Scheduling Your Au Pair: Naptime, Mealtime and Meaningful Breaks

by cv harquail May 27, 2010

Lots of us host parents schedule our pairs not for an 8 or 10 hour stretch, but for one or two (or sometimes three) portions across a day. Often this is to accommodate ‘before school’ childcare needs as well as afternoon needs, or to have our au pairs come back on duty so that we […]

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Happy Birthday & Thanks to all of us!

by cv harquail May 23, 2010

It’s a special day! AuPairMom is celebrating its 2nd Birthday! For two years, with 370 posts, 9,000+ comments, and 46,000 visitors, we’ve been pooling our wisdom to make the experience of hosting an Au Pair and being an Au Pair better and better. In the olden days, there were no cluster meetings for host parents. […]

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Au Pair Asks: How can I get my Host Mom to give me a schedule?

by cv harquail May 23, 2010
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Dear Au Pair Mom, I just find out this site, and I think it’s really helpful. You have a lot of useful information for all of us, and I would like some advice from host parents. I’m an Au Pair, and I just started the program. I’m here for two months and everything is incredible! […]

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My Host Mom Fantasy: An inexpensive, convenient, accurate personality test for Au Pair candidates

by cv harquail May 20, 2010
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I know, my fantasies are not quite as exciting as perhaps they should be. < sigh > If there were a reasonably accurate, easy to administer, online test that you could give an au pair candidate, a test that that would tell you a little bit more about her or his personality, would you be […]

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The Best $98 You Can Spend on Your New Au Pair

by cv harquail May 20, 2010
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One of the best things a host parent can do with a new au pair is to pay some professional driving lessons. Driving lessons are something that you should consider in addition to having the au pair go out driving with one or more host parents, and in addition to having the au pair study […]

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If the Au Pair Agency failed in their “due diligence”, what can Host Parent do?

by cv harquail May 19, 2010
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Parents, here’s an emergency plea from a First Time Host Mom, who needs advice on dealing with an unhelpful agency. LCCs and area directors, chime in too, please! Hello! I have a problem w/ an au pair company (which shall remain nameless) and I am not sure how to handle it. We are a new […]

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Getting Down (on the floor) with Host Kids: Too much to ask?

by cv harquail May 19, 2010
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One of my favorite moments as an au pair mom was the summer afternoon I came home to find my two year old in a diaper, my au pair in a bathing suit, both of them in the garden, covered in finger paint. They were having a blast. This particular au pair, although very mature […]

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4 Ways to Reduce “Seasonal Schedule Shift Syndrome”

by cv harquail May 18, 2010
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Seasonal Schedule Shift Syndrome: AuPairMom’s fancy name for “when your au pair gets grumpy because all of a sudden the whole schedule changes, and now s/he has to work an occasional Saturday night.” When school ends and ‘summertime’ begins, family schedules change. Rhythms for your kids’ days may change, as may your own work schedules. […]

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When you need some time alone … with your kids, without the Au Pair

by cv harquail May 17, 2010
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‘SotaGal commented last week about, sometimes, she just wants to be with her kids, alone. “Mommy-a-mano”, no DH, no DP, no AP. Just Mom & the kids. There is nothing wrong with that. We all want 1 on 1/2/3 time, time when we are the only adult in the room, the only adult in the […]

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Rematch with just 2 months to go? Or other options?

by cv harquail May 16, 2010
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An “I need advice right away” post from West Coast Mom: Dear Host Moms, Have any of you rematched near the end of your year? We are considering sending the current AP home, after an alarming call from another Mom who witnessed some alarming AP behavior in front of the kids (followed by months of […]

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