Am I being unfair if I move on, and find another au pair?

by cv harquail November 20, 2010
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Here’s a request for some of your host parent wisdom: I am in need of opinions as to whether or not I am being unfair to our au pair. We have had the pleasure of hosting a delightful young woman for 1 year and we both agreed to a year-long extension. We have been pleased […]

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What if we don’t follow through to rematch, when we said we would?

by cv harquail November 19, 2010
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One of the most important lessons I learned when my kids were toddlers, and one of the important lessons I’ve tried to impart to our au pairs, is that actions have consequences. If we said no drawing on the wall and you drew on the wall, well then you would not be able to use […]

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How do you get a refund from an Au Pair Agency after a flameout Au Pair?

by cv harquail November 18, 2010
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A “flameout” au pair is one who obviously never intended to do the job of an au pair. Few things are more infuriating to a host parent than going through ll the work (and cost) of screening, interviewing and matching with an au pair– not to mentioned preparing kids and home — to have that […]

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Reading the Fine Print: How do Au Pair Agency contracts differ?

by cv harquail November 16, 2010
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With our previous conversation about whether or not an au pair is supposed to be paid pocket money if s/he takes additional vacation weeks, I was reminded of this very simple and confusing issue: Although US regulations apply to any US au pair, each agency has its own ways of interpreting and explaining the rules. […]

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Our Au Pair Wants More Vacation: How to handle?

by cv harquail November 13, 2010
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Every au pair gets two weeks paid vacation, and the convention is to have the host family choose one week, while the au pair chooses the other, subject to family agreement. The host family has slightly more ‘say’ about vacation scheduling, simply because the host parents need to arrange for childcare while the au pair […]

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Eating Out at Restaurants: Advice for Host Families and Au Pairs

by cv harquail November 11, 2010
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Our rocking, sane and helpful conversation about all things related to food at home has emboldened me (and maybe you) to tackle a specific food situation– eating out at restaurants. I’m thinking about the evenings when no one has the energy to cook and you’re tired of pizza, or when you’re dining ‘on the road’ […]

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Why is managing food for an Au Pair so hard?

by cv harquail November 8, 2010
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Why do we have so many comments, questions and challenges with this one? We already know that: food is love food is cultural healthy food is important we must distinguish between everyday food and special food we need to be explicit if any foods are off limits to the au pair we need to allow […]

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Food and your Au Pair: A smorgasbord of advice

by cv harquail November 8, 2010

Food and Your Au Pair Food and your Au Pair: Label it if you don’t want her to eat it Our AP’s appetite is so big, we can’t afford to feed her! Groceries: How much ‘extra’ can your Au Pair ask you to buy? Who pays for what? Locking the Refrigerator, and other ways to […]

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Au Pair Asks: How should I expect to act around my Host Family?

by cv harquail November 6, 2010
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Dear Au Pair Moms, What is an acceptable way to act around the host family? is it more like a work environment, or would, for instance, an au pair treat the host mom like a real mom, and tell her most things about her social life outside of the au-pairing job? Is it common for […]

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5 Ways to Assess an Au Pair’s Driving Skill when Choosing an Au Pair

by cv harquail November 4, 2010
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The original title I had for this post was “In which we address, once again, the issue of driving skills”.  However, since that’s neither SEO-friendly, nor really helpful, let’s see if we can actually come up with ways to assess driving skill. Everyone who has ever driving a car can call say that s/he’s an […]

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