Au Pair Asks: What if I’m not really prepared to handle these kids?

by cv harquail February 20, 2012
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Dear Au Pair Mom, I really love to read your blog, and have been reading it for a few months now, back when I started on my quest to become an Au Pair. And now for the first time I’m writing to you for advice. I have just moved to my host family and have […]

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Should You Wake Your Au Pair When You Leave For Work REALLY Early?

by cv harquail February 19, 2012
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Hi AuPairMom, We are welcoming our first au pair in about 3 weeks, and we are very excited. Your blog really helped us decide that this was the right type of child care for our family. We need someone with scheduling flexibility, because we have an always-changing, somewhat odd work week. I have to leave […]

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Revealing Your “Special Needs” During the Matching Process

by cv harquail February 17, 2012
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When is the best time to discuss with a prospective au pair candidate that a host child has special needs? When your child has special needs, you need to be sure in advance that your au pair is up for the challenge. Many au pair candidates will indicate on their applications that they are open […]

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Contact Congress to Protest Taxes on Au Pairs!

by cv harquail February 11, 2012
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Dear AuPairMom Readers- I never thought that I’d be writing a post asking you all to take political action, but there’s an issue that hits the Au Pairing Community right at the heart. Congress is deciding this week whether to impose a 7.65% FICA tax on au pairs. Yes, that’s right. Congress wants to tax […]

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Texting: Taming the Au Pair Distraction

by cv harquail February 10, 2012
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Who’s got an au pair who texts a lot?  Sometimes at inappropriate times, and often without any understanding of how this behavior distracts them? Raise your hands. Okay, you can all put down your hands. It annoys me hugely that people have bad manners when it comes to texting. In our family, we have rules […]

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Can This Au Pair Relationship Be Saved? Real Concerns vs. Nitpicky Concerns

by cv harquail February 8, 2012
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If only the distinction between “real concerns” and “nit-picky concerns” were clearcut, we’d never need to share ideas with each other! We all seem to face, at some point or another, that question: Am I being unreasonable, or are my concerns legit? We have to address this question before we take any action, like asking […]

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Can Au Pairs shorten their Extension, once begun?

by cv harquail February 5, 2012
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Do you know the official answer to this au pair’s query? And, if you were her LCC, what would you advise? Dear Au Pair Mom, I’m an extension Au Pair, living here in the USA since January of 2011 (13 months now). I wanted to know if there is a possibility to change the length […]

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Our Au Pair is Dating My Husband’s Close Friend. Now what?

by cv harquail February 4, 2012
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And speaking of trying to maintain some privacy around ones adult social life, Here’s an email that has me completely stumped.  How do they stay “host parents” to their au pair, and friends with their friend, and have any separate adult social life? We really need your ideas here, folks. Dear Au Pair Mom, I […]

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When Host Parents Divorce, should Au Pairs testify?

by cv harquail February 2, 2012
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Divorces test all relationships within a family. As the primary/initial family relationship dissolves or is destroyed, all other relationships get implicated. Even the relationships with Au Pairs. Previously, when we’ve discussed how divorces affect au pairs, we’ve mentioned things like crazy schedules, divided loyalties, concerns about finances and stability, and even whether one parent can […]

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Thriving despite conflicts: 9 Rules of Negotiating with Your Au Pair

by cv harquail January 29, 2012
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One of the crazy benefits of being an au pair mom or dad is that host parenting gives us many chances to practice skills that make us better everywhere in our lives. Chief among the skills we get to practice is how to negotiate. By using conflicts with our au pairs (or even simple disagreements […]

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