thread! Be kind, and be patient with moderating this weekend– we are on a min-vacation in Quebec and the wifi at our auberge is simply awful. Awful as in “like 1997”– when wi~fi hardly existed. Use this open thread to bring up any topic that’s been on your mind. This […]

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Themes, Perspectives, and Cultural Stereotypes, Ideas from TexasHM

by cv harquail April 25, 2014
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Just days before a demonstration of how stereotypes about certain nationalities can feel unkind and unhelpful, frequent contributor TexasHM sent me this guest blog post. Perfect timing! We’re always working to generalize wisdom from our individual experiences, so stereotypes and national personalities are a common topic of conversation among folks in the AuPair community. TexasHM […]

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