Au Pair Appreciation: Cross-Cultural Connections with Our Children

by cv harquail February 5, 2014
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It been a year and a half since our beloved Educare AP, R, left us to return home for university, but she remains a strong presence in our lives. She is present through her letters, and especially through the lessons she taught the children. Our children were in third grade and kindergarten when she was […]

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Au Pair Appreciation: Wonderful Right From The Start

by cv harquail February 4, 2014
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…. So wonderful, in fact, that she set a standard that’s been hard to match. After months of struggling with the daily grind of the two-working parent household, we heard from friends having success with the au pair program.  I was intrigued at the prospect of having extra help, particularly as I grew up in […]

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Au Pair Appreciation: Life is Simply Better With Au Pair as Part of Our Home

by cv harquail February 4, 2014
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We should all have the challenges this host mom faces, as she aims to describe what she appreciates about her au pair! I am having a hard time writing this appreciation for our current au pair not because I can’t think of what to celebrate him for, but because once I start, I don’t think […]

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Do Our Careful Reviews of Au Pair Applications Actually Make A Difference?

by cv harquail February 1, 2014
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Awesome Contributor and Host Mom Dorsi asks: “If you were to revisit the applications of your best and worst Au Pairs, what would you learn about making a good choice?”, Dorsi asks. Would you actually learn…. anything? The Oh-So-Wise ShouldBeWorking  replies: “What kills me about how fabulous our current match is is that there was […]

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The Most Successful Au Pair Picker in all of New Jersey

by cv harquail January 31, 2014
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Last weekend I had an insane conversation with a woman who was introduced to me as “The Most Successful Au Pair Picker in All of New Jersey!” Okay, so our mutual friend was exaggerating. But I spied an opportunity for you, dear readers. “How does she do it? What’s her secret? AuPairMoms demand to know!” […]

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Au Pair Candidate with Uncommon Medical Issue: Would you match with her?

by cv harquail January 30, 2014
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We get a lot of questions from au pair candidates who wonder whether anyone will match with them, given that they ______(fill in the blank here). For example, we just got an email (below) from an au pair with (non-swearing) Tourette’s Syndrome, who wonders whether host parents will consider her application. When you have an […]

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Policies for Hosting Out-Of-Town Guests: Polls

by cv harquail January 25, 2014
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 Let’s get a sense of how many of us have which kinds of guidelines about out-of-town guests.     Take these polls, below  —- but EXCLUDE romantic relationships (e.g., boyfriend or girlfriend from back home) since these have been shown to have a separate dynamic. More on that in another post.   Please add details […]

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When Your Au Pair’s Parents Come to Visit

by cv harquail January 23, 2014
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Dear AuPair Mom–  We have a lovely, responsible Au Pair whose parents miss her dearly. They have decided to visit twice (twice!) during the year and want to stay with us in order to maximize their time with their daughter.  I’m apprehensive about the whole thing, because hosting parents is not the same as hosting […]

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When Your Au Pair is the Neighborhood Safety Net

by cv harquail January 22, 2014
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We’re on our fourth day of snow-related school closings this month, and I’m really starting to feel the burden of being the only adult working at home– in (what seems like) the whole neighborhood. For parents who work outside the home, snow days can cause a lot of childcare problems. If you have a childcare […]

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The “Fire Or Blood” Rule for Au Pairs With Work-At-Home Parents

by cv harquail January 20, 2014
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I saw this photo on Twitter today and it cracked me up.        It reminded me of my own (vain? valiant?) attempts to teach my au pairs and now my tweenagers when it is and isn’t okay to interrupt me in my home office. (Remember this photo?) These days, I’ve shifted to a […]

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