Labor Day: An American Celebration of Workers

by cv harquail August 29, 2014
labor day

American Culture is on my mind today.   Of the three big distinctions between Au Pair childcare and other childcare, the idea of cultural exchange often takes a back seat.  One reason for ‘culture’ receding in to the background is that we regularly experience cultural differences and cultural exchange at the interpersonal level. Cultural exchange […]

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How to Decline an Au Pair Match — Politely

by cv harquail August 26, 2014
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No one wants to be rejected — not au pairs and not host parents.   But reject each other we must, since we know that even a perfectly lovely candidate (in this case, either a host parent or a potential au pair) may just not feel like the right fit. But how can we let the […]

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Flirting Au Pair Makes Life Awkward: Did we handle this well?

by cv harquail August 25, 2014
antiflirt club

Long-time AuPairMom readers know that we rarely discuss bad behavior between au pairs and male host parents, for two reasons:  There actually isn’t that much (especially compared to other kinds of problems), and Posts with certain words draw really creepy spammers that I hate to have to deal with. That said, there might be situations […]

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Do you ‘overshare’ or ‘undershare’ with your Au Pair?

by cv harquail August 21, 2014
overshare

I didn’t realized what a private creature I could be until we had our first au pair. With roommates it felt like nothing was off limits, and with my DH the main thing I kept closed was the bathroom door. But with au pairs? More of a challenge finding the right space between being closed and […]

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Three Types of Host Moms: Which one are you?

by cv harquail August 15, 2014
guide to clouds

I have a theory:  Every new host mom starts off with a vision of herself as being one of three types: The Bestie, The SecondMom, or The Boss. The Bestie The Bestie is the host mom who wants to be her au pair’s good friend. She treats the au pair like a guest, buys her […]

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Open Thread: August 6

by cv harquail August 6, 2014
cornwall-map-naturally-heartfelt.jpg

Hi All– Here’s an open thread to enjoy while I get things back together over here.  A great business conference, a MIL visit, and all that freaking laundry from camp have kept me busy. What’s happening w/ you?  

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When Your Au Pair’s Visa Doesn’t Come Through– what to do?

by cv harquail July 30, 2014
apm visa

I’m expecting my first au pair to arrive in country on August 11th and to my house on August 15th. My au pair has not received her Visa and forwarded me the below photograph. Have you heard of this? What should we do? ~FranticSoonToBeHM

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English Words That Every Au Pair Should Really Understand

by cv harquail July 28, 2014
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It’s easier to relax about your new au pair when s/he demonstrates a real command for the US version of the English Language.   I was thinking about this as I was perusing something called the “Academic Word List”, a list of 570 words that researchers think people should know if they plan to study […]

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Creepy, Crawly, Contagious Things- What if your Au Pair catches them too?

by cv harquail July 27, 2014
Gdaisy hair

(Reposted from our archives, since an Au Pair Asked…) When I became a mom I knew that that I would need to become accustomed to dealing with things that, pre-motherhood, had completely grossed me out. I’m talking about poopy diapers, vomit, bloody noses, fart jokes, and public belching. These were things that I would have […]

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AuPair in Rematch? Best Places to Find a New Family Fast

by cv harquail July 25, 2014
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Sharing from behind the scenes here at AuPair Mom — I often get emails like the one below from either AuPairs or Host Parents hoping to help someone make a rematch quickly. As we all know, au pairs have only two weeks or so to find a new host family before they get ‘sent home’ […]

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