How To Find a Short-Term Au Pair

by cv harquail October 15, 2011
201110151227.jpg

Sometimes, you just don’t need an au pair for a whole year. You may need just 8 months, until your child has a full school day, or until you drop down to part-time work. You may just need an au pair to cover a gap between a departing au pair and some other childcare arrangement.  […]

7 comments Read the full article →

Too Much Generosity or the Wrong Kind? Trust your heart

by cv harquail October 8, 2011
4076917678_26f70d8c6b_o (1).jpg

Dear AuPairMom- The posting from the host mom offering the fancy host family situation make me think of the choices that I made when I was matching with my host family. I talked to many different families. All of them had some different things to offer, cars yes or no, no Saturday nights, babies and […]

6 comments Read the full article →

Too Good to be True?

by cv harquail October 7, 2011
201110070947.jpg

A while ago I got a request for advice — a host mom was mystified that her desired au pair candidates seemed uninterested in the opportunity she had to offer. After all, what au pair wouldn’t want a situation that required only 20 hours per week, paid vacations with the family, her own apartment underneath […]

71 comments Read the full article →

Interpreting the Lanugage of Lag Time: Emailing Prospective Au Pairs

by cv harquail September 27, 2011
5073785421_6bd6874449_b.jpg

It’s kind of ironic for me to post a query about the topic of how to interpret the lag time between sending an email and an au pair candidate responding. As several of you with whom I correspond with on email already know– I can be “not very prompt” in my replies. What does this […]

53 comments Read the full article →

Who counts as an “American” family?

by cv harquail September 19, 2011
201109191950.jpg

I imagine that every au pair has an idea of what her or his “ideal” host family should be like. The assortment of children, the family’s location, their personality, their basic household rules… all of this factors in. But how much do you think it matters that the family be “American”-American, rather than German-American or […]

16 comments Read the full article →

Longest question, shortest answer: Rematch now

by cv harquail September 12, 2011
201109121350.jpg

It’s hard to imagine that the long, thoughtful email, below — all 1600 words of it — need only two words in reply: Rematch now. I could probably add three more words: Don’t Feel Guilty. But I will leave it up to you, dear readers, to share other words of support with this mom. …. […]

55 comments Read the full article →

How well do different Au Pair Agencies oversee “the rules”?

by cv harquail September 11, 2011
201109110932.jpg

When it comes to following the rules and regulations of the Au Pair Program, how much oversight do different agencies actually provide? Inquiring minds want to know, since these rules are there to protect all the parties in the Au Pair – Host Family relationship. There are three areas where legal ‘oversight’ is necessary: 1. […]

19 comments Read the full article →

Query from Reporter: Any takers?

by cv harquail September 11, 2011
201109110923.jpg

We got a request from Annys Shin, writer at the Washington Post, who is looking for host parents in the DC, Maryland or Virginia area whom she could contant for insight about the au pair program. Here’s her contact info if you’d like to ‘help a reporter out’: Annys Shin Staff Writer, Washington Post ShinA@washpost.com […]

Read the full article →

What the best way to Pre-Match with an Au Pair, before connecting to an Agency?

by cv harquail September 1, 2011
201108312130.jpg

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could meet a really terrific young person from anther country, discover that you had complementary world views, and THEN go through an official agency to engage him or her as an au pair? From time to time, we get questions from either parents or potential au pairs about how […]

18 comments Read the full article →

Is it fair to schedule an Au Pair for Late Night baby feedings?

by cv harquail August 31, 2011
115546916_2ba6138d36_o.jpg

The help we need is the help we need. Depending on your situation as a host parent, you might need driving, or cooking help, or child-minding on weekends, or flexibility when a child is sick. We each ask our au pairs to help us with different childcare tasks. As long as the tasks are within […]

90 comments Read the full article →

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →