My Host Mom is Snooping In My Bedroom. How can get some privacy?

by cv harquail February 18, 2014
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Dear AuPair Moms –– I’d like your thoughts about managing privacy, especially with a host mom who’s a bit, shall we say, inquisitive.    As an au pair, I have my own room in my host family’s house. Both my HM and HF are very private people, which I appreciate, since I am the same. […]

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What Are The Most Important Milestones For You and Your Au Pair?

by cv harquail February 17, 2014
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Every au pair arrives in the US about two steps into her or his adventure — with a million more steps to go.   As they make their way on their adventure, au pairs will hit a predictable set of milestones. Some of these have to do with becoming really competent with US culture— your […]

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We Can’t Afford Alternative Childcare While Our Au Pair’s Broken Arm Mends. What to do?

by cv harquail February 16, 2014
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Dear AuPairMoms— Could we re-open a topic from August 2012 on what to do when an au pair breaks a bone,  is in a cast and can’t drive? In that situation the au pair only had three weeks left, and the comments in large part were geared toward that scenario — mine’s a bit different. […]

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Celebrating Your Au Pair By Creating Experiences

by cv harquail February 15, 2014
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Often when we want to celebrate a milestone with our au pair, our thoughts turn to gifts of things.   We don’t feel embarrassed turning to gift cards and cash, because we know that our au pairs are often saving money for travel or for some special item at Urban Outfitters.  We tend to recommend […]

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Host Family Abandoned My Daughter! Should she rematch, or come home?

by cv harquail February 12, 2014
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Dear AuPairMoms, I’m a mom from South Africa. My dear daughter, S, has just arrived in America for a year au pairing. She completed her orientation week in New York, loving everything about it, and travelled to a nearby town to meet her Host Family last Friday. We had all been skyping the family since November and were […]

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My Host Family Thinks I’m Unreliable. Can I change their minds?

by cv harquail February 9, 2014
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Dear AuPairMom-  I have made a few mistakes with my host family, and I am wondering if I can fix things.  I arrived in the US a little over 5 months ago. After three months I broke my wrist, needed surgery, could not do my job correctly but I got an incredible support from my […]

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Au Pair Appreciation: Rescues Trapped Hamster!

by cv harquail February 8, 2014
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There are some Au Pair Appreciation stories that we could never anticipate, not in a million aupairyears. Such as this story of an Au Pair with real ‘derring do’, as my grandmum would call it. Courtesy of our own TakingAComputerLunch: Crazy stuff always happens in our house, but because we have a child with special […]

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Getting Back On The Right Foot When You Start Out Wrong

by cv harquail February 8, 2014
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Experienced Host Parents know that when your au pair arrives, you get him or her in action right away. Right Away! Even though it’s tempting to let him/her sleep in, or to show her around your wonderful town, or to wait until his English is better before you start giving instructions on ‘how to do […]

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Au Pair Appreciation: Listening Becomes Inspiration

by cv harquail February 7, 2014
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I am writing to celebrate our au pair from last year, “L,” for her kindness, her thoughtfulness, and her patience. She was new to us in the fall, just as our then-10 year old daughter was beginning to play the viola.  After the initial fun of a new instrument wore off, the first few weeks […]

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Au Pair Appreciation: 3 Ways To Make Your Words Matter

by cv harquail February 6, 2014
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“Why”, “Because”, and “For Example” are some of my favorite words. As a trained social scientist, I’ve been taught to hunt down the reasons, the connections, and the proof behind every claim I make in a research paper.  In research papers you have to persuade people that what you’ve found is real. And it turns […]

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