Can an Au Pair be On-Duty to House Sit or Pet Sit?

by cv harquail January 9, 2013

Is it okay to ask your Au Pair to live at your house while you are away on vacation, and to take care of your family pet? Dear AuPairMom– My husband and I are hosting an Au Pair for the first time. We have three kids, ages 13, 10 and 5 and I am a […]

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Can married couples get jobs as Au Pairs? Or a person with his/her own child?

by cv harquail January 7, 2013
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Occasionally we get emails asking whether and how people who are not single and childless themselves can become au pairs. I’m sure this happens because people don’t usually understand that — in the USA — an au pair position is more strictly defined than in other countries. I’m not sure, though, whether being married or […]

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What is the right way to discipline your Au Pair?

by cv harquail January 4, 2013
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“Go sit in the corner.” Over the holidays, someone told me that they’d heard about an au pair who was told by her host mom to “go sit in the corner” as punishment for doing something wrong with the kids. I was appalled. What did that host mom think she was doing, disciplining an au […]

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On Duty or Off Duty: There is no third choice. Or is there?

by cv harquail December 29, 2012
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ON Duty or OFF Duty. There are only two choices for the hours on your au pair’s schedule. Host parents that try to establish a third choice, where an au pair is neither on duty nor off duty, are starting down the slippery slope of “taking advantage” of an au pair. ON Duty = Paid […]

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Start By Following the Rules: Au Pair Asks About Hours, Holidays and Discipline

by cv harquail December 29, 2012
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97% of the time that something goes wrong between an au pair and a host family, it’s because one or both parties is not following the rules. Okay, maybe it’s not 97%. Maybe it’s just 95%. But in the vast majority of the problems we talk about here, someone isn’t following the rules. We got […]

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Pinning Your Hopes on a Happy Holiday: Gift Ideas from APIA’s Christine Connally

by cv harquail December 22, 2012
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There are several concessions that I have to make regarding online tools so that I can actually get my behind and my attention out from in front of my computer. With work that requires reading, writing, editing and analyzing data, and hobbies that invite reading, writing, surfing and rabbit holes, there are things to which […]

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What if I actually don’t like my new Au Pair’s personality?

by cv harquail December 14, 2012
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Personality matters, but we struggle to figure out how much we should let it matter. Au Pairs are caregivers, roommates, family members, and in the best of situation, they become our friends. But for some reason, many of us feel awkward making decisions about au pairs based on whether we actually like their personalities. It […]

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Au Pair Asks: How Should I Manage My Host Dads’ Friends’ Drunken Advances?

by cv harquail December 13, 2012
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This post was actually a bit hard to fit to a short headline– the situation is a bit more complicated. As usual, culture dynamics, language issues, gender dyanmics, and more at work in this au pair’s uncomfortable situation with her host dad and his friends. What advice do you have for APinChina? Should she say […]

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Give Your Au Pair The Gift of Travel ~ Ideas from HRHM

by cv harquail December 13, 2012
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Most Au Pairs want the chance to travel during their year with us. “Travel” can mean a lot of things– vacations, long weekends, day trips, and even a quick stop over at something interesting on the way to a regular errand. Host mom and regular contributor HRHM shares these ideas for simple, fun, lower-cost travel […]

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Au Pair Gifts To Kids: Katrin’s Book-a-Day Advent Calendar

by cv harquail December 6, 2012
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Host Mom Sandra tells us about a creative, low cost holiday gift idea that combines a clever physical gift with an enduring gift of spirit: I just wanted to send a quick note about my au pair, Katrin Schwingenschlogl from Austria. For the Christmas holiday, she developed her own Advent calendar for my children. She […]

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